From: Mark Anderson <ma.skies@gmail.com>
To: Pieter Praet <pieter@praet.org>, Robin Green <greenrd@greenrd.org>,
	notmuch@notmuchmail.org
Subject: Re: Race condition for '*' command
In-Reply-To: <87fwmuxxgd.fsf@praet.org>
References: <86d3i1d06r.fsf@dragonfly.greenrd.org>
	<87sjqx31mp.fsf@servo.factory.finestructure.net>
	<86aad5c6h2.fsf@dragonfly.greenrd.org> <87fwmuxxgd.fsf@praet.org>
User-Agent: Notmuch/0.5-283-gb744eac (http://notmuchmail.org) Emacs/23.2.1
	(i686-pc-linux-gnu)
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2011 11:36:10 -0600
Message-ID: <87tyb9j1th.fsf@gmail.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Precedence: list

On Tue, 28 Jun 2011 08:49:06 +0200, Pieter Praet <pieter@praet.org> wrote:
> On Sun, 26 Jun 2011 10:00:41 +0100, Robin Green <greenrd@greenrd.org> wrote:
> > On Sat, 25 Jun 2011 16:57:50 -0700, Jameson Graef Rollins <jrollins@finestructure.net> wrote:
> > > On Sat, 25 Jun 2011 23:18:52 +0100, Robin Green <greenrd@greenrd.org> wrote:
> > > > A race condition in the '*' command was noted when it was first
> > > > proposed. It looks to me like it still exists - has anything been done
> > > > about it?
> > > 
> > > Hi, Robin.  Can you explain what you mean by the "'*' command"?
> > 
> > Sorry - forgot to say I'm talking about the notmuch emacs mode. In that
> > mode '*' applies tags to all messages matching the current search query,
> > which means that (here's the race condition) new results that have
> > appeared since the last refresh will also be tagged.
> 
> This issue appears to stem from the fact that `notmuch-search-operate-all'
> runs (apply 'notmuch-tag notmuch-search-query-string action-split), in which
> `notmuch-search-query-string' points to a moving target.
> 
> Could be solved by doing it with `notmuch-search', `mark-whole-buffer'
> and `notmuch-search-{add,remove}-tag-region' instead, but I'm sure
> there's a better way (of which I'm as of yet unaware).

I don't think there's a better way, the results which the user is
viewing is the only visual reference for what the action they intend to
apply will use as the object of said action.  I can imagine some people
wanting to have a way to apply an action to a live query string, but I
distinguish between these people and normal humans reading their email.
I expect that when a normal human is reading their email, they do not
intend to apply actions to messages as yet unseen.

I can see some people using the '*' notmuch emacs command as a very
interactive notmuch-poll.sh script.  But I imagine the principle of
least surprise would be to have '*' only apply to visible messages, and
if the buffer is old, the buffer is the only record of what is being
viewed.

-Mark

> 
> > -- 
> > Robin
> > _______________________________________________
> > notmuch mailing list
> > notmuch@notmuchmail.org
> > http://notmuchmail.org/mailman/listinfo/notmuch
> 
> Peace
> 
> -- 
> Pieter
> _______________________________________________
> notmuch mailing list
> notmuch@notmuchmail.org
> http://notmuchmail.org/mailman/listinfo/notmuch