2007-09-11 17:17:18

by Randy Dunlap

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

From: Randy Dunlap <[email protected]>

Requested by Jeff Garzik.

Add info about various email clients and their applicability
in being used to send Linux kernel patches.

Some notes takes from http://mbligh.org/linuxdocs/Email/Clients
Portions used with permission.

Signed-off-by: Randy Dunlap <[email protected]>
---
Documentation/email-clients.txt | 158 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 158 insertions(+)

--- /dev/null
+++ linux-2.6.23-rc5-git1/Documentation/email-clients.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,158 @@
+Email clients info for Linux
+======================================================================
+
+General Preferences
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+Patches for the Linux kernel are submitted via email, preferably as
+inline text in the body of the email. Some maintainers accept
+attachments, but then the attachments should have content-type
+"text/plain". However, attachments are generally frowned upon because
+it makes quoting portions of the patch more difficult in the patch
+review process.
+
+Email clients that are used for Linux kernel patches should send the
+patch text untouched. For example, they should not modify or delete tabs
+or spaces, even at the beginning or end of lines.
+
+<question about character set encoding/code pages:>
+They also should not modify the character set encoding of the text.
+
+Email clients should generate and maintain References: or In-Reply-To:
+headers so that mail threading is not broken.
+
+Copy-and-paste (or cut-and-paste) usually does not work for patches
+because tabs are converted to spaces. I have seen comments that
+xclipboard, xclip, and/or xcutsel do work, but I cannot confirm this.
+
+Don't use PGP/GPG signatures in mail that contains patches.
+This breaks many scripts that read and apply the patches.
+(This should be fixable. ??)
+
+
+Some email client (MUA) hints
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+Legend:
+TUI = text-based user interface
+GUI = graphical user interface
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Alpine (TUI)
+
+<I don't know. Maybe Adrian or Linus can comment.>
+
+Are any special config options needed?
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Evolutions (GUI)
+
+Some people seem to use this successfully for patches.
+
+What config options are needed?
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Kmail (GUI)
+
+Some people use Kmail successfully for patches.
+
+The default setting of not composing in HTML is appropriate; do not
+enable it.
+
+When composing an email, under options, uncheck "word wrap". The only
+disadvantage is any text you type in the email will not be word-wrapped
+so you will have to manually word wrap text before the patch. The easiest
+way around this is to compose your email with word wrap enabled, then save
+it as a draft. Once you pull it up again from your drafts it is now hard
+word-wrapped and you can uncheck "word wrap" without losing the existing
+wrapping.
+
+At the bottom of your email, put the commonly-used patch delimiter before
+inserting your patch: three hyphens (---).
+
+Then from the "Message" menu item, select insert file and choose your patch.
+As an added bonus I recommend customising the message creation toolbar menu
+and putting the "insert file" icon there.
+
+You can safely GPG sign attachments, but inlined text is preferred for
+patches so do not GPG sign them. Signing patches that have been inserted
+as inlined text will make them tricky to extract from their 7-bit encoding.
+
+If you absolutely must send patches as attachments instead of inlining
+them as text, right click on the attachment and select properties, and
+highlight "Suggest automatic display" to make the attachment inlined to
+make it more viewable.
+
+When saving patches that are sent as inlined text, select the email that
+contains the patch from the message list pane, right click and select
+"save as". You can use the whole email unmodified as a patch if it was
+properly composed. There is no option currently to save the email when
+you are actually viewing it in its own window - I've filed a request at
+kmail's bugzilla and hopefully this will be addressed. Emails are saved
+as read-write for user only so you will have to chmod them to make them
+group and world readable if you copy them elsewhere.
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Lotus Notes (GUI)
+
+Run away from it.
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Mutt (TUI)
+
+Plenty of Linux developers use mutt, so it must work pretty well.
+
+Are there any special config options that are needed??
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Pine (TUI)
+
+Pine has had some whitespace truncation issues. There have also been
+patches for this problem. I don't know the current status. Is there
+a config option for this?
+
+Are there any special config options that are needed??
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Sylpheed (GUI)
+
+- Works well for inlining text (or using attachments).
+- Allows use of an external editor.
+- Not good for IMAP.
+- Is slow on large folders.
+- Won't do TLS SMTP auth over a non-SSL connection.
+- Has a helpful ruler bar in the compose window.
+- Adding addresses to address book doesn't understand the display name
+ properly.
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Thunderbird (GUI)
+
+By default, thunderbird likes to mangle text, but there are ways to
+coerce it into being nice.
+
+- Under account settings, composition and addressing, uncheck "Compose
+ messages in HTML format".
+
+- Edit your Thunderbird config settings to tell it not to wrap lines:
+ user_pref("mailnews.wraplength", 0);
+
+- Edit your Thunderbird config settings so that it won't use format=flowed:
+ user_pref("mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed", false);
+
+- You need to get Thunderbird into preformat mode:
+. If you compose HTML messages by default, it's not too hard. Just select
+ "Preformat" from the drop-down box just under the subject line.
+. If you compose in text by default, you have to tell it to compose a new
+ message in HTML (just as a one-off), and then force it from there back to
+ text, else it will wrap lines. To do this, use shift-click on the Write
+ icon to compose to get HTML compose mode, then select "Preformat" from
+ the drop-down box just under the subject line.
+
+- Allows use of an external editor:
+ The easiest thing to do with Thunderbird and patches is to use an
+ "external editor" extension and then just use your favorite $EDITOR
+ for reading/merging patches into the body text. To do this, download
+ and install the extension, then add a button for it using
+ View->Toolbars->Customize... and finally just click on it when in the
+ Compose dialog.
+
+ ###


2007-09-11 17:36:57

by Peter Zijlstra

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

On Tue, 2007-09-11 at 10:16 -0700, Randy Dunlap wrote:

> +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> +Evolutions (GUI)

I take it you mean: Evolution

> +Some people seem to use this successfully for patches.
> +
> +What config options are needed?

When composing mail select: Preformat
from Format->Heading->Preformatted (Ctrl-7)
or the toolbar

Then use:
Insert->Text File... (Alt-n x)

to insert the patch.


2007-09-11 18:03:43

by Nicolas Pitre

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

On Tue, 11 Sep 2007, Randy Dunlap wrote:

> From: Randy Dunlap <[email protected]>
>
> Requested by Jeff Garzik.
>
> Add info about various email clients and their applicability
> in being used to send Linux kernel patches.
>
> Some notes takes from http://mbligh.org/linuxdocs/Email/Clients
> Portions used with permission.

You should also have a look at the "MUA specific hints" section of
Documentation/SubmittingPatches in the Git source distribution which
contains additional hints.

> +Alpine (TUI)
> +
> +<I don't know. Maybe Adrian or Linus can comment.>
> +
> +Are any special config options needed?

Alpine is the successor of Pine. Issues that were found in some earlier
Pine versions wrt patch sending are now fixed.

Here's the relevant config options. In the "Sending Preferences"
section:

- "Do Not Send Flowed Text" must be enabled

- "Strip Whitespace Before Sending" must be disabled

When composing the message, the cursor should be placed where the patch
should appear, and then pressing CTRL-R let you specify the patch file
to insert into the message.


Nicolas

2007-09-11 18:17:04

by Adrian Bunk

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 02:03:34PM -0400, Nicolas Pitre wrote:
> On Tue, 11 Sep 2007, Randy Dunlap wrote:
>...
> > +Alpine (TUI)
> > +
> > +<I don't know. Maybe Adrian or Linus can comment.>
> > +
> > +Are any special config options needed?
>
> Alpine is the successor of Pine. Issues that were found in some earlier
> Pine versions wrt patch sending are now fixed.
>...

There were no problems with sending patches in pine.

Pine had problems with UTF-8, and that's where alpine is fixed, but
that's a more tangential problem.

> Nicolas

cu
Adrian

--

"Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
"Only a promise," Lao Er said.
Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed

2007-09-11 18:29:29

by Adrian Bunk

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 10:16:44AM -0700, Randy Dunlap wrote:
>...
> +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> +Mutt (TUI)
> +
> +Plenty of Linux developers use mutt, so it must work pretty well.
> +
> +Are there any special config options that are needed??
>...

It should work with default settings.

mutt doesn't come with an editor, so whatever editor you use should be
used in a way that there are no automatic linebreaks. Most editors have
an "insert file" option that inserts the contents of a file unaltered.

cu
Adrian

--

"Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
"Only a promise," Lao Er said.
Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed

2007-09-11 18:31:27

by Nicolas Pitre

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

On Tue, 11 Sep 2007, Adrian Bunk wrote:

> On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 02:03:34PM -0400, Nicolas Pitre wrote:
> > On Tue, 11 Sep 2007, Randy Dunlap wrote:
> >...
> > > +Alpine (TUI)
> > > +
> > > +<I don't know. Maybe Adrian or Linus can comment.>
> > > +
> > > +Are any special config options needed?
> >
> > Alpine is the successor of Pine. Issues that were found in some earlier
> > Pine versions wrt patch sending are now fixed.
> >...
>
> There were no problems with sending patches in pine.

One old version did have problems with spaces at the end of lines
despite the config option, and you had to manually patch it if your
distro didn't.


Nicolas

2007-09-11 18:38:30

by Lee Revell

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

On 9/11/07, Peter Zijlstra <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Tue, 2007-09-11 at 10:16 -0700, Randy Dunlap wrote:
>
> > +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > +Evolutions (GUI)
>
> I take it you mean: Evolution
>
> > +Some people seem to use this successfully for patches.
> > +
> > +What config options are needed?
>
> When composing mail select: Preformat
> from Format->Heading->Preformatted (Ctrl-7)
> or the toolbar
>
> Then use:
> Insert->Text File... (Alt-n x)
>
> to insert the patch.

You can also diff -Nru old.c new.c | xclip, select Preformat, then
paste with the middle button.

Lee

2007-09-11 18:46:34

by Adrian Bunk

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 02:31:16PM -0400, Nicolas Pitre wrote:
> On Tue, 11 Sep 2007, Adrian Bunk wrote:
>
> > On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 02:03:34PM -0400, Nicolas Pitre wrote:
> > > On Tue, 11 Sep 2007, Randy Dunlap wrote:
> > >...
> > > > +Alpine (TUI)
> > > > +
> > > > +<I don't know. Maybe Adrian or Linus can comment.>
> > > > +
> > > > +Are any special config options needed?
> > >
> > > Alpine is the successor of Pine. Issues that were found in some earlier
> > > Pine versions wrt patch sending are now fixed.
> > >...
> >
> > There were no problems with sending patches in pine.
>
> One old version did have problems with spaces at the end of lines
> despite the config option, and you had to manually patch it if your
> distro didn't.

This could be, but it's not worth documenting that there once was one
broken version.

Generally, pine doesn't have problems with sending patches.

> Nicolas

cu
Adrian

--

"Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
"Only a promise," Lao Er said.
Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed

2007-09-11 19:12:59

by Jan Engelhardt

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches


On Sep 11 2007 14:03, Nicolas Pitre wrote:
>> +Alpine (TUI)
>> +
>> +<I don't know. Maybe Adrian or Linus can comment.>
>> +
>> +Are any special config options needed?
>
>Alpine is the successor of Pine. Issues that were found in some earlier
>Pine versions wrt patch sending are now fixed.
>
>Here's the relevant config options. In the "Sending Preferences"
>section:
>
> - "Do Not Send Flowed Text" must be enabled

I have quell-flowed-text *disabled* and there is no problem.


Jan

test:

--- /dev/fd/63 2007-09-11 21:08:05.555626230 +0200
+++ /dev/fd/62 2007-09-11 21:08:05.555626230 +0200
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-total 52
--rw-r--r-- 1 jengelh users 52765 Sep 10 20:42 random.png
-rw-r--r-- 1 jengelh users 0 Sep 11 21:07 pat
+-rw-r--r-- 1 jengelh users 52765 Sep 10 20:42 random.png
+total 52

2007-09-11 19:13:34

by Jan Engelhardt

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches


On Sep 11 2007 20:17, Adrian Bunk wrote:
>There were no problems with sending patches in pine.
>
>Pine had problems with UTF-8, and that's where alpine is fixed, but
>that's a more tangential problem.

Pine [4.64] has problems with ISO-2022-JP, but not UTF-8 AFAICT.


Jan
--

2007-09-11 19:38:18

by Chris Friesen

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

Randy Dunlap wrote:

> +Thunderbird (GUI)
> +
> +By default, thunderbird likes to mangle text, but there are ways to
> +coerce it into being nice.

Can someone describe the problems with just attaching the patch in
Thunderbird? It's what Martin says he does on the linked document...

Chris

2007-09-11 19:42:30

by Martin Bligh

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

Chris Friesen wrote:
> Randy Dunlap wrote:
>
>> +Thunderbird (GUI)
>> +
>> +By default, thunderbird likes to mangle text, but there are ways to
>> +coerce it into being nice.
>
> Can someone describe the problems with just attaching the patch in
> Thunderbird? It's what Martin says he does on the linked document...

The faint whining noise from the recipients at the other end.

Mostly if it's text/plain, the noise is very faint, only the
most militant care, and it's fairly easy to ignore ;-)

M.

2007-09-11 19:55:27

by Stefan Richter

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

Randy Dunlap wrote:
> +Alpine (TUI)
...
> +Evolutions (GUI)
Evolution_ ?
...
> +Kmail (GUI)
...
> +Lotus Notes (GUI)
...
> +Mutt (TUI)
...
> +Pine (TUI)
...
> +Sylpheed (GUI)
...
> +Thunderbird (GUI)
...
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+TkRat (GUI)
+
+Works. Use "Insert file..." or external editor.

--
Stefan Richter
-=====-=-=== =--= -=-==
http://arcgraph.de/sr/

2007-09-11 19:55:43

by Jeff Garzik

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

Chris Friesen wrote:
> Randy Dunlap wrote:
>
>> +Thunderbird (GUI)
>> +
>> +By default, thunderbird likes to mangle text, but there are ways to
>> +coerce it into being nice.
>
> Can someone describe the problems with just attaching the patch in
> Thunderbird? It's what Martin says he does on the linked document...

Email clients don't like to quote attachments, even text/plain ones,
which then makes attached patches much more difficult to review and
comment on (i.e. you greatly reduce the number of reviewers).

Jeff



2007-09-11 20:15:17

by Peter Zijlstra

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches


On Tue, 2007-09-11 at 14:38 -0400, Lee Revell wrote:
> On 9/11/07, Peter Zijlstra <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On Tue, 2007-09-11 at 10:16 -0700, Randy Dunlap wrote:
> >
> > > +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > > +Evolutions (GUI)
> >
> > I take it you mean: Evolution
> >
> > > +Some people seem to use this successfully for patches.
> > > +
> > > +What config options are needed?
> >
> > When composing mail select: Preformat
> > from Format->Heading->Preformatted (Ctrl-7)
> > or the toolbar
> >
> > Then use:
> > Insert->Text File... (Alt-n x)
> >
> > to insert the patch.
>
> You can also diff -Nru old.c new.c | xclip, select Preformat, then
> paste with the middle button.

Ah, I shall try:

cat `quilt top` | xclip

next time I have a single patch to send.

2007-09-11 22:06:22

by Sami Farin

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 14:38:13 -0400, Lee Revell wrote:
> You can also diff -Nru old.c new.c | xclip, select Preformat, then
> paste with the middle button.

mutt does not come with text editor, so
I'd like to add note about vim:

If using xclip, type command
:set paste
before middle button or shift-insert or use
:r filename

...if you want to include patch inline.
(a)ttach works fine without "set paste".

--
Do what you love because life is too short for anything else.


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2007-09-12 03:27:15

by Chris Friesen

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

Jeff Garzik wrote:
> Chris Friesen wrote:

>> Can someone describe the problems with just attaching the patch in
>> Thunderbird? It's what Martin says he does on the linked document...

> Email clients don't like to quote attachments, even text/plain ones,
> which then makes attached patches much more difficult to review and
> comment on (i.e. you greatly reduce the number of reviewers).

Thunderbird, at least, will automatically inline a single text/plain
attachment when replying. (At least with my current settings, it does.)

Chris

2007-09-12 03:41:18

by Randy Dunlap

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

On Tue, 11 Sep 2007 19:36:42 +0200 Peter Zijlstra wrote:

> On Tue, 2007-09-11 at 10:16 -0700, Randy Dunlap wrote:
>
> > +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > +Evolutions (GUI)
>
> I take it you mean: Evolution

Yep, lousy keyboard. ;)

I've updated the text file and will resend it shortly.

Thanks for everyone's comments.
(not replying to each one indiviually)

---
~Randy

2007-09-12 05:11:25

by Cong Wang

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 08:52:14PM +0200, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
>
>On Tue, 2007-09-11 at 14:38 -0400, Lee Revell wrote:
>> On 9/11/07, Peter Zijlstra <[email protected]> wrote:
>> > On Tue, 2007-09-11 at 10:16 -0700, Randy Dunlap wrote:
>> >
>> > > +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> > > +Evolutions (GUI)
>> >
>> > I take it you mean: Evolution
>> >
>> > > +Some people seem to use this successfully for patches.
>> > > +
>> > > +What config options are needed?
>> >
>> > When composing mail select: Preformat
>> > from Format->Heading->Preformatted (Ctrl-7)
>> > or the toolbar
>> >
>> > Then use:
>> > Insert->Text File... (Alt-n x)
>> >
>> > to insert the patch.
>>
>> You can also diff -Nru old.c new.c | xclip, select Preformat, then
>> paste with the middle button.
>
>Ah, I shall try:
>
> cat `quilt top` | xclip
>
>next time I have a single patch to send.
>

Oh, great! Thank you for this hint.

--
"Bill, look, we understand that you're interested in selling us this
operating system, but compare it to ours. We can't possibly take such
a retrograde step."

2007-09-12 05:27:26

by Cong Wang

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 08:29:26PM +0200, Adrian Bunk wrote:
>On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 10:16:44AM -0700, Randy Dunlap wrote:
>>...
>> +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> +Mutt (TUI)
>> +
>> +Plenty of Linux developers use mutt, so it must work pretty well.
>> +
>> +Are there any special config options that are needed??
>>...
>
>It should work with default settings.


I can't agree with this.

It took me lots of time to configure mutt to work well for me in the first
time. Just default settings are far _not_ enough, especially for us
non-english-speakers. One common setting is the encoding, of course, lkml
prefers UTF-8, so I must set my mutt with `set send_charset="us-ascii:utf-8"`.

Manuals of mutt told me to add "subscribe [email protected]" if I
subscribed lkml, but in fact, we'd better _not_ add this, or it will drop
myself from cc list.

Or other things like these.

>
>mutt doesn't come with an editor, so whatever editor you use should be
>used in a way that there are no automatic linebreaks. Most editors have
>an "insert file" option that inserts the contents of a file unaltered.
>

Yes, you can `set editor="vi"` or other editors you prefer.


Regards.

--
"Bill, look, we understand that you're interested in selling us this
operating system, but compare it to ours. We can't possibly take such
a retrograde step."

2007-09-12 05:55:34

by Adrian Bunk

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

On Wed, Sep 12, 2007 at 01:24:13PM +0800, WANG Cong wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 08:29:26PM +0200, Adrian Bunk wrote:
> >On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 10:16:44AM -0700, Randy Dunlap wrote:
> >>...
> >> +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >> +Mutt (TUI)
> >> +
> >> +Plenty of Linux developers use mutt, so it must work pretty well.
> >> +
> >> +Are there any special config options that are needed??
> >>...
> >
> >It should work with default settings.
>
>
> I can't agree with this.
>
> It took me lots of time to configure mutt to work well for me in the first
> time. Just default settings are far _not_ enough, especially for us
> non-english-speakers. One common setting is the encoding, of course, lkml
> prefers UTF-8, so I must set my mutt with `set send_charset="us-ascii:utf-8"`.

This makes sense, but it's not really a mutt specific issue and
problems because mutt prefers iso-8859-1 over UTF-8 by default are
quite rare.

> Manuals of mutt told me to add "subscribe [email protected]" if I
> subscribed lkml, but in fact, we'd better _not_ add this, or it will drop
> myself from cc list.
>
> Or other things like these.
>...

Whether or not people want to get personal copies of answers to mailing
list posts is a religious issue being second only to the vi<->emacs wars...

But as far as I understand it, this documentation is intended to help
people to get sending patches right (no line wrap etc.), not as a
generic documentation for mail clients.

> Regards.

cu
Adrian

--

"Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
"Only a promise," Lao Er said.
Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed

2007-09-12 15:05:12

by Randy Dunlap

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

Adrian Bunk wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 12, 2007 at 01:24:13PM +0800, WANG Cong wrote:
>> On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 08:29:26PM +0200, Adrian Bunk wrote:
>>> On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 10:16:44AM -0700, Randy Dunlap wrote:
>>>> ...
>>>> +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>>> +Mutt (TUI)
>>>> +
>>>> +Plenty of Linux developers use mutt, so it must work pretty well.
>>>> +
>>>> +Are there any special config options that are needed??
>>>> ...
>>> It should work with default settings.
>>
>> I can't agree with this.
>>
>> It took me lots of time to configure mutt to work well for me in the first
>> time. Just default settings are far _not_ enough, especially for us
>> non-english-speakers. One common setting is the encoding, of course, lkml
>> prefers UTF-8, so I must set my mutt with `set send_charset="us-ascii:utf-8"`.
>
> This makes sense, but it's not really a mutt specific issue and
> problems because mutt prefers iso-8859-1 over UTF-8 by default are
> quite rare.
>
>> Manuals of mutt told me to add "subscribe [email protected]" if I
>> subscribed lkml, but in fact, we'd better _not_ add this, or it will drop
>> myself from cc list.
>>
>> Or other things like these.
>> ...
>
> Whether or not people want to get personal copies of answers to mailing
> list posts is a religious issue being second only to the vi<->emacs wars...
>
> But as far as I understand it, this documentation is intended to help
> people to get sending patches right (no line wrap etc.), not as a
> generic documentation for mail clients.

Definitely.
and to reduce the amount of repetition that we have to do.

I'll add a bit about it not being complete s/w package config info.

thanks,
~Randy

2007-09-12 15:43:29

by Adrian Bunk

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

On Wed, Sep 12, 2007 at 08:02:29AM -0700, Randy Dunlap wrote:
> Adrian Bunk wrote:
>> On Wed, Sep 12, 2007 at 01:24:13PM +0800, WANG Cong wrote:
>>> On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 08:29:26PM +0200, Adrian Bunk wrote:
>>>> On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 10:16:44AM -0700, Randy Dunlap wrote:
>>>>> ...
>>>>> +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>>>> +Mutt (TUI)
>>>>> +
>>>>> +Plenty of Linux developers use mutt, so it must work pretty well.
>>>>> +
>>>>> +Are there any special config options that are needed??
>>>>> ...
>>>> It should work with default settings.
>>>
>>> I can't agree with this.
>>>
>>> It took me lots of time to configure mutt to work well for me in the
>>> first
>>> time. Just default settings are far _not_ enough, especially for us
>>> non-english-speakers. One common setting is the encoding, of course, lkml
>>> prefers UTF-8, so I must set my mutt with `set
>>> send_charset="us-ascii:utf-8"`.
>> This makes sense, but it's not really a mutt specific issue and problems
>> because mutt prefers iso-8859-1 over UTF-8 by default are
>> quite rare.
>>> Manuals of mutt told me to add "subscribe [email protected]"
>>> if I
>>> subscribed lkml, but in fact, we'd better _not_ add this, or it will drop
>>> myself from cc list.
>>>
>>> Or other things like these.
>>> ...
>> Whether or not people want to get personal copies of answers to mailing
>> list posts is a religious issue being second only to the vi<->emacs
>> wars...
>> But as far as I understand it, this documentation is intended to help
>> people to get sending patches right (no line wrap etc.), not as a generic
>> documentation for mail clients.
>
> Definitely.
> and to reduce the amount of repetition that we have to do.
>
> I'll add a bit about it not being complete s/w package config info.

One point from this email that might be appropriate for the
"General Preferences" section of your document would be to suggest
configuring the MUA to send text encoded as UTF-8, something like:

The kernel source code is encoded in UTF-8, and if you configure your
email client to send emails UTF-8 encoded you avoid some possible
charset problems.

> thanks,
> ~Randy

cu
Adrian

--

"Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
"Only a promise," Lao Er said.
Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed

2007-09-12 18:08:37

by Jan Engelhardt

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches


On Sep 11 2007 21:26, Chris Friesen wrote:
>> > Can someone describe the problems with just attaching the patch in
>> > Thunderbird? It's what Martin says he does on the linked document...
>
>> Email clients don't like to quote attachments, even text/plain ones, which
>> then makes attached patches much more difficult to review and comment on
>> (i.e. you greatly reduce the number of reviewers).
>
> Thunderbird, at least, will automatically inline a single text/plain attachment
> when replying. (At least with my current settings, it does.)

No, the thing is: you send it attached with Thunderbird,
and my PINE strips it on reply _because_ it is an attachment.



Jan
--

2007-09-12 18:18:00

by Chris Friesen

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

Jan Engelhardt wrote:
> On Sep 11 2007 21:26, Chris Friesen wrote:

>>Thunderbird, at least, will automatically inline a single text/plain attachment
>>when replying. (At least with my current settings, it does.)

> No, the thing is: you send it attached with Thunderbird,
> and my PINE strips it on reply _because_ it is an attachment.

There's no setting to tell it to quote plaintext attachments on reply?
If someone with thunderbird replies to it the patch is automatically quoted.

Guess I need to get the external_editor extension.

Chris

2007-09-12 19:18:32

by Rik van Riel

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

Jeff Garzik wrote:
> Chris Friesen wrote:
>> Randy Dunlap wrote:
>>
>>> +Thunderbird (GUI)
>>> +
>>> +By default, thunderbird likes to mangle text, but there are ways to
>>> +coerce it into being nice.
>>
>> Can someone describe the problems with just attaching the patch in
>> Thunderbird? It's what Martin says he does on the linked document...
>
> Email clients don't like to quote attachments, even text/plain ones,
> which then makes attached patches much more difficult to review and
> comment on (i.e. you greatly reduce the number of reviewers).

Interestingly, Thunderbird does this right and simply
adds text/plain attachments to the quoted text.

--
Politics is the struggle between those who want to make their country
the best in the world, and those who believe it already is. Each group
calls the other unpatriotic.

2007-09-12 19:53:49

by Peter Zijlstra

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches


On Wed, 2007-09-12 at 15:16 -0400, Rik van Riel wrote:
> Jeff Garzik wrote:
> > Chris Friesen wrote:
> >> Randy Dunlap wrote:
> >>
> >>> +Thunderbird (GUI)
> >>> +
> >>> +By default, thunderbird likes to mangle text, but there are ways to
> >>> +coerce it into being nice.
> >>
> >> Can someone describe the problems with just attaching the patch in
> >> Thunderbird? It's what Martin says he does on the linked document...
> >
> > Email clients don't like to quote attachments, even text/plain ones,
> > which then makes attached patches much more difficult to review and
> > comment on (i.e. you greatly reduce the number of reviewers).
>
> Interestingly, Thunderbird does this right and simply
> adds text/plain attachments to the quoted text.
>

Devolution allows the same, but most other mailers dont. Esp the text
based onces which are the majority under the people you want reviews
from.

2007-09-12 22:36:12

by Stefan Richter

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

>> On Sep 11 2007 21:26, Chris Friesen wrote:
>>> Thunderbird, at least, will automatically inline a single text/plain
>>> attachment when replying. (At least with my current settings, it does.)

I dont know about Thunderbird, but Seamonkey apparently only includes
text/plain attachments in the reply quote if they feature
''Content-Disposition: inline''. It does not include attachments with
''Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="abc123.patch"'' even if
they are text/plain.
--
Stefan Richter
-=====-=-=== =--= -==-=
http://arcgraph.de/sr/

2007-09-12 23:09:36

by Adrian Bunk

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] doc: about email clients for Linux kernel patches

On Wed, Sep 12, 2007 at 09:53:00PM +0200, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
>
> On Wed, 2007-09-12 at 15:16 -0400, Rik van Riel wrote:
> > Jeff Garzik wrote:
> > > Chris Friesen wrote:
> > >> Randy Dunlap wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> +Thunderbird (GUI)
> > >>> +
> > >>> +By default, thunderbird likes to mangle text, but there are ways to
> > >>> +coerce it into being nice.
> > >>
> > >> Can someone describe the problems with just attaching the patch in
> > >> Thunderbird? It's what Martin says he does on the linked document...
> > >
> > > Email clients don't like to quote attachments, even text/plain ones,
> > > which then makes attached patches much more difficult to review and
> > > comment on (i.e. you greatly reduce the number of reviewers).
> >
> > Interestingly, Thunderbird does this right and simply
> > adds text/plain attachments to the quoted text.
>
> Devolution allows the same, but most other mailers dont. Esp the text
> based onces which are the majority under the people you want reviews
> from.

I still prefer patches directly inline, but mutt both is a text based
MUA and defaults to adding text/plain attachments to the quoted text.

cu
Adrian

--

"Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
"Only a promise," Lao Er said.
Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed