From: David Mazieres <dm-list-email-notmuch@scs.stanford.edu>
To: David Bremner <david@tethera.net>, notmuch@notmuchmail.org
Subject: Re: Enabling and disabling maildir.synchronize_flags
In-Reply-To: <87r3n3fu7d.fsf@maritornes.cs.unb.ca>
References: <87r3orbqfn.fsf@ta.scs.stanford.edu>
 <87r3n3fu7d.fsf@maritornes.cs.unb.ca>
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2015 02:52:35 -0700
Message-ID: <874mjzblwc.fsf@ta.scs.stanford.edu>
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David Bremner <david@tethera.net> writes:

> dm-list-email-notmuch@scs.stanford.edu writes:
>
>> It seems that disabling it should simply be safe.  But re-enabling, one
>> risks losing tags, as the next notmuch new will cause old maildir flags
>> to override the xapian database.  So that suggests something like:
>>
>>    notmuch dump > backup
>>    notmuch config set maildir.synchronize_flags false
>>    # Do I need to run notmuch new here?
>>    notmuch restore < backup
>
> Hi David;
>
> Sorry about the long delay. I'm not sure I follow the connection between
> your paragraph above and the the example. The example seems safe, but as
> you say, disabling synching should bs safe anyway.

It's not an example, it's kind of a worst case scenario if there's no
easy and safe way way to enable synchronize_flags.  I want to try
disabling flags, but if I change my mind and the only way to get it back
is to do a full notmuch dump/restore, that's a pretty hefty penalty.
Also, even if I do a full notmuch dump / restore, I'm not sure if the
notmuch new is necessary in the middle.

So my question remains, what's the easiest safe way to re-enable
synchronize_flags after disabling it?  (Safe meaning it won't change any
tags.)  It could be that there's a very simple answer, in which case
sticking it in the man page might be nice.

Thanks,
David