Re: Thunderbird woes, was: Re: patch submission process, was Re: [PATCH v6 06/16] merge_recursive: abort properly upon errors

From: Michael J Gruber <git@drmicha.warpmail.net>
Date: Aug 9, 2016, 11:55 UTC
Message-ID: <1daae316-8527-8c43-95fe-58d8421721bd@drmicha.warpmail.net>
In-Reply-To: <CANQwDwe7_op_L9UkmFUO39s7z9t4xgS+Ui_2FkA3oKG7T5wBxA@mail.gmail.com>

Jakub Narębski venit, vidit, dixit 09.08.2016 10:24:

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> On 9 August 2016 at 10:11, Michael J Gruber <git@drmicha.warpmail.net> wrote:
> 
>> My own setup
>> ============
>>
>> My usual MUA is Thunderbird because of its integration with calendars
>> and address books. I usually read and post to mailing lists via
>> nntp/gmane, that works best for me for several reasons (e.g. archive
>> available when I need it).
>>
>> For git-ml, I had to learn early on to answer by e-mail to git-ml rather
>> than by nntp-reply because proper nntp-replies somehow didn't meet the
>> expectations of the e-mail users (double copies because of the cc-policy
>> or such, I don't remember).
> 
> I use either KNode or Thunderbird with NNTP/Gmane, and I don't have
> any problems when doing "Reply All" even if I forget to remove nntp-reply.
> You should do reply-all anyway, because not everyone is subscribed,
> and not everyone uses nntp-ml.

There used to be a problem (many years ago), so let's see...

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> 
>> I use git sendemail even for small throw-in patches because the git-ml
>> does not allow attachments but wants patches (files) as in-line text,
>> and Thunderbird possibly reformats text (because it's text, you know).
> 
> For some strange reason Thunderbird used as NNTP reader does not
> screw up with whitespace, while Thunderbird used as email client does.
> Al least it did last time I forgot to create new email in its NNTP reader.

You mean, "format fl[ao]wed" is not used when posting via NNTP? That still wouldn't help with reply all.

> Note that git-format-patch has Thunderbird subsection in the
> "MUA specific hints" section.

I know, but that changes config (esp. wrap+flowed) for all e-mails. I would be nice if using an external editor would turn off TB's mangling.

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>> When I want to try out a proposed patch I have to "save message" and run
>> git-am because patches don't come as file attachments on the git-ml
>> (can't use "save/open attachment"+ git-apply) nor a PR (can't use git
>> fetch nor view in browser).
> 
> Inline are preferred over attachment because it is easier to review
> and comment on online patches. Anyway, it is the same amount of
> steps, and git-am preserves commit message.

I know why we do that, but attachments are there for a reason (stable transport), and sending attached patches would be much easier for many MUAs. It just shows that for nowadays usage of e-mail (not withstanding Junio's historic remarks), using in-line text as a stable transport is really "very special", to put it mildly.

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>>                                        If it's a series, I have to do that for each
>> invididual patch, which usually means I simply don't (or rely on Junio
>> doing it and fetch his xy/topic branch).
> 
> I think you can save-all on the whole thread...

I'll definitely try, thanks.

Michael