240 строки
8.8 KiB
Plaintext
240 строки
8.8 KiB
Plaintext
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.
|
|
|
|
Don't send patches with "format=flowed". This can cause unexpected
|
|
and unwanted line breaks.
|
|
|
|
Don't let your email client do automatic word wrapping for you.
|
|
This can also corrupt your patch.
|
|
|
|
Email clients should not modify the character set encoding of the text.
|
|
Emailed patches should be in ASCII or UTF-8 encoding only.
|
|
If you configure your email client to send emails with UTF-8 encoding,
|
|
you avoid some possible charset problems.
|
|
|
|
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. Using xclipboard, xclip, and/or
|
|
xcutsel may work, but it's best to test this for yourself or just avoid
|
|
copy-and-paste.
|
|
|
|
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.)
|
|
|
|
It's a good idea to send a patch to yourself, save the received message,
|
|
and successfully apply it with 'patch' before sending patches to Linux
|
|
mailing lists.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Some email client (MUA) hints
|
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Here are some specific MUA configuration hints for editing and sending
|
|
patches for the Linux kernel. These are not meant to be complete
|
|
software package configuration summaries.
|
|
|
|
Legend:
|
|
TUI = text-based user interface
|
|
GUI = graphical user interface
|
|
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
Alpine (TUI)
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
Evolution (GUI)
|
|
|
|
Some people use this successfully for patches.
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
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 you can customise the message creation toolbar menu
|
|
and put the "insert file" icon there.
|
|
|
|
Make the the composer window wide enough so that no lines wrap. As of
|
|
KMail 1.13.5 (KDE 4.5.4), KMail will apply word wrapping when sending
|
|
the email if the lines wrap in the composer window. Having word wrapping
|
|
disabled in the Options menu isn't enough. Thus, if your patch has very
|
|
long lines, you must make the composer window very wide before sending
|
|
the email. See: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=174034
|
|
|
|
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 -- there has been a request filed
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
To use 'vim' with mutt:
|
|
set editor="vi"
|
|
|
|
If using xclip, type the command
|
|
:set paste
|
|
before middle button or shift-insert or use
|
|
:r filename
|
|
|
|
if you want to include the patch inline.
|
|
(a)ttach works fine without "set paste".
|
|
|
|
Config options:
|
|
It should work with default settings.
|
|
However, it's a good idea to set the "send_charset" to:
|
|
set send_charset="us-ascii:utf-8"
|
|
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
Pine (TUI)
|
|
|
|
Pine has had some whitespace truncation issues in the past, but these
|
|
should all be fixed now.
|
|
|
|
Use alpine (pine's successor) if you can.
|
|
|
|
Config options:
|
|
- quell-flowed-text is needed for recent versions
|
|
- the "no-strip-whitespace-before-send" option is needed
|
|
|
|
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
Sylpheed (GUI)
|
|
|
|
- Works well for inlining text (or using attachments).
|
|
- Allows use of an external editor.
|
|
- 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)
|
|
|
|
Thunderbird is an Outlook clone that likes to mangle text, but there are ways
|
|
to coerce it into behaving.
|
|
|
|
- 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.
|
|
|
|
To beat some sense out of the internal editor, do this:
|
|
|
|
- Under account settings, composition and addressing, uncheck "Compose
|
|
messages in HTML format".
|
|
|
|
- Edit your Thunderbird config settings so that it won't use format=flowed.
|
|
Go to "edit->preferences->advanced->config editor" to bring up the
|
|
thunderbird's registry editor, and set "mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed" to
|
|
"false".
|
|
|
|
- Enable "preformat" mode: Shft-click on the Write icon to bring up the HTML
|
|
composer, select "Preformat" from the drop-down box just under the subject
|
|
line, then close the message without saving. (This setting also applies to
|
|
the text composer, but the only control for it is in the HTML composer.)
|
|
|
|
- Install the "toggle wordwrap" extension. Download the file from:
|
|
https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/2351/
|
|
Then go to "tools->add ons", select "install" at the bottom of the screen,
|
|
and browse to where you saved the .xul file. This adds an "Enable
|
|
Wordwrap" entry under the Options menu of the message composer.
|
|
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
TkRat (GUI)
|
|
|
|
Works. Use "Insert file..." or external editor.
|
|
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
Gmail (Web GUI)
|
|
|
|
Does not work for sending patches.
|
|
|
|
Gmail web client converts tabs to spaces automatically.
|
|
|
|
At the same time it wraps lines every 78 chars with CRLF style line breaks
|
|
although tab2space problem can be solved with external editor.
|
|
|
|
Another problem is that Gmail will base64-encode any message that has a
|
|
non-ASCII character. That includes things like European names.
|
|
|
|
###
|