have "notmuch help" call man?

have "notmuch help" call man?

[David Bremner]

Hi All;

Currently help strings are compiled into the notmuch binary. This is a
bit a of pain, since we have the same help text in two places.
What do you think about having "notmuch help foo" invoke "man
notmuch-foo" and create appropriate man pages (or links).

There are other ways around the maintenance dilemma, including
generating man pages and online help from some common source (e.g. in
the style of id:"1288804736-5173-3-git-send-email-david@tethera.net").

For downsides, it might complicate things slightly for people who
install notmuch in "odd" places. On the other hand, it is no worse than
setting LD_LIBRARY_PATH. Also, there is the question of common text like
search-terms, which could be included in every page, or maybe contained
in man notmuch.

David

Re: have "notmuch help" call man?

[Adam Wolfe Gordon]

On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 09:01, David Bremner <bremner@unb.ca> wrote:
> Currently help strings are compiled into the notmuch binary. This is a
> bit a of pain, since we have the same help text in two places.
> What do you think about having "notmuch help foo" invoke "man
> notmuch-foo" and create appropriate man pages (or links).

I really like this git-style idea.  An additional plus is that long
help (e.g. notmuch help show) would be automatically paged, avoiding a
lot of !!|less.

-- 
Adam Wolfe Gordon

Re: have "notmuch help" call man?

[Kazuo Teramoto]

On 2011-12-16T14:01:42, David Bremner wrote:
>Also, there is the question of common text like search-terms, which
>could be included in every page, or maybe contained in man notmuch.
>

What about continuing the git-foo analogy and creating a notmuch search
terms page. Like how git-log page reference gitrevisions(7) for a
complete description of giving references.

And leave the notmuch page as a table of contents for the others
commands and definitions.

Re: have "notmuch help" call man?

[Jameson Graef Rollins]

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On Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:01:42 -0400, David Bremner <bremner@unb.ca> wrote:
> Currently help strings are compiled into the notmuch binary. This is a
> bit a of pain, since we have the same help text in two places.
> What do you think about having "notmuch help foo" invoke "man
> notmuch-foo" and create appropriate man pages (or links).

Hey, David.  I am absolutely in favor of this idea.  I'm a fan of the
git help interface, so the more we can emulate that, and make it so we
only have to maintain documentation in one place, then that's a huge win
in my mind.

jamie.

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Re: have "notmuch help" call man?

[Tomi Ollila]

On Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:01:42 -0400, David Bremner <bremner@unb.ca> wrote:
> 
> Hi All;
> 
> Currently help strings are compiled into the notmuch binary. This is a
> bit a of pain, since we have the same help text in two places.
> What do you think about having "notmuch help foo" invoke "man
> notmuch-foo" and create appropriate man pages (or links).

+1

> There are other ways around the maintenance dilemma, including
> generating man pages and online help from some common source (e.g. in
> the style of id:"1288804736-5173-3-git-send-email-david@tethera.net").

In that case we dilemma is what would be the most suitable source format
(pod, mdwn, rst, nroff, ...)...

> For downsides, it might complicate things slightly for people who
> install notmuch in "odd" places. On the other hand, it is no worse than
> setting LD_LIBRARY_PATH. Also, there is the question of common text like
> search-terms, which could be included in every page, or maybe contained
> in man notmuch.

Those people who install notmuch in "odd" places (I'm one of those) can
also define MANPATH...

Nroff provides the .so "request" which includes other nroff source.

for example /usr/share/man/man1/zshall.1.gz includes all other zsh
namual pages.

... however it is common to have SEE ALSO at the end of each manual page

SEE ALSO
    notmuch(1), notmuch-search-terms(7)

> 
> David

Tomi

Re: have "notmuch help" call man?

[David Bremner]

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On Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:01:42 -0400, David Bremner <bremner@unb.ca> wrote:

> What do you think about having "notmuch help foo" invoke "man
> notmuch-foo" and create appropriate man pages (or links).

I started on this man page splitting. So far I have just been editing
the documents, which I attach.

The patches are a bit unwieldy, so I'm being a bad person and attaching
a tarball (about 20% of the size) for initial review.

You can also look at the patches in git://pivot.cs.unb.ca/notmuch 
branch split-man


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Re: have "notmuch help" call man?

[David Bremner]

On Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:16:47 -0400, David Bremner <david@tethera.net> wrote:

> You can also look at the patches in git://pivot.cs.unb.ca/notmuch 
> branch split-man

I made some progress.

The man pages are now installed, a notmuch help (built from this branch)
uses them.

The hacks we added to update and check the versions in the man page need
to be re-done or maybe re-thought; perhaps some simple preprocessing
with m4 or equivalent is in order to embed version numbers.

All going well, I'd like to push these relatively soon after we freeze
0.11, so that future documentation changes can take advantage of doing
it in one place.

I'm not sure if posting the patches make sense; it's up to 74k of diffs,
even using "git format-patch -D".  I'm open to suggestions, as always.

d

Re: have "notmuch help" call man?

[Jameson Graef Rollins]

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On Wed, 21 Dec 2011 23:43:09 -0400, David Bremner <david@tethera.net> wrote:
> The man pages are now installed, a notmuch help (built from this branch)
> uses them.

Hey, David this is really great.  Thank you so much for working on this.
This will make things much easier to maintain down the line.

I think what you've done looks great.  A couple small issues:

* There are a couple of formatting issues (notmuch.1, notmuch-config.1,
  notmuch-reply.1).

* The notmuch part command is completely deprecated, so I don't think
  there's really any reason to include a man page for it.

* There's no man page for restore (notmuch-restore.1).

It also occurs to me while looking through this: do we really need a
separate "setup" command?  Does that ever really get run?  Doesn't
notmuch new run the setup if it doesn't detect a config?  If there's
really reason to run it again at a later point, why don't we just have a
--setup option to notmuch new instead?  It would also make notmuch.1
cleaner if we removed it.

> I'm not sure if posting the patches make sense; it's up to 74k of diffs,
> even using "git format-patch -D".  I'm open to suggestions, as always.

While in general I think it's nice to have patches to the list, but I'm
not sure how much benefit there is in this case.  I would be fine to
just see the patch merged directly from your branch.

Again, thanks for the work on this, David.  This 

jamie.

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Re: have "notmuch help" call man?

[David Bremner]

On Wed, 21 Dec 2011 20:53:08 -0800, Jameson Graef Rollins <jrollins@finestructure.net> wrote:

> * There are a couple of formatting issues (notmuch.1, notmuch-config.1,
>   notmuch-reply.1).

I'm sure there are. Can you be more specific? I suspect I might fix a
different set of problems than you found ;).

> * The notmuch part command is completely deprecated, so I don't think
>   there's really any reason to include a man page for it.

I'm not sure if removing that would be "doing too many things at once";
it is in the current man page. But maybe that was an oversight?

> * There's no man page for restore (notmuch-restore.1).

Currently the symlink to notmuch-dump.1.gz is installed at runtime. I
agree this is a bit inconvenient for testing; I think it should work to
have symlinks in the source just for the convenience of testers.

> It also occurs to me while looking through this: do we really need a
> separate "setup" command?  

I guess notmuch-setup is a UI convenience mainly for people who want to
re-run setup.  It doesn't feel as natural to me to run notmuch without
arguments in this case. I couldn't really justify that, though.

Thanks for the review,

David

Re: have "notmuch help" call man?

[David Bremner]

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On Wed, 21 Dec 2011 20:53:08 -0800, Jameson Graef Rollins <jrollins@finestructure.net> wrote:

> I think what you've done looks great.  A couple small issues:
> 
> * There are a couple of formatting issues (notmuch.1, notmuch-config.1,
>   notmuch-reply.1).

Hopefully I caught most of the formatting issues.

> 
> * The notmuch part command is completely deprecated, so I don't think
>   there's really any reason to include a man page for it.

removed.

> 
> * There's no man page for restore (notmuch-restore.1).
> 
There is a link in the source tree now (the link is recreated at install
time); notmuch dump and restore will share options, so I think it makes
sense to be in the same page.

The following changes since commit d61cef374b3234c2f1327fa74b612b40c196a605:

  show: Rewrite show_message_body to use the MIME tree interface. (2011-12-25 22:23:15 -0400)

are available in the git repository at:
  git://pivot.cs.unb.ca/notmuch split-man

HEAD is at 8eaee754e48dc630d83e2f7369bdadde0f34af84

David Bremner (10):
      initial splitting of notmuch.1
      remove notmuch-part from documentation.
      man: add symlinks for notmuch-restore.1 and notmuch-setup.1
      man/*: formatting cleanup
      notmuch.1: smooth wording.
      notmuch-config.1: fix typo
      man/*: fixup page references
      build-system: update for split man pages
      debian: install split man pages.
      notmuch: replace built-in help with exec of man

 Makefile                        |    2 +-
 Makefile.local                  |   22 +-
 debian/notmuch.install          |    2 +-
 man/Makefile                    |    5 +
 man/Makefile.local              |   61 +++
 man/man1/notmuch-config.1       |   54 +++
 man/man1/notmuch-count.1        |   50 +++
 man/man1/notmuch-dump.1         |   62 +++
 man/man1/notmuch-new.1          |   65 ++++
 man/man1/notmuch-reply.1        |   65 ++++
 man/man1/notmuch-restore.1      |    1 +
 man/man1/notmuch-search.1       |  121 ++++++
 man/man1/notmuch-setup.1        |    1 +
 man/man1/notmuch-show.1         |  145 ++++++++
 man/man1/notmuch-tag.1          |   32 ++
 man/man1/notmuch.1              |  148 ++++++++
 man/man5/notmuch-hooks.5        |   48 +++
 man/man7/notmuch-search-terms.7 |  141 +++++++
 notmuch.1                       |  776 ---------------------------------------
 notmuch.c                       |  472 ++----------------------
 20 files changed, 1028 insertions(+), 1245 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 man/Makefile
 create mode 100644 man/Makefile.local
 create mode 100644 man/man1/notmuch-config.1
 create mode 100644 man/man1/notmuch-count.1
 create mode 100644 man/man1/notmuch-dump.1
 create mode 100644 man/man1/notmuch-new.1
 create mode 100644 man/man1/notmuch-reply.1
 create mode 120000 man/man1/notmuch-restore.1
 create mode 100644 man/man1/notmuch-search.1
 create mode 120000 man/man1/notmuch-setup.1
 create mode 100644 man/man1/notmuch-show.1
 create mode 100644 man/man1/notmuch-tag.1
 create mode 100644 man/man1/notmuch.1
 create mode 100644 man/man5/notmuch-hooks.5
 create mode 100644 man/man7/notmuch-search-terms.7
 delete mode 100644 notmuch.1


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Re: have "notmuch help" call man?

[Austin Clements]

Quoth David Bremner on Dec 26 at  8:35 pm:
> The following changes since commit d61cef374b3234c2f1327fa74b612b40c196a605:
> 
>   show: Rewrite show_message_body to use the MIME tree interface. (2011-12-25 22:23:15 -0400)
> 
> are available in the git repository at:
>   git://pivot.cs.unb.ca/notmuch split-man
> 
> HEAD is at 8eaee754e48dc630d83e2f7369bdadde0f34af84

Some comments on "notmuch: replace built-in help with exec of man"

> @@ -534,38 +126,20 @@ notmuch_help_command (unused (void *ctx), int argc, char *argv[])
>      for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE (commands); i++) {
>  	command = &commands[i];
>  
> -	if (strcmp (argv[0], command->name) == 0) {
> -	    printf ("Help for \"notmuch %s\":\n\n", argv[0]);
> -	    if (command->arguments)
> -		printf ("%s %s\n\n\t%s\n\n%s\n\n",
> -			command->name, command->arguments,
> -			command->summary, command->documentation);
> -	    else
> -		printf ("%s\t%s\n\n%s\n\n", command->name,
> -			command->summary, command->documentation);
> -	    return 0;
> +	if (strncmp (argv[0], command->name, strlen (argv[0])) == 0) {

Shouldn't this be strcmp?

> +	    char *page = malloc (strlen (argv[0]) + strlen ("notmuch-") + 1);
> +	    strcpy (page, "notmuch-");
> +	    strcat (page, command->name);

This is fine, but could be cleaner with talloc:
  char *page = talloc_asprintf (ctx, "notmuch-%s", command->name);

> +
> +	    execlp ("man", "man", page, (char *) NULL);
> +	    /* NOTREACHED */

This certainly *can* be reached if the exec fails.  You should print a
helpful error message and exit, maybe something like
  fprintf (stderr, "failed to exec man: %s\n", strerror (errno));
  exit (1);

>  	}
>      }
>  
> -    if (strcmp (argv[0], "search-terms") == 0) {
> -	printf ("Help for <%s>\n\n", argv[0]);
> -	for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE (commands); i++) {
> -	    command = &commands[i];
> -
> -	    if (command->arguments &&
> -		strstr (command->arguments, "search-terms"))
> -	    {
> -		printf ("\t%s\t%s\n",
> -			command->name, command->arguments);
> -	    }
> -	}
> -	printf ("\n");
> -	printf (search_terms_help);
> -	return 0;
> -    } else if (strcmp (argv[0], "hooks") == 0) {
> -	printf ("Help for <%s>\n\n", argv[0]);
> -	printf (hooks_help);
> -	return 0;
> +    if (strncmp (argv[0], "search-terms", strlen (argv[0])) == 0) {
> +	execlp ("man", "man", "notmuch-search-terms", (char *) NULL);
> +    } else if (strncmp (argv[0], "hooks", strlen (argv[0])) == 0) {
> +	execlp ("man", "man", "notmuch-hooks", (char *) NULL);

Same comments about strncmp and exec failing for the above four lines.
It might make sense to merge all of the exec calls in to one to
centralize the error handling.

>      }
>  
>      fprintf (stderr,

[PATCH v3] notmuch: replace built-in help with exec of man

[David Bremner]

From: David Bremner <bremner@debian.org>

Since we lose the fancy scanning of the commands for which ones take
search terms, the search terms page SYNOPSIS should be updated.
---
 notmuch.c |  482 +++++--------------------------------------------------------
 1 files changed, 35 insertions(+), 447 deletions(-)

diff --git a/notmuch.c b/notmuch.c
index c0ce026..477a09c 100644
--- a/notmuch.c
+++ b/notmuch.c
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ typedef struct command {
     command_function_t function;
     const char *arguments;
     const char *summary;
-    const char *documentation;
 } command_t;
 
 #define MAX_ALIAS_SUBSTITUTIONS 3
@@ -47,447 +46,40 @@ alias_t aliases[] = {
 static int
 notmuch_help_command (void *ctx, int argc, char *argv[]);
 
-static const char search_terms_help[] =
-    "\tSeveral notmuch commands accept a common syntax for search\n"
-    "\tterms.\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\tThe search terms can consist of free-form text (and quoted\n"
-    "\tphrases) which will match all messages that contain all of\n"
-    "\tthe given terms/phrases in the body, the subject, or any of\n"
-    "\tthe sender or recipient headers.\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\tAs a special case, a search string consisting of exactly a\n"
-    "\tsingle asterisk (\"*\") will match all messages.\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\tIn addition to free text, the following prefixes can be used\n"
-    "\tto force terms to match against specific portions of an email,\n"
-    "\t(where <brackets> indicate user-supplied values):\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\t\tfrom:<name-or-address>\n"
-    "\t\tto:<name-or-address>\n"
-    "\t\tsubject:<word-or-quoted-phrase>\n"
-    "\t\tattachment:<word>\n"
-    "\t\ttag:<tag> (or is:<tag>)\n"
-    "\t\tid:<message-id>\n"
-    "\t\tthread:<thread-id>\n"
-    "\t\tfolder:<directory-path>\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\tThe from: prefix is used to match the name or address of\n"
-    "\tthe sender of an email message.\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\tThe to: prefix is used to match the names or addresses of\n"
-    "\tany recipient of an email message, (whether To, Cc, or Bcc).\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\tAny term prefixed with subject: will match only text from\n"
-    "\tthe subject of an email. Quoted phrases are supported when\n"
-    "\tsearching with: subject:\"this is a phrase\".\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\tFor tag: and is:, valid tag values include \"inbox\" and \"unread\"\n"
-    "\tby default for new messages added by \"notmuch new\" as well\n"
-    "\tas any other tag values added manually with \"notmuch tag\".\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\tFor id:, message ID values are the literal contents of the\n"
-    "\tMessage-ID: header of email messages, but without the '<','>'\n"
-    "\tdelimiters.\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\tThe thread: prefix can be used with the thread ID values that\n"
-    "\tare generated internally by notmuch (and do not appear in email\n"
-    "\tmessages). These thread ID values can be seen in the first\n"
-    "\tcolumn of output from \"notmuch search\".\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\tThe folder: prefix can be used to search for email message\n"
-    "\tfiles that are contained within particular directories within\n"
-    "\tthe mail store. Only the directory components below the top-level\n"
-    "\tmail database path are available to be searched.\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\tIn addition to individual terms, multiple terms can be\n"
-    "\tcombined with Boolean operators (\"and\", \"or\", \"not\", etc.).\n"
-    "\tEach term in the query will be implicitly connected by a\n"
-    "\tlogical AND if no explicit operator is provided, (except\n"
-    "\tthat terms with a common prefix will be implicitly combined\n"
-    "\twith OR until we get Xapian defect #402 fixed).\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\tParentheses can also be used to control the combination of\n"
-    "\tthe Boolean operators, but will have to be protected from\n"
-    "\tinterpretation by the shell, (such as by putting quotation\n"
-    "\tmarks around any parenthesized expression).\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\tFinally, results can be restricted to only messages within a\n"
-    "\tparticular time range, (based on the Date: header) with:\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\t\t<intial-timestamp>..<final-timestamp>\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\tEach timestamp is a number representing the number of seconds\n"
-    "\tsince 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC. This is not the most convenient\n"
-    "\tmeans of expressing date ranges, but until notmuch is fixed to\n"
-    "\taccept a more convenient form, one can use the date program to\n"
-    "\tconstruct timestamps. For example, with the bash shell the\n"
-    "\tfollowing syntax would specify a date range to return messages\n"
-    "\tfrom 2009-10-01 until the current time:\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\t\t$(date +%%s -d 2009-10-01)..$(date +%%s)\n\n";
-
-static const char hooks_help[] =
-    "\tHooks are scripts (or arbitrary executables or symlinks to such) that\n"
-    "\tnotmuch invokes before and after certain actions. These scripts reside\n"
-    "\tin the .notmuch/hooks directory within the database directory and must\n"
-    "\thave executable permissions.\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\tThe currently available hooks are described below.\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\tpre-new\n"
-    "\t\tThis hook is invoked by the new command before scanning or\n"
-    "\t\timporting new messages into the database. If this hook exits\n"
-    "\t\twith a non-zero status, notmuch will abort further processing\n"
-    "\t\tof the new command.\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\t\tTypically this hook is used for fetching or delivering new\n"
-    "\t\tmail to be imported into the database.\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\tpost-new\n"
-    "\t\tThis hook is invoked by the new command after new messages\n"
-    "\t\thave been imported into the database and initial tags have\n"
-    "\t\tbeen applied. The hook will not be run if there have been any\n"
-    "\t\terrors during the scan or import.\n"
-    "\n"
-    "\t\tTypically this hook is used to perform additional query-based\n"
-    "\t\ttagging on the imported messages.\n\n";
-
 static command_t commands[] = {
     { "setup", notmuch_setup_command,
       NULL,
-      "Interactively setup notmuch for first use.",
-      "\tThe setup command will prompt for your full name, your primary\n"
-      "\temail address, any alternate email addresses you use, and the\n"
-      "\tdirectory containing your email archives. Your answers will be\n"
-      "\twritten to a configuration file in ${NOTMUCH_CONFIG} (if set)\n"
-      "\tor ${HOME}/.notmuch-config.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tThis configuration file will be created with descriptive\n"
-      "\tcomments, making it easy to edit by hand later to change the\n"
-      "\tconfiguration. Or you can run \"notmuch setup\" again.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tInvoking notmuch with no command argument will run setup if\n"
-      "\tthe setup command has not previously been completed." },
+      "Interactively setup notmuch for first use." },
     { "new", notmuch_new_command,
       "[options...]",
-      "Find and import new messages to the notmuch database.",
-      "\tScans all sub-directories of the mail directory, performing\n"
-      "\tfull-text indexing on new messages that are found. Each new\n"
-      "\tmessage will be tagged as both \"inbox\" and \"unread\".\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tYou should run \"notmuch new\" once after first running\n"
-      "\t\"notmuch setup\" to create the initial database. The first\n"
-      "\trun may take a long time if you have a significant amount of\n"
-      "\tmail (several hundred thousand messages or more).\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tSubsequently, you should run \"notmuch new\" whenever new mail\n"
-      "\tis delivered and you wish to incorporate it into the database.\n"
-      "\tThese subsequent runs will be much quicker than the initial run.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tThe new command supports hooks. See \"notmuch help hooks\" for\n"
-      "\tmore details on hooks.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tSupported options for new include:\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t--no-hooks\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tPrevent hooks from being run.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t--verbose\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tVerbose operation. Shows paths of message files as\n"
-      "\t\tthey are being indexed.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tInvoking notmuch with no command argument will run new if\n"
-      "\tthe setup command has previously been completed, but new has\n"
-      "\tnot previously been run." },
+      "Find and import new messages to the notmuch database." },
     { "search", notmuch_search_command,
       "[options...] <search-terms> [...]",
-      "Search for messages matching the given search terms.",
-      "\tNote that the individual mail messages will be matched\n"
-      "\tagainst the search terms, but the results will be the\n"
-      "\tthreads (one per line) containing the matched messages.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tSupported options for search include:\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t--format=(json|text)\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tPresents the results in either JSON or\n"
-      "\t\tplain-text (default)\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t--output=(summary|threads|messages|files|tags)\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tsummary (default)\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tOutput a summary of each thread with any message matching the\n"
-      "\t\tsearch terms. The summary includes the thread ID, date, the\n"
-      "\t\tnumber of messages in the thread (both the number matched and\n"
-      "\t\tthe total number), the authors of the thread and the subject.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tthreads\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tOutput the thread IDs of all threads with any message matching\n"
-      "\t\tthe search terms, either one per line (--format=text) or as a\n"
-      "\t\tJSON array (--format=json).\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tmessages\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tOutput the message IDs of all messages matching the search\n"
-      "\t\tterms, either one per line (--format=text) or as a JSON array\n"
-      "\t\t(--format=json).\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tfiles\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tOutput the filenames of all messages matching the search\n"
-      "\t\tterms, either one per line (--format=text) or as a JSON array\n"
-      "\t\t(--format=json).\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\ttags\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tOutput all tags that appear on any message matching the search\n"
-      "\t\tterms, either one per line (--format=text) or as a JSON array\n"
-      "\t\t(--format=json).\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t--sort=(newest-first|oldest-first)\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tPresent results in either chronological order\n"
-      "\t\t(oldest-first) or reverse chronological order\n"
-      "\t\t(newest-first), which is the default.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t--offset=[-]N\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tSkip displaying the first N results. With the leading '-',\n"
-      "\t\tstart at the Nth result from the end.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t--limit=N\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tLimit the number of displayed results to N.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tSee \"notmuch help search-terms\" for details of the search\n"
-      "\tterms syntax." },
+      "Search for messages matching the given search terms." },
     { "show", notmuch_show_command,
       "<search-terms> [...]",
-      "Show all messages matching the search terms.",
-      "\tThe messages are grouped and sorted based on the threading\n"
-      "\t(all replies to a particular message appear immediately\n"
-      "\tafter that message in date order).\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tSupported options for show include:\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t--entire-thread\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tBy default only those messages that match the\n"
-      "\t\tsearch terms will be displayed. With this option,\n"
-      "\t\tall messages in the same thread as any matched\n"
-      "\t\tmessage will be displayed.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t--format=(text|json|mbox|raw)\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\ttext (default for messages)\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tThe default plain-text format has all text-content MIME parts\n"
-      "\t\tdecoded. Various components in the output, ('message', 'header',\n"
-      "\t\t'body', 'attachment', and MIME 'part') are delimited by\n"
-      "\t\teasily-parsed markers. Each marker consists of a Control-L\n"
-      "\t\tcharacter (ASCII decimal 12), the name of the marker, and\n"
-      "\t\tthen either an opening or closing brace, '{' or '}' to\n"
-      "\t\teither open or close the component. For a multipart MIME\n"
-      "\t\tmessage, these parts will be nested.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tjson\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tThe output is formatted with Javascript Object Notation\n"
-      "\t\t(JSON). This format is more robust than the text format\n"
-      "\t\tfor automated processing. The nested structure of multipart\n"
-      "\t\tMIME messages is reflected in nested JSON output. JSON\n"
-      "\t\toutput always includes all messages in a matching thread;\n"
-      "\t\tin effect '--format=json' implies '--entire-thread'\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tmbox\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tAll matching messages are output in the traditional, Unix\n"
-      "\t\tmbox format with each message being prefixed by a line\n"
-      "\t\tbeginning with 'From ' and a blank line separating each\n"
-      "\t\tmessage. Lines in the message content beginning with 'From '\n"
-      "\t\t(preceded by zero or more '>' characters) have an additional\n"
-      "\t\t'>' character added. This reversible escaping is termed\n"
-      "\t\t\"mboxrd\" format and described in detail here:\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\thttp://homepage.ntlworld.com/jonathan.deboynepollard/FGA/mail-mbox-formats.html\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\traw (default for a single part, see --part)\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tFor a message, the original, raw content of the email\n"
-      "\t\tmessage is output. Consumers of this format should\n"
-      "\t\texpect to implement MIME decoding and similar functions.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tFor a single part (--part) the raw part content is output\n"
-      "\t\tafter performing any necessary MIME decoding.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tThe raw format must only be used with search terms matching\n"
-      "\t\tsingle message.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t--part=N\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tOutput the single decoded MIME part N of a single message.\n"
-      "\t\tThe search terms must match only a single message.\n"
-      "\t\tMessage parts are numbered in a depth-first walk of the\n"
-      "\t\tmessage MIME structure, and are identified in the 'json' or\n"
-      "\t\t'text' output formats.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t--verify\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tCompute and report the validity of any MIME cryptographic\n"
-      "\t\tsignatures found in the selected content (ie.\n"
-      "\t\t\"multipart/signed\" parts). Status of the signature will be\n"
-      "\t\treported (currently only supported with --format=json) and\n"
-      "\t\tthe multipart/signed part will be replaced by the signed data.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t--decrypt\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tDecrypt any MIME encrypted parts found in the selected content\n"
-      "\t\t(ie. \"multipart/encrypted\" parts). Status of the decryption\n"
-      "\t\twill be reported (currently only supported with --format=json)\n"
-      "\t\tand the multipart/encrypted part will be replaced by the\n"
-      "\t\tdecrypted content.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tA common use of \"notmuch show\" is to display a single\n"
-      "\tthread of email messages. For this, use a search term of\n"
-      "\t\"thread:<thread-id>\" as can be seen in the first column\n"
-      "\tof output from the \"notmuch search\" command.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tSee \"notmuch help search-terms\" for details of the search\n"
-      "\tterms syntax." },
+      "Show all messages matching the search terms." },
     { "count", notmuch_count_command,
       "[options...] <search-terms> [...]",
-      "Count messages matching the search terms.",
-      "\tThe number of matching messages (or threads) is output to stdout.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tWith no search terms, a count of all messages (or threads) in\n"
-      "\tthe database will be displayed.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tSupported options for count include:\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t--output=(messages|threads)\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tmessages (default)\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tOutput the number of matching messages.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tthreads\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tOutput the number of matching threads.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tSee \"notmuch help search-terms\" for details of the search\n"
-      "\tterms syntax." },
+      "Count messages matching the search terms." },
     { "reply", notmuch_reply_command,
       "[options...] <search-terms> [...]",
-      "Construct a reply template for a set of messages.",
-      "\tConstructs a new message as a reply to a set of existing\n"
-      "\tmessages. The Reply-To: header (if any, otherwise From:) is\n"
-      "\tused for the To: address. The To: and Cc: headers are copied,\n"
-      "\tbut not including any of the user's configured addresses.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tA suitable subject is constructed. The In-Reply-to: and\n"
-      "\tReferences: headers are set appropriately, and the content\n"
-      "\tof the original messages is quoted and included in the body\n"
-      "\t(unless --format=headers-only is given).\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tThe resulting message template is output to stdout.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tSupported options for reply include:\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t--format=(default|headers-only)\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tdefault:\n"
-      "\t\t\tIncludes subject and quoted message body.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\theaders-only:\n"
-      "\t\t\tOnly produces In-Reply-To, References, To\n"
-      "\t\t\tCc, and Bcc headers.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tSee \"notmuch help search-terms\" for details of the search\n"
-      "\tterms syntax." },
+      "Construct a reply template for a set of messages." },
     { "tag", notmuch_tag_command,
-      "+<tag>|-<tag> [...] [--] <search-terms> [...]",
-      "Add/remove tags for all messages matching the search terms.",
-      "\tThe search terms are handled exactly as in 'search' so one\n"
-      "\tcan use that command first to see what will be modified.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tTags prefixed by '+' are added while those prefixed by\n"
-      "\t'-' are removed. For each message, tag removal is performed\n"
-      "\tbefore tag addition.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tThe beginning of <search-terms> is recognized by the first\n"
-      "\targument that begins with neither '+' nor '-'. Support for\n"
-      "\tan initial search term beginning with '+' or '-' is provided\n"
-      "\tby allowing the user to specify a \"--\" argument to separate\n"
-      "\tthe tags from the search terms.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tSee \"notmuch help search-terms\" for details of the search\n"
-      "\tterms syntax." },
+      "+<tag>|-<tag> [...] [--] <search-terms> [...]" ,
+      "Add/remove tags for all messages matching the search terms." },
     { "dump", notmuch_dump_command,
       "[<filename>] [--] [<search-terms>]",
-      "Create a plain-text dump of the tags for each message.",
-      "\tOutput is to the given filename, if any, or to stdout.\n"
-      "\tNote that using the filename argument is deprecated.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tThese tags are the only data in the notmuch database\n"
-      "\tthat can't be recreated from the messages themselves.\n"
-      "\tThe output of notmuch dump is therefore the only\n"
-      "\tcritical thing to backup (and much more friendly to\n"
-      "\tincremental backup than the native database files.)\n" 
-      "\n"
-      "\tWith no search terms, a dump of all messages in the\n"
-      "\tdatabase will be generated. A \"--\" argument instructs\n"
-      "\tnotmuch that the remaining arguments are search terms.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tSee \"notmuch help search-terms\" for the search-term syntax.\n"      
- },
+      "Create a plain-text dump of the tags for each message." },
     { "restore", notmuch_restore_command,
       "[--accumulate] [<filename>]",
-      "Restore the tags from the given dump file (see 'dump').",
-      "\tInput is read from the given filename, if any, or from stdin.\n"
-      "\tNote: The dump file format is specifically chosen to be\n"
-      "\tcompatible with the format of files produced by sup-dump.\n"
-      "\tSo if you've previously been using sup for mail, then the\n"
-      "\t\"notmuch restore\" command provides you a way to import\n"
-      "\tall of your tags (or labels as sup calls them).\n"
-      "\tThe --accumulate switch causes the union of the existing and new\n"
-      "\ttags to be applied, instead of replacing each message's tags as\n"
-      "\tthey are read in from the dump file."},
+      "Restore the tags from the given dump file (see 'dump')." },
     { "config", notmuch_config_command,
       "[get|set] <section>.<item> [value ...]",
-      "Get or set settings in the notmuch configuration file.",
-      "    config get <section>.<item>\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tThe value of the specified configuration item is printed\n"
-      "\tto stdout. If the item has multiple values, each value\n"
-      "\tis separated by a newline character.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tAvailable configuration items include at least\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\t\tdatabase.path\n"
-      "\t\tuser.name\n"
-      "\t\tuser.primary_email\n"
-      "\t\tuser.other_email\n"
-      "\t\tnew.tags\n"
-      "\n"
-      "    config set <section>.<item> [value ...]\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tThe specified configuration item is set to the given value.\n"
-      "\tTo specify a multiple-value item, provide each value as\n"
-      "\ta separate command-line argument.\n"
-      "\n"
-      "\tIf no values are provided, the specified configuration item\n"
-      "\twill be removed from the configuration file." },
+      "Get or set settings in the notmuch configuration file." },
     { "help", notmuch_help_command,
       "[<command>]",
-      "This message, or more detailed help for the named command.",
-      "\tExcept in this case, where there's not much more detailed\n"
-      "\thelp available." }
+      "This message, or more detailed help for the named command." }
 };
 
 static void
@@ -517,8 +109,17 @@ usage (FILE *out)
     "and \"notmuch help search-terms\" for the common search-terms syntax.\n\n");
 }
 
+static void
+exec_man (const char *page)
+{
+    if (execlp ("man", "man", page, (char *) NULL)) {
+	perror ("exec man");
+	exit (1);
+    }
+}
+
 static int
-notmuch_help_command (unused (void *ctx), int argc, char *argv[])
+notmuch_help_command (void *ctx, int argc, char *argv[])
 {
     command_t *command;
     unsigned int i;
@@ -531,41 +132,28 @@ notmuch_help_command (unused (void *ctx), int argc, char *argv[])
 	return 0;
     }
 
+    if (strcmp (argv[0], "help") == 0) {
+	printf ("The notmuch help system.\n\n"
+		"\tNotmuch uses the man command to display help. In case\n"
+		"\tof difficulties check that MANPATH includes the pages\n"
+		"\tinstalled by notmuch.\n\n"
+		"\tTry \"notmuch help\" for a list of topics.\n");
+	return 0;
+    }
+
     for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE (commands); i++) {
 	command = &commands[i];
 
 	if (strcmp (argv[0], command->name) == 0) {
-	    printf ("Help for \"notmuch %s\":\n\n", argv[0]);
-	    if (command->arguments)
-		printf ("%s %s\n\n\t%s\n\n%s\n\n",
-			command->name, command->arguments,
-			command->summary, command->documentation);
-	    else
-		printf ("%s\t%s\n\n%s\n\n", command->name,
-			command->summary, command->documentation);
-	    return 0;
+	    char *page = talloc_asprintf (ctx, "notmuch-%s", command->name);
+	    exec_man (page);
 	}
     }
 
     if (strcmp (argv[0], "search-terms") == 0) {
-	printf ("Help for <%s>\n\n", argv[0]);
-	for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE (commands); i++) {
-	    command = &commands[i];
-
-	    if (command->arguments &&
-		strstr (command->arguments, "search-terms"))
-	    {
-		printf ("\t%s\t%s\n",
-			command->name, command->arguments);
-	    }
-	}
-	printf ("\n");
-	printf (search_terms_help);
-	return 0;
+	exec_man ("notmuch-search-terms");
     } else if (strcmp (argv[0], "hooks") == 0) {
-	printf ("Help for <%s>\n\n", argv[0]);
-	printf (hooks_help);
-	return 0;
+	exec_man ("notmuch-hooks");
     }
 
     fprintf (stderr,
-- 
1.7.7.3

Re: [PATCH v3] notmuch: replace built-in help with exec of man

[David Bremner]

On Thu, 29 Dec 2011 09:11:16 -0400, David Bremner <david@tethera.net> wrote:
> From: David Bremner <bremner@debian.org>
> 
> Since we lose the fancy scanning of the commands for which ones take
> search terms, the search terms page SYNOPSIS should be updated.

Here is a more sensible commit message, given that I already did update
the notmuch-search-terms synopis

commit eb1cae6a3a2eda0878357dfddba846c33c11d585
Author: David Bremner <bremner@debian.org>
Date:   Wed Dec 21 21:45:59 2011 -0400

    notmuch: replace built-in help with exec of man
    
    "notmuch help" now relies on a working man installation, and a correct
    setting of MANPATH, for users that install in "unusual" places. This
    should probably noted in NEWS before shipping.
    
    There is still some small duplication of docs as the one line
    summaries are hard coded in the binary. This seems preferable to
    complicated script games, at least as long was we are using a
    presentation level markup like nroff.

 notmuch.c |  482 +++++--------------------------------------------------------
 1 files changed, 35 insertions(+), 447 deletions(-)

Re: [PATCH v3] notmuch: replace built-in help with exec of man

[Austin Clements]

The C side looks good to me (with the updated commit message).  I
can't speak for the nroff side.

Quoth David Bremner on Dec 29 at  9:11 am:
> From: David Bremner <bremner@debian.org>
> 
> Since we lose the fancy scanning of the commands for which ones take
> search terms, the search terms page SYNOPSIS should be updated.
> ---
>  notmuch.c |  482 +++++--------------------------------------------------------
>  1 files changed, 35 insertions(+), 447 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/notmuch.c b/notmuch.c
> index c0ce026..477a09c 100644
> --- a/notmuch.c
> +++ b/notmuch.c
> @@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ typedef struct command {
>      command_function_t function;
>      const char *arguments;
>      const char *summary;
> -    const char *documentation;
>  } command_t;
>  
>  #define MAX_ALIAS_SUBSTITUTIONS 3
> @@ -47,447 +46,40 @@ alias_t aliases[] = {
>  static int
>  notmuch_help_command (void *ctx, int argc, char *argv[]);
>  
> -static const char search_terms_help[] =
> -    "\tSeveral notmuch commands accept a common syntax for search\n"
> -    "\tterms.\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\tThe search terms can consist of free-form text (and quoted\n"
> -    "\tphrases) which will match all messages that contain all of\n"
> -    "\tthe given terms/phrases in the body, the subject, or any of\n"
> -    "\tthe sender or recipient headers.\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\tAs a special case, a search string consisting of exactly a\n"
> -    "\tsingle asterisk (\"*\") will match all messages.\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\tIn addition to free text, the following prefixes can be used\n"
> -    "\tto force terms to match against specific portions of an email,\n"
> -    "\t(where <brackets> indicate user-supplied values):\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\t\tfrom:<name-or-address>\n"
> -    "\t\tto:<name-or-address>\n"
> -    "\t\tsubject:<word-or-quoted-phrase>\n"
> -    "\t\tattachment:<word>\n"
> -    "\t\ttag:<tag> (or is:<tag>)\n"
> -    "\t\tid:<message-id>\n"
> -    "\t\tthread:<thread-id>\n"
> -    "\t\tfolder:<directory-path>\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\tThe from: prefix is used to match the name or address of\n"
> -    "\tthe sender of an email message.\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\tThe to: prefix is used to match the names or addresses of\n"
> -    "\tany recipient of an email message, (whether To, Cc, or Bcc).\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\tAny term prefixed with subject: will match only text from\n"
> -    "\tthe subject of an email. Quoted phrases are supported when\n"
> -    "\tsearching with: subject:\"this is a phrase\".\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\tFor tag: and is:, valid tag values include \"inbox\" and \"unread\"\n"
> -    "\tby default for new messages added by \"notmuch new\" as well\n"
> -    "\tas any other tag values added manually with \"notmuch tag\".\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\tFor id:, message ID values are the literal contents of the\n"
> -    "\tMessage-ID: header of email messages, but without the '<','>'\n"
> -    "\tdelimiters.\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\tThe thread: prefix can be used with the thread ID values that\n"
> -    "\tare generated internally by notmuch (and do not appear in email\n"
> -    "\tmessages). These thread ID values can be seen in the first\n"
> -    "\tcolumn of output from \"notmuch search\".\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\tThe folder: prefix can be used to search for email message\n"
> -    "\tfiles that are contained within particular directories within\n"
> -    "\tthe mail store. Only the directory components below the top-level\n"
> -    "\tmail database path are available to be searched.\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\tIn addition to individual terms, multiple terms can be\n"
> -    "\tcombined with Boolean operators (\"and\", \"or\", \"not\", etc.).\n"
> -    "\tEach term in the query will be implicitly connected by a\n"
> -    "\tlogical AND if no explicit operator is provided, (except\n"
> -    "\tthat terms with a common prefix will be implicitly combined\n"
> -    "\twith OR until we get Xapian defect #402 fixed).\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\tParentheses can also be used to control the combination of\n"
> -    "\tthe Boolean operators, but will have to be protected from\n"
> -    "\tinterpretation by the shell, (such as by putting quotation\n"
> -    "\tmarks around any parenthesized expression).\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\tFinally, results can be restricted to only messages within a\n"
> -    "\tparticular time range, (based on the Date: header) with:\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\t\t<intial-timestamp>..<final-timestamp>\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\tEach timestamp is a number representing the number of seconds\n"
> -    "\tsince 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC. This is not the most convenient\n"
> -    "\tmeans of expressing date ranges, but until notmuch is fixed to\n"
> -    "\taccept a more convenient form, one can use the date program to\n"
> -    "\tconstruct timestamps. For example, with the bash shell the\n"
> -    "\tfollowing syntax would specify a date range to return messages\n"
> -    "\tfrom 2009-10-01 until the current time:\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\t\t$(date +%%s -d 2009-10-01)..$(date +%%s)\n\n";
> -
> -static const char hooks_help[] =
> -    "\tHooks are scripts (or arbitrary executables or symlinks to such) that\n"
> -    "\tnotmuch invokes before and after certain actions. These scripts reside\n"
> -    "\tin the .notmuch/hooks directory within the database directory and must\n"
> -    "\thave executable permissions.\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\tThe currently available hooks are described below.\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\tpre-new\n"
> -    "\t\tThis hook is invoked by the new command before scanning or\n"
> -    "\t\timporting new messages into the database. If this hook exits\n"
> -    "\t\twith a non-zero status, notmuch will abort further processing\n"
> -    "\t\tof the new command.\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\t\tTypically this hook is used for fetching or delivering new\n"
> -    "\t\tmail to be imported into the database.\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\tpost-new\n"
> -    "\t\tThis hook is invoked by the new command after new messages\n"
> -    "\t\thave been imported into the database and initial tags have\n"
> -    "\t\tbeen applied. The hook will not be run if there have been any\n"
> -    "\t\terrors during the scan or import.\n"
> -    "\n"
> -    "\t\tTypically this hook is used to perform additional query-based\n"
> -    "\t\ttagging on the imported messages.\n\n";
> -
>  static command_t commands[] = {
>      { "setup", notmuch_setup_command,
>        NULL,
> -      "Interactively setup notmuch for first use.",
> -      "\tThe setup command will prompt for your full name, your primary\n"
> -      "\temail address, any alternate email addresses you use, and the\n"
> -      "\tdirectory containing your email archives. Your answers will be\n"
> -      "\twritten to a configuration file in ${NOTMUCH_CONFIG} (if set)\n"
> -      "\tor ${HOME}/.notmuch-config.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tThis configuration file will be created with descriptive\n"
> -      "\tcomments, making it easy to edit by hand later to change the\n"
> -      "\tconfiguration. Or you can run \"notmuch setup\" again.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tInvoking notmuch with no command argument will run setup if\n"
> -      "\tthe setup command has not previously been completed." },
> +      "Interactively setup notmuch for first use." },
>      { "new", notmuch_new_command,
>        "[options...]",
> -      "Find and import new messages to the notmuch database.",
> -      "\tScans all sub-directories of the mail directory, performing\n"
> -      "\tfull-text indexing on new messages that are found. Each new\n"
> -      "\tmessage will be tagged as both \"inbox\" and \"unread\".\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tYou should run \"notmuch new\" once after first running\n"
> -      "\t\"notmuch setup\" to create the initial database. The first\n"
> -      "\trun may take a long time if you have a significant amount of\n"
> -      "\tmail (several hundred thousand messages or more).\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tSubsequently, you should run \"notmuch new\" whenever new mail\n"
> -      "\tis delivered and you wish to incorporate it into the database.\n"
> -      "\tThese subsequent runs will be much quicker than the initial run.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tThe new command supports hooks. See \"notmuch help hooks\" for\n"
> -      "\tmore details on hooks.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tSupported options for new include:\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t--no-hooks\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tPrevent hooks from being run.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t--verbose\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tVerbose operation. Shows paths of message files as\n"
> -      "\t\tthey are being indexed.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tInvoking notmuch with no command argument will run new if\n"
> -      "\tthe setup command has previously been completed, but new has\n"
> -      "\tnot previously been run." },
> +      "Find and import new messages to the notmuch database." },
>      { "search", notmuch_search_command,
>        "[options...] <search-terms> [...]",
> -      "Search for messages matching the given search terms.",
> -      "\tNote that the individual mail messages will be matched\n"
> -      "\tagainst the search terms, but the results will be the\n"
> -      "\tthreads (one per line) containing the matched messages.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tSupported options for search include:\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t--format=(json|text)\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tPresents the results in either JSON or\n"
> -      "\t\tplain-text (default)\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t--output=(summary|threads|messages|files|tags)\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tsummary (default)\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tOutput a summary of each thread with any message matching the\n"
> -      "\t\tsearch terms. The summary includes the thread ID, date, the\n"
> -      "\t\tnumber of messages in the thread (both the number matched and\n"
> -      "\t\tthe total number), the authors of the thread and the subject.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tthreads\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tOutput the thread IDs of all threads with any message matching\n"
> -      "\t\tthe search terms, either one per line (--format=text) or as a\n"
> -      "\t\tJSON array (--format=json).\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tmessages\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tOutput the message IDs of all messages matching the search\n"
> -      "\t\tterms, either one per line (--format=text) or as a JSON array\n"
> -      "\t\t(--format=json).\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tfiles\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tOutput the filenames of all messages matching the search\n"
> -      "\t\tterms, either one per line (--format=text) or as a JSON array\n"
> -      "\t\t(--format=json).\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\ttags\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tOutput all tags that appear on any message matching the search\n"
> -      "\t\tterms, either one per line (--format=text) or as a JSON array\n"
> -      "\t\t(--format=json).\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t--sort=(newest-first|oldest-first)\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tPresent results in either chronological order\n"
> -      "\t\t(oldest-first) or reverse chronological order\n"
> -      "\t\t(newest-first), which is the default.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t--offset=[-]N\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tSkip displaying the first N results. With the leading '-',\n"
> -      "\t\tstart at the Nth result from the end.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t--limit=N\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tLimit the number of displayed results to N.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tSee \"notmuch help search-terms\" for details of the search\n"
> -      "\tterms syntax." },
> +      "Search for messages matching the given search terms." },
>      { "show", notmuch_show_command,
>        "<search-terms> [...]",
> -      "Show all messages matching the search terms.",
> -      "\tThe messages are grouped and sorted based on the threading\n"
> -      "\t(all replies to a particular message appear immediately\n"
> -      "\tafter that message in date order).\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tSupported options for show include:\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t--entire-thread\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tBy default only those messages that match the\n"
> -      "\t\tsearch terms will be displayed. With this option,\n"
> -      "\t\tall messages in the same thread as any matched\n"
> -      "\t\tmessage will be displayed.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t--format=(text|json|mbox|raw)\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\ttext (default for messages)\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tThe default plain-text format has all text-content MIME parts\n"
> -      "\t\tdecoded. Various components in the output, ('message', 'header',\n"
> -      "\t\t'body', 'attachment', and MIME 'part') are delimited by\n"
> -      "\t\teasily-parsed markers. Each marker consists of a Control-L\n"
> -      "\t\tcharacter (ASCII decimal 12), the name of the marker, and\n"
> -      "\t\tthen either an opening or closing brace, '{' or '}' to\n"
> -      "\t\teither open or close the component. For a multipart MIME\n"
> -      "\t\tmessage, these parts will be nested.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tjson\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tThe output is formatted with Javascript Object Notation\n"
> -      "\t\t(JSON). This format is more robust than the text format\n"
> -      "\t\tfor automated processing. The nested structure of multipart\n"
> -      "\t\tMIME messages is reflected in nested JSON output. JSON\n"
> -      "\t\toutput always includes all messages in a matching thread;\n"
> -      "\t\tin effect '--format=json' implies '--entire-thread'\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tmbox\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tAll matching messages are output in the traditional, Unix\n"
> -      "\t\tmbox format with each message being prefixed by a line\n"
> -      "\t\tbeginning with 'From ' and a blank line separating each\n"
> -      "\t\tmessage. Lines in the message content beginning with 'From '\n"
> -      "\t\t(preceded by zero or more '>' characters) have an additional\n"
> -      "\t\t'>' character added. This reversible escaping is termed\n"
> -      "\t\t\"mboxrd\" format and described in detail here:\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\thttp://homepage.ntlworld.com/jonathan.deboynepollard/FGA/mail-mbox-formats.html\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\traw (default for a single part, see --part)\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tFor a message, the original, raw content of the email\n"
> -      "\t\tmessage is output. Consumers of this format should\n"
> -      "\t\texpect to implement MIME decoding and similar functions.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tFor a single part (--part) the raw part content is output\n"
> -      "\t\tafter performing any necessary MIME decoding.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tThe raw format must only be used with search terms matching\n"
> -      "\t\tsingle message.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t--part=N\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tOutput the single decoded MIME part N of a single message.\n"
> -      "\t\tThe search terms must match only a single message.\n"
> -      "\t\tMessage parts are numbered in a depth-first walk of the\n"
> -      "\t\tmessage MIME structure, and are identified in the 'json' or\n"
> -      "\t\t'text' output formats.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t--verify\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tCompute and report the validity of any MIME cryptographic\n"
> -      "\t\tsignatures found in the selected content (ie.\n"
> -      "\t\t\"multipart/signed\" parts). Status of the signature will be\n"
> -      "\t\treported (currently only supported with --format=json) and\n"
> -      "\t\tthe multipart/signed part will be replaced by the signed data.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t--decrypt\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tDecrypt any MIME encrypted parts found in the selected content\n"
> -      "\t\t(ie. \"multipart/encrypted\" parts). Status of the decryption\n"
> -      "\t\twill be reported (currently only supported with --format=json)\n"
> -      "\t\tand the multipart/encrypted part will be replaced by the\n"
> -      "\t\tdecrypted content.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tA common use of \"notmuch show\" is to display a single\n"
> -      "\tthread of email messages. For this, use a search term of\n"
> -      "\t\"thread:<thread-id>\" as can be seen in the first column\n"
> -      "\tof output from the \"notmuch search\" command.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tSee \"notmuch help search-terms\" for details of the search\n"
> -      "\tterms syntax." },
> +      "Show all messages matching the search terms." },
>      { "count", notmuch_count_command,
>        "[options...] <search-terms> [...]",
> -      "Count messages matching the search terms.",
> -      "\tThe number of matching messages (or threads) is output to stdout.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tWith no search terms, a count of all messages (or threads) in\n"
> -      "\tthe database will be displayed.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tSupported options for count include:\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t--output=(messages|threads)\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tmessages (default)\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tOutput the number of matching messages.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tthreads\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tOutput the number of matching threads.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tSee \"notmuch help search-terms\" for details of the search\n"
> -      "\tterms syntax." },
> +      "Count messages matching the search terms." },
>      { "reply", notmuch_reply_command,
>        "[options...] <search-terms> [...]",
> -      "Construct a reply template for a set of messages.",
> -      "\tConstructs a new message as a reply to a set of existing\n"
> -      "\tmessages. The Reply-To: header (if any, otherwise From:) is\n"
> -      "\tused for the To: address. The To: and Cc: headers are copied,\n"
> -      "\tbut not including any of the user's configured addresses.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tA suitable subject is constructed. The In-Reply-to: and\n"
> -      "\tReferences: headers are set appropriately, and the content\n"
> -      "\tof the original messages is quoted and included in the body\n"
> -      "\t(unless --format=headers-only is given).\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tThe resulting message template is output to stdout.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tSupported options for reply include:\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t--format=(default|headers-only)\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tdefault:\n"
> -      "\t\t\tIncludes subject and quoted message body.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\theaders-only:\n"
> -      "\t\t\tOnly produces In-Reply-To, References, To\n"
> -      "\t\t\tCc, and Bcc headers.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tSee \"notmuch help search-terms\" for details of the search\n"
> -      "\tterms syntax." },
> +      "Construct a reply template for a set of messages." },
>      { "tag", notmuch_tag_command,
> -      "+<tag>|-<tag> [...] [--] <search-terms> [...]",
> -      "Add/remove tags for all messages matching the search terms.",
> -      "\tThe search terms are handled exactly as in 'search' so one\n"
> -      "\tcan use that command first to see what will be modified.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tTags prefixed by '+' are added while those prefixed by\n"
> -      "\t'-' are removed. For each message, tag removal is performed\n"
> -      "\tbefore tag addition.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tThe beginning of <search-terms> is recognized by the first\n"
> -      "\targument that begins with neither '+' nor '-'. Support for\n"
> -      "\tan initial search term beginning with '+' or '-' is provided\n"
> -      "\tby allowing the user to specify a \"--\" argument to separate\n"
> -      "\tthe tags from the search terms.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tSee \"notmuch help search-terms\" for details of the search\n"
> -      "\tterms syntax." },
> +      "+<tag>|-<tag> [...] [--] <search-terms> [...]" ,
> +      "Add/remove tags for all messages matching the search terms." },
>      { "dump", notmuch_dump_command,
>        "[<filename>] [--] [<search-terms>]",
> -      "Create a plain-text dump of the tags for each message.",
> -      "\tOutput is to the given filename, if any, or to stdout.\n"
> -      "\tNote that using the filename argument is deprecated.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tThese tags are the only data in the notmuch database\n"
> -      "\tthat can't be recreated from the messages themselves.\n"
> -      "\tThe output of notmuch dump is therefore the only\n"
> -      "\tcritical thing to backup (and much more friendly to\n"
> -      "\tincremental backup than the native database files.)\n" 
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tWith no search terms, a dump of all messages in the\n"
> -      "\tdatabase will be generated. A \"--\" argument instructs\n"
> -      "\tnotmuch that the remaining arguments are search terms.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tSee \"notmuch help search-terms\" for the search-term syntax.\n"      
> - },
> +      "Create a plain-text dump of the tags for each message." },
>      { "restore", notmuch_restore_command,
>        "[--accumulate] [<filename>]",
> -      "Restore the tags from the given dump file (see 'dump').",
> -      "\tInput is read from the given filename, if any, or from stdin.\n"
> -      "\tNote: The dump file format is specifically chosen to be\n"
> -      "\tcompatible with the format of files produced by sup-dump.\n"
> -      "\tSo if you've previously been using sup for mail, then the\n"
> -      "\t\"notmuch restore\" command provides you a way to import\n"
> -      "\tall of your tags (or labels as sup calls them).\n"
> -      "\tThe --accumulate switch causes the union of the existing and new\n"
> -      "\ttags to be applied, instead of replacing each message's tags as\n"
> -      "\tthey are read in from the dump file."},
> +      "Restore the tags from the given dump file (see 'dump')." },
>      { "config", notmuch_config_command,
>        "[get|set] <section>.<item> [value ...]",
> -      "Get or set settings in the notmuch configuration file.",
> -      "    config get <section>.<item>\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tThe value of the specified configuration item is printed\n"
> -      "\tto stdout. If the item has multiple values, each value\n"
> -      "\tis separated by a newline character.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tAvailable configuration items include at least\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\t\tdatabase.path\n"
> -      "\t\tuser.name\n"
> -      "\t\tuser.primary_email\n"
> -      "\t\tuser.other_email\n"
> -      "\t\tnew.tags\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "    config set <section>.<item> [value ...]\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tThe specified configuration item is set to the given value.\n"
> -      "\tTo specify a multiple-value item, provide each value as\n"
> -      "\ta separate command-line argument.\n"
> -      "\n"
> -      "\tIf no values are provided, the specified configuration item\n"
> -      "\twill be removed from the configuration file." },
> +      "Get or set settings in the notmuch configuration file." },
>      { "help", notmuch_help_command,
>        "[<command>]",
> -      "This message, or more detailed help for the named command.",
> -      "\tExcept in this case, where there's not much more detailed\n"
> -      "\thelp available." }
> +      "This message, or more detailed help for the named command." }
>  };
>  
>  static void
> @@ -517,8 +109,17 @@ usage (FILE *out)
>      "and \"notmuch help search-terms\" for the common search-terms syntax.\n\n");
>  }
>  
> +static void
> +exec_man (const char *page)
> +{
> +    if (execlp ("man", "man", page, (char *) NULL)) {
> +	perror ("exec man");
> +	exit (1);
> +    }
> +}
> +
>  static int
> -notmuch_help_command (unused (void *ctx), int argc, char *argv[])
> +notmuch_help_command (void *ctx, int argc, char *argv[])
>  {
>      command_t *command;
>      unsigned int i;
> @@ -531,41 +132,28 @@ notmuch_help_command (unused (void *ctx), int argc, char *argv[])
>  	return 0;
>      }
>  
> +    if (strcmp (argv[0], "help") == 0) {
> +	printf ("The notmuch help system.\n\n"
> +		"\tNotmuch uses the man command to display help. In case\n"
> +		"\tof difficulties check that MANPATH includes the pages\n"
> +		"\tinstalled by notmuch.\n\n"
> +		"\tTry \"notmuch help\" for a list of topics.\n");
> +	return 0;
> +    }
> +
>      for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE (commands); i++) {
>  	command = &commands[i];
>  
>  	if (strcmp (argv[0], command->name) == 0) {
> -	    printf ("Help for \"notmuch %s\":\n\n", argv[0]);
> -	    if (command->arguments)
> -		printf ("%s %s\n\n\t%s\n\n%s\n\n",
> -			command->name, command->arguments,
> -			command->summary, command->documentation);
> -	    else
> -		printf ("%s\t%s\n\n%s\n\n", command->name,
> -			command->summary, command->documentation);
> -	    return 0;
> +	    char *page = talloc_asprintf (ctx, "notmuch-%s", command->name);
> +	    exec_man (page);
>  	}
>      }
>  
>      if (strcmp (argv[0], "search-terms") == 0) {
> -	printf ("Help for <%s>\n\n", argv[0]);
> -	for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE (commands); i++) {
> -	    command = &commands[i];
> -
> -	    if (command->arguments &&
> -		strstr (command->arguments, "search-terms"))
> -	    {
> -		printf ("\t%s\t%s\n",
> -			command->name, command->arguments);
> -	    }
> -	}
> -	printf ("\n");
> -	printf (search_terms_help);
> -	return 0;
> +	exec_man ("notmuch-search-terms");
>      } else if (strcmp (argv[0], "hooks") == 0) {
> -	printf ("Help for <%s>\n\n", argv[0]);
> -	printf (hooks_help);
> -	return 0;
> +	exec_man ("notmuch-hooks");
>      }
>  
>      fprintf (stderr,

Re: [PATCH v3] notmuch: replace built-in help with exec of man

[David Bremner]

On Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:50:49 -0500, Austin Clements <amdragon@MIT.EDU> wrote:
> The C side looks good to me (with the updated commit message).  I
> can't speak for the nroff side.

I have pushed this series. We may have to tidy up a few things in the
man pages as people find them. Most of the text is identical to the
previous man page (this being the main advantage of staying with nroff
for now).

d