From: Jani Nikula Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 09:33:04 +0000 (+0200) Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/5] lib: make folder: prefix literal X-Git-Url: http://git.tremily.us/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=5fc43b9c9327119ec4129ccb9d05eff7011d2580;p=notmuch-archives.git Re: [PATCH 0/5] lib: make folder: prefix literal --- diff --git a/27/45fb5be874fe34415c8aef9ad986ff1532ae76 b/27/45fb5be874fe34415c8aef9ad986ff1532ae76 new file mode 100644 index 000000000..cb5a88f18 --- /dev/null +++ b/27/45fb5be874fe34415c8aef9ad986ff1532ae76 @@ -0,0 +1,138 @@ +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 21CC7431FBC + for ; Sat, 25 Jan 2014 01:33:46 -0800 (PST) +X-Virus-Scanned: Debian amavisd-new at olra.theworths.org +X-Spam-Flag: NO +X-Spam-Score: -0.7 +X-Spam-Level: +X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.7 tagged_above=-999 required=5 + tests=[RCVD_IN_DNSWL_LOW=-0.7] 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 cnUfVm1sY0SL for ; + Sat, 25 Jan 2014 01:33:10 -0800 (PST) +Received: from mail-ea0-f177.google.com (mail-ea0-f177.google.com + [209.85.215.177]) (using TLSv1 with cipher RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) + (No client certificate requested) + by olra.theworths.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id CBDF2431FB6 + for ; Sat, 25 Jan 2014 01:33:09 -0800 (PST) +Received: by mail-ea0-f177.google.com with SMTP id n15so1400491ead.36 + for ; Sat, 25 Jan 2014 01:33:07 -0800 (PST) +X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; + d=1e100.net; s=20130820; + h=x-gm-message-state:from:to:subject:in-reply-to:references + :user-agent:date:message-id:mime-version:content-type; + bh=Np2l6yNoM8oQEqs4pplOyelw5Tjd2QXf/8RAqusM2qc=; + b=QvyoQO4JBZqa1jgQjufs9T87r5to6MTwO5WWVfMHf0X4iGuTKXdaO4foNb94CsVs86 + tNjX7V7rgm6lgNFcR5ENsIgz5eMZmGfqhB8mWcV7lHeR+n0WGxp4URBR/+obld7OowN8 + l1MQeoGqNkWCgDo1gMztCmOXO/Wl+oMFQ1Kl6R89IR3cTf4G5X4Ho9suo5h8/P4X/MPE + /R07FQ1scSLFLV0HjpXuTpnYHPlWy5CLbVgEoaI2drdkIDj710kyUtYSRLRqzfylJZ6E + iu/Hnl2rlIpO/8jYIUD7EetpM/+9c3i6H+UgfgyT1rxsCCEyTSK/fbKXPUsEzOkaPLs+ + QvzA== +X-Gm-Message-State: + ALoCoQlHqX1YylKnv2AXSb1Jrpi7L6Q2Huwo1cCdJnfGxno37EdHa04oag6TQaDv8XrrQcn10rH0 +X-Received: by 10.15.41.7 with SMTP id r7mr389487eev.98.1390642387205; + Sat, 25 Jan 2014 01:33:07 -0800 (PST) +Received: from localhost (dsl-hkibrasgw2-58c36f-91.dhcp.inet.fi. + [88.195.111.91]) + by mx.google.com with ESMTPSA id 4sm13810215eed.14.2014.01.25.01.33.05 + for + (version=TLSv1.2 cipher=RC4-SHA bits=128/128); + Sat, 25 Jan 2014 01:33:06 -0800 (PST) +From: Jani Nikula +To: Austin Clements , notmuch@notmuchmail.org +Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/5] lib: make folder: prefix literal +In-Reply-To: <87y525m649.fsf@awakening.csail.mit.edu> +References: + <87y525m649.fsf@awakening.csail.mit.edu> +User-Agent: Notmuch/0.17+44~ge3b4cd9 (http://notmuchmail.org) Emacs/24.3.1 + (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) +Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 11:33:04 +0200 +Message-ID: <87r47wfltb.fsf@nikula.org> +MIME-Version: 1.0 +Content-Type: text/plain +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: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 09:33:46 -0000 + +On Fri, 24 Jan 2014, Austin Clements wrote: +> On Thu, 09 Jan 2014, Jani Nikula wrote: +>> Hi all, this series makes the folder: search prefix literal, or switches +>> it from a probabilistic prefix to a boolean prefix. With this, you have +>> to give the path from the maildir root to the folder you want in full, +>> including the maildir cur/new component, if any. Examples: +> +> I strongly disagree with requiring the cur/new component. The cur/new +> directory is an internal implementation detail of Maildir (and a rather +> broken one at that) and no more a part of the "folder" of a piece of +> mail than its final file name component. It's also the less obvious +> user interface; if we require the cur/new component, we *will* get +> people asking why their folder searches aren't working, but if we strip +> the cur/new component, nobody will be surprised. +> +> I think the question is not whether we should strip cur/new, but when. +> We've already defined a "_filename_is_in_maildir" test in +> lib/message.cc, which we depend on for flag sync. It's simple, but I +> think this would be the right thing to use for consistency. + +I'd like to discuss some of the reasons I chose to include the cur/new +components. Admittedly, none of them are very strong on their own, but +all of them together tilted my opinion towards requiring them. + +The way I see it, notmuch supports maildir, but does not require it. In +many ways the messages are just files somewhere in the directory +hierarchy. There are only a few cases where it matters that there are +cur/new/tmp directories within a directory. + +If you strip cur and new, it becomes impossible to distinguish between +files in foo, foo/cur, and foo/new - and one of the reasons for changing +folder: in the first place is to be able to better distinguish between +folders. + +Apparently mutt presents the difference between messages in new and cur +to its users (so I've been told; I've never really used mutt), and our +integration with mutt lacks that distinction. We could fix that by +requiring the cur/new components in folder: searches. + +Speaking of consistency, compare _filename_is_in_maildir() with +_entries_resemble_maildir() in notmuch-new.c. What should the indexed +folder: prefix be if there is not all of cur, new, and tmp? We will +actually index files in tmp if cur or new is not present! What if the +missing sibling directories are added (or existing ones removed) later? +Where's the consistency compared to new.ignore config, which also +matches the cur/new components if so desired? Or consistency with +notmuch search --output=files? + +My conclusion was that requiring *all* filesystem folder components +as-is is consistent, most versatile, agnostic to Maildir or Maildir++ +implementation details wrt directory naming or hierarchy, without +difficult corner cases, simplest to implement, and unsurprising (once +you understand the cur/new distinction). + +For *me* this is the more obvious user interface. And hey, I'm a user +too. + +Perhaps we need to have two prefixes, one of which is the literal +filesystem folder and another which hides the implementation details, +like I mentioned in my mail to Peter [1]. But consider this: my proposed +implementation does cover *all* use cases. + + +BR, +Jani. + + +[1] id:8761ppurfz.fsf@nikula.org