Return-Path: X-Original-To: notmuch@notmuchmail.org Delivered-To: notmuch@notmuchmail.org Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by olra.theworths.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7F7F4431FBC for ; Thu, 7 Feb 2013 04:07:56 -0800 (PST) X-Virus-Scanned: Debian amavisd-new at olra.theworths.org X-Spam-Flag: NO X-Spam-Score: 0 X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0 tagged_above=-999 required=5 tests=[none] autolearn=disabled Received: from olra.theworths.org ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (olra.theworths.org [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id oitJcxUJOkz8 for ; Thu, 7 Feb 2013 04:07:55 -0800 (PST) Received: from tesseract.cs.unb.ca (tesseract.cs.unb.ca [131.202.240.238]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by olra.theworths.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id D2D36431FB6 for ; Thu, 7 Feb 2013 04:07:55 -0800 (PST) Received: from fctnnbsc30w-156034082078.dhcp-dynamic.fibreop.nb.bellaliant.net ([156.34.82.78] helo=zancas.localnet) by tesseract.cs.unb.ca with esmtpsa (TLS1.2:DHE_RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA1:128) (Exim 4.80) (envelope-from ) id 1U3QGa-0006sj-Bd; Thu, 07 Feb 2013 08:07:48 -0400 Received: from bremner by zancas.localnet with local (Exim 4.80) (envelope-from ) id 1U3QGU-0004VA-KE; Thu, 07 Feb 2013 08:07:42 -0400 From: David Bremner To: Jameson Graef Rollins , Jani Nikula , notmuch@notmuchmail.org Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/6] notmuch cli config changes In-Reply-To: <871ucts54t.fsf@servo.finestructure.net> References: <871ucts54t.fsf@servo.finestructure.net> User-Agent: Notmuch/0.15.1 (http://notmuchmail.org) Emacs/24.2.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2013 08:07:42 -0400 Message-ID: <87y5f0fhtd.fsf@zancas.localnet> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Spam_bar: - X-BeenThere: notmuch@notmuchmail.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.13 Precedence: list List-Id: "Use and development of the notmuch mail system." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:07:56 -0000 Jameson Graef Rollins writes: > Is there some benefit to having a command line option for this that I > don't see? In my experience the environment variable is somewhat dangerous to use while testing. If left set to the wrong value, it can lead the loss of tag information. > I see this as another instance of an option that regular users will > rarely use, if ever. I don't see this as really comparable with a debugging option: temporarily changing the configuration is something that can be useful outside of debugging and testing. Although I'm fuzzy on the details now, I remember telling someone to do this, I think to temporarily modify what was ignored. > In general, I am a strong advocate of keeping the CLI slim. IMHO, > adding more options makes the interface clunkier, and the manual harder > to parse, and I'm against adding things that a normal user would likely > never use. Well, it's are reasonable heuristic, although I might disagree in general where the cutoff for "normal use" is, as I do in this case. > In retrospect, I should have had the same objection to the > --format-version option, which I think could have just been an env var > as well. I don't follow this part of your argument. I don't think replacing command line arguments by environment variables makes the interface or documentation simpler; at least if we document the environment variables properly. Note that non-shell based invokation (which is often desirable from e.g. scripting languages or Emacs) is typically, more complicated using environment variables. It's also more complicated for the user if they do have to use these options in a shell or a script. d