mutt indexing (was Re: Orca & tbird issues)
Janina Sajka
janina at rednote.net
Sat Nov 12 14:53:00 UTC 2016
Joel, All:
Fwiw, I would agree a minute is too long. I have some large mbox files,
but my worst searches generally complete in less than 20 seconds or so.
Fwiw, my inbox is saved off to a "saved" mbox every month. In addition I
have a lot of subject/worktask mbox files populated by using procmail
sorting, so a a majority of my mail actually never hits the inbox, e.g.
mail from this list never hits my inbox. Additionally, all my mboxes
live in yearly folders, e.g. 13, 14, 15, 16, and soon 17. I avoid
needing to change my procmail rules by using a symbolic link called
"current" to point to the current year, and all the mbox files that are
consistent year to year have symbolic links pointing into those folders,
e.g. current/linux. I have a bash script that I run each New Year's Eve
at midnight using at that mediates the change over. I have to do just a
little prep work every year to prepare for the turnover, i.e. touch the
mbox file names in the new year's folder.
Also, I find using the online mutt documentation much easier to work
with than the builtin F1 interface:
http://www.mutt.org
You're correct that the tilde limiters are not themselves regular
expressions, but they can be used in usual boulian logic patterns. So,
rather than keep an old cheat sheet, I'd prefer to use a bookmark to the current doc which is:
http://www.mutt.org/doc/manual/
The key to effectively using mutt as a blind user, imo, is getting your
configuration file setup working the way you want your mail handling to
work. There are some essential settings, imo, such as:
set arrow_cursor # use -> instead of hiliting the whole line
Then there are the personal preference settings, such as deciding which
headers you want to see and what editor you want to use writing
messages. Because it's only a mua, you get to personalize your editor of
choice and your mta of choice. And via mailcap you get to view all
manner of attachments you recieve such as docx and pdf files without
leaving mutt.
Every few years I look at other email clients, but I've yet to be
persuaded either by features or by performance to switch. I'm a happy
mutt user for the forseeable future.
Janina
Joel Roth writes:
> I'm okay with regular expressions! It was the mutt command
> syntax, something like ~(~b) that bothered me.
>
> FWIW here is the cheat sheet sent me years ago by Bob Proulx,
> (found by keyword search using mu)
>
> ---quote----------
> With mutt these types of things are very easy. I use
> 'limit' and searching all of the time. Press F1 for the
> manual and look at section "3. Patterns: Searching,
> Limiting".
>
> I keep three months of mailing list history in my mailbox. I have a
> cron that deletes messages older than 90 days. Anything older than
> this and I need to resort to searching the web archive.
>
> I press:
>
> # l for limit
> # ~(...) to include the entire thread around the match
> # ~b to search the body of the message
> l ~(~b skype)
> # wait a few moments while it spins through the mailbox
> # it takes a minute on my machine
> # produces a subset of the mailbox with every thread that mentions
> # skype in the body
> # count the threads
> # collapse all threads to just the single subject lines
> ESC V
> # read the number of of threads from mutt's status bar
> Mutt: =Lists/debian/user [Msgs:28/6539 New:2 Old:9 Post:54 Inc:56 39M
> # 28 threads mentioning skype out of 6539 messages in the last three months
>
>
>
> Janina Sajka wrote:
> > The syntax is worth learning because it's common across Linux
> > applications and the command line. It's generally known as "regular
> > expressions." So, when you learn it, you've got a tool to use in many
> > circumstances.
> >
> > Joel Roth writes:
> > > I was put off the built-in searching by the slowness of my
> > > spinning rust media at the time. Having SSD could help,
> > > as well as learning the syntax ;-)
> > >
> > > Janina Sajka wrote:
> > > > True. But it also provides full search capibilities, including all the
> > > > standard operators like and and not, and all the grouping and piping
> > > > functions. And, it provides the ability to limit each such statement to
> > > > a particular aspect of the mail being searched. I like that a lot, and
> > > > use it all the time.
> > > >
> > > > Joel Roth writes:
> > > > > Most email clients have built-in search, however mutt
> > > > > requires an external indexer. I've done well with mu. It
> > > > > integrates by mapping search to one key (e.g. F8), you input
> > > > > text and ENTER, then hit another key (e.g. F9) to view search
> > > > > result. Takes one more keystroke than I'd like, but works
> > > > > okay.
> > > > >
> > > > > http://www.djcbsoftware.nl/code/mu/
> > > > >
> > > > > Janina Sajka wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Mutt does have one command I absolutely love, and I wonder whether the
> > > > > > gui clients have something similar. There's the usual 'r' for reply to
> > > > > > the sender, and 'g' for reply to all, but I particularly appreciate
> > > > > > Shift+L for "reply only to the lists, and not the individuals."
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I must confess, though, that I'm impressed that people have found a
> > > > > > browser interface to email fully usable. To me this suggests that
> > > > > > familiarity with the particular environment is still the most important
> > > > > > factor for success with whatever one chooses to use.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Janina
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Tim Chase writes:
> > > > > > > On November 9, 2016, Jeffery Mewtamer wrote:
> > > > > > > > Personally, I've never seen the point of e-mail clients and have
> > > > > > > > always used a web browser to check my e-mail.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > I think the big advantage is off-line usage. If you are connected
> > > > > > > all the time and have dual-mode access for redundancy (say, a home
> > > > > > > internet/wifi connection, and a 4G aircard), and don't roam much,
> > > > > > > then a web-based mail client solves a lot of problems. But when
> > > > > > > internet access is spotty or unreliable, it's nice to have full
> > > > > > > access to your email offline. Fortunately, there are lots of
> > > > > > > options, both within the GUI with varying degrees of accessibility
> > > > > > > (Thunderbird, Kmail, Claws Mail, and Evolution come to mind) and
> > > > > > > within the terminal (mutt and alpine being the dominant players, but
> > > > > > > "alot" and mailx/heirloom mailx also come to mind as well as several
> > > > > > > available within emacs).
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > -tim
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > > > Blinux-list mailing list
> > > > > > > Blinux-list at redhat.com
> > > > > > > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
> > > > > >
> > > > > > --
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Janina Sajka, Phone: +1.443.300.2200
> > > > > > sip:janina at asterisk.rednote.net
> > > > > > Email: janina at rednote.net
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Linux Foundation Fellow
> > > > > > Executive Chair, Accessibility Workgroup: http://a11y.org
> > > > > >
> > > > > > The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
> > > > > > Chair, Accessible Platform Architectures http://www.w3.org/wai/apa
> > > > > >
> > > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > > Blinux-list mailing list
> > > > > > Blinux-list at redhat.com
> > > > > > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
> > > > >
> > > > > --
> > > > > Joel Roth
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > Blinux-list mailing list
> > > > > Blinux-list at redhat.com
> > > > > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > >
> > > > Janina Sajka, Phone: +1.443.300.2200
> > > > sip:janina at asterisk.rednote.net
> > > > Email: janina at rednote.net
> > > >
> > > > Linux Foundation Fellow
> > > > Executive Chair, Accessibility Workgroup: http://a11y.org
> > > >
> > > > The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
> > > > Chair, Accessible Platform Architectures http://www.w3.org/wai/apa
> > > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Joel Roth
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Blinux-list mailing list
> > > Blinux-list at redhat.com
> > > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
> >
> > --
> >
> > Janina Sajka, Phone: +1.443.300.2200
> > sip:janina at asterisk.rednote.net
> > Email: janina at rednote.net
> >
> > Linux Foundation Fellow
> > Executive Chair, Accessibility Workgroup: http://a11y.org
> >
> > The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
> > Chair, Accessible Platform Architectures http://www.w3.org/wai/apa
> >
>
> --
> Joel Roth
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Blinux-list mailing list
> Blinux-list at redhat.com
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
--
Janina Sajka, Phone: +1.443.300.2200
sip:janina at asterisk.rednote.net
Email: janina at rednote.net
Linux Foundation Fellow
Executive Chair, Accessibility Workgroup: http://a11y.org
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
Chair, Accessible Platform Architectures http://www.w3.org/wai/apa
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