a few suggestions for the docu
Motivation: I have been using mutt for nearly 10 years, comming from unix-mail and elm under various operating systems. I have to admit, that I never read the 165 pages of the manual but relied on "man mutt" and "man muttrc", but first of all on the sample muttrc-file that comes with the distribution. As I install mutt on a new system I use the sample muttrc file and tailor it to my needs; so I am familiar with some of the settings suggested and commented there. BTW, in my current environment - Ubuntu 12.4 - pressing F1 does NOT bring up the mutt-manual, but the manual of the gnome-termial in which it is run. When I realized that looking at my outbox the index showed my email-address, not that of the recipient as I would have prefered, I was not aware of the possibility to change this via folder-hook, index_format, and alternates. So I asked on the list, which is, as Derek Martin pointed out, "by far the fastest way to get the answer, if you can find a group of people who have the knowledge and a willingness to help." This has generated a lot of traffic on the list, some kind and helpful, some not so friendly. I was pointed to index_format, and found there: %F author name, or recipient name if the message is from you but did not understand the concept of "from you": how knows mutt who is me? I was then directed to the alternates command, and found "That's the purpose of the alternates command: It takes a list of regular expressions, each of which can identify an address under which you receive e-mail." This again confused me: I wanted a decision based on the From: field, so I was thinking of sending, not receiving. <\Motivation> Suggestions: Enhance the manual as follows: 1. %F author name, or recipient name if the message is from you. A message is considered "from you" if the From: field matches one of the entries in the alternates list. (Here "alternates" should be a link to the relevant manual entry) 2. In the alternates explanation: It takes a list of regular expressions, each of which can identify an address under which you receive or send e-mail. It may be used in the index_format with the format-string %F to indicate that a message is from you (Here "index_format" should be a link to the relevant manual entry) 3. When writing this message I had a hard time to find the relevant parts of the manual. One would, e.g., expect a list of all variables in http://mutt-ng.berlios.de/manual/variables.html Not so. Just obsolete variables are shown (and now valid counterparts). So index_format is there, alternates not. If a complete list exists somewhere, I was not able to find it. Thanks for listening, ulrich
Re: a few suggestions for the docu
* Ulrich Lauther [04-13-14 08:43]: I believe your suggestions are very good and applicable and would enhance the docu... > 3. > > When writing this message I had a hard time to find the relevant parts > of the manual. > One would, e.g., expect a list of all variables in > http://mutt-ng.berlios.de/manual/variables.html > > Not so. Just obsolete variables are shown (and now valid counterparts). > So index_format is there, alternates not. > > If a complete list exists somewhere, I was not able to find it. If you would read the " see: 11. Alternative addresses http://mutt-ng.berlios.de/manual/ch03s11.html It is quite well explained here, but I agree that there is little to lead one to this "chapter", Alternative addresses, w/o prior understanding it refers to "your" expected mailing addresses. -- (paka)Patrick Shanahan Plainfield, Indiana, USA @ptilopteri http://en.opensuse.orgopenSUSE Community Memberfacebook/ptilopteri http://wahoo.no-ip.orgPhoto Album: http://wahoo.no-ip.org/gallery2 Registered Linux User #207535@ http://linuxcounter.net
Re: a few suggestions for the docu
On 13.04.14 14:42, Ulrich Lauther wrote: > BTW, in my current environment - Ubuntu 12.4 - pressing F1 does NOT > bring up the mutt-manual, but the manual of the gnome-termial in which > it is run. The mutt manual is a most worthwhile reference. If you haven't yet liberated F1 from GUI clutches, then do you at least have (e.g.): /usr/local/share/doc/mutt/manual.txt or /usr/share/doc/mutt/manual.txt.gz A quick: $ locate manual.txt should reveal candidates. Even if not hooked up to F1, you could just view it with your favourite text editor. Alternatively, here is my note to myself from the last time F1 drew a blank: Debug: F1 fails to find the manual. Diagn: "locate manual.txt" showed /usr/share/doc/mutt/manual.txt.gz Fix: gunzip That manual is more descriptive than a manpage, but it is almost always the case that it is difficult to find _how_ to perform an unfamiliar task, because manpage/manual descriptions are orthogonal to that - they merely describe _what_ configuration options are available. That's why it is often most efficient to ask a question on the list - after having poked around in the manual for suitable config options. Mentioning such research in the post helps to mollify unhelpful grumps who may be uptight for any number of reasons, from not enough (or too much) coffee, to not being allowed to open their easter eggs yet. Erik -- Don't take life so serious, son, it ain't nohow permanent. - Walt Kelly
[ulrich.laut...@t-online.de: Re: a few suggestions for the docu]
On Sun, Apr 13, 2014 at 09:23:07AM -0400, Patrick Shanahan wrote: > > So index_format is there, alternates not. > > > > If a complete list exists somewhere, I was not able to find it. > > If you would read the " > > see: 11. Alternative addresses > http://mutt-ng.berlios.de/manual/ch03s11.html > sure. But my complaint was, that there is no quick reference to ALL configuration variables, at least not where one would expect. If you look at the TOC you see 7. Reference 1. Command line options 2. Patterns 3. Configuration Commands 4. Configuration variables So you click happily on "Configuration variables" and find Table 7.3. Reference: Obsolete Variables Not what you were hoping to find. ulrich
Re: a few suggestions for the docu
On 2014-04-13, Ulrich Lauther wrote: > BTW, in my current environment - Ubuntu 12.4 - pressing F1 does NOT > bring up the mutt-manual, but the manual of the gnome-termial in which > it is run. To work around this, you can execute :push where all those characters are typed literally, followed by the Enter key. Regards, Gary
[ulrich.laut...@t-online.de: Re: a few suggestions for the docu]
Again I hit "r" instead of "L", sorry So here again: - Forwarded message from Ulrich Lauther - On Sun, Apr 13, 2014 at 12:37:00PM -0700, Gary Johnson wrote: > On 2014-04-13, Ulrich Lauther wrote: > > > BTW, in my current environment - Ubuntu 12.4 - pressing F1 does NOT > > bring up the mutt-manual, but the manual of the gnome-termial in which > > it is run. > > To work around this, you can execute > > :push > > where all those characters are typed literally, followed by the > Enter key. > yep, that does it. Thank you! > Regards, ulrich - End forwarded message -
Re: [ulrich.laut...@t-online.de: Re: a few suggestions for the docu]
On 13.04.14 22:00, Ulrich Lauther wrote: > Again I hit "r" instead of "L", sorry Ulrich, in the last two posts you are also somehow stripping the normal "In-Reply-To:" and "References:" headers, thus ripping those replies out of the thread. The subject line is also changed, thus defeating mutt's pseudo-threading ability, which could have rescued a single mistake. Do you think you could fix that? If you do not have threading set in .muttrc, please try setting it one-off, with an "ot" command, to show how your last two posts are orphaned. Erik -- Due to circumstances beyond our control, we regret to inform you that circumstances are beyond our control.-Paul Benoit
