From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by olra.theworths.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8D9B7431FAF for ; Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:30:00 -0700 (PDT) X-Virus-Scanned: Debian amavisd-new at olra.theworths.org X-Spam-Flag: NO X-Spam-Score: -0.798 X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.798 tagged_above=-999 required=5 tests=[DKIM_SIGNED=0.1, DKIM_VALID=-0.1, DKIM_VALID_AU=-0.1, FAKE_REPLY_C=0.001, FREEMAIL_FROM=0.001, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_LOW=-0.7] autolearn=disabled Received: from olra.theworths.org ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (olra.theworths.org [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id ATkBsrpkyCsm for ; Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:29:58 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mail-wi0-f179.google.com (mail-wi0-f179.google.com [209.85.212.179]) (using TLSv1 with cipher RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by olra.theworths.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 539CB431FAE for ; Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:29:58 -0700 (PDT) Received: by wibhn6 with SMTP id hn6so1212008wib.2 for ; Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:29:55 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=date:from:to:cc:subject:message-id:mime-version:content-type :content-disposition:in-reply-to:user-agent; bh=Q6/SBm0bUlgxQmez8TeE16jCQJUeN80HjUCfmY3YMGQ=; b=c3R9G3P/6EyMVIGag9gMgR8MXA00cTLxxC5FgqZRi8uhO+95ti1cOC9UpTAyjDD3zT SiYnusHaWqphsh2vwf32YK/RxKOlcI8pqxP9Wg6zrJIUl6VJ5RgiAiqRwkuqPUHxhHCp UbZSqIcPZ6022GJFAOhXCKfYzCPyoWXWR3oG7+ilALF7+qRwpxHwcb3mQ8QFVHHreH0F +6KsCa+CKpgWXwbPLqjT6nX376IEmSmefk6qW89Bu9eprTn7FH5GJpb0eeQvRRjXiSLM pZIdJYEcdvpZME3o8ZBbNdJ4584fbfXLf+gS2jz3lARy4PlbLO4xgrqW20+jm34CK43V /pZw== Received: by 10.180.93.4 with SMTP id cq4mr1948907wib.21.1331936995808; Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:29:55 -0700 (PDT) Received: from sid.nuvreauspam ([92.86.142.199]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id ff2sm3576533wib.9.2012.03.16.15.29.53 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:29:54 -0700 (PDT) Received: by sid.nuvreauspam (Postfix, from userid 1077) id 64014C02EE; Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:29:52 +0200 (EET) Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:29:52 +0200 From: Andrei POPESCU To: Austin Clements , David Bremner Subject: Re: [RFC] http://notmuchmail.org/searching/ [was: Re: Improving notmuch query documentation] Message-ID: <20120316222952.GA4510@sid.nuvreauspam> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha256; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="xHFwDpU9dbj6ez1V" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <87r4wso5d8.fsf@convex-new.cs.unb.ca> <20120316021124.GD2670@mit.edu> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15) Cc: notmuch@notmuchmail.org X-BeenThere: notmuch@notmuchmail.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.13 Precedence: list List-Id: "Use and development of the notmuch mail system." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2012 22:30:00 -0000 --xHFwDpU9dbj6ez1V Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Jo, 15 mar 12, 22:11:24, Austin Clements wrote: > Quoth Andrei POPESCU on Mar 16 at 2:30 am: > >=20 > > $ notmuch help search-terms | wc -l > > 88 > >=20 > > IMHO that text is better suited for a manpage, the help should be just = a=20 > > (very short) reference to refresh ones memory. What do you think? >=20 > I'm not quite sure what you mean. That text is the man page. Though > it sounds like a great idea to have a quick syntax reference at the > top of the manpage so it's the first thing people see when they run > 'notmuch help search-terms' (and they can still scroll down to get the > details if they want). On Vi, 16 mar 12, 13:52:35, David Bremner wrote: > On Fri, 16 Mar 2012 02:30:53 +0200, Andrei POPESCU wrote: >=20 > I'm less worried about the length of the documentation than about > fragmentation. So I think if something is reference material, it should > go in the man pages, or at least ship with notmuch. What I mean is that 'notmuch help search-terms' is too verbose. IMHO=20 there should be very good reasons to have it longer than 20 lines or so.=20 Instead it's the entire section 'SEARCH SYNTAX' from the manpage. This opinion is based also on what I see around at other terminal=20 applications. The '--help' is seldom longer than a few lines and just=20 lists the available options and parameters (more like a refresher). The=20 manpage then explains them in more detail. As I see it, the manpage (specifically section 'SEARCH SYNTAX' needs to=20 be expanded somewhat and 'help search-terms' shortened (a lot). Does this make sense? Kind regards, Andrei --=20 If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. (Albert Einstein) --xHFwDpU9dbj6ez1V Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" Content-Description: Digital signature -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.12 (GNU/Linux) iQEcBAEBCAAGBQJPY77gAAoJEHNWs3jeoi3pHeEIAJXTx2q7Hi04Amibtq2VaRqS J6fDpTUVab8YJ3Ou8HFVDxN4KreCo+tOC9AD0ravVo/6qSzXG1U4vAmRNLbWkVRL yrY3BTrGOBUrFwMSsj3X2yY7BrCzkWp0vL/JcnnN/5D2wo5gUv7OU/B5k7vDlh4S G+YcwNy1KoGZaCPaFn1eDjYER9P0yzbyCFQMxc4ZlZbtfJBaY/UQU8F9/HaDXkX4 +lwVOUVdkiX1JJedXevrI/NmlWer8QAeoptLavxTvWOaa/TrsuyRfppPPR3+Gexj eLmbSdM6fOy+lytumG7EakQ87m6+Q7vn6PerCcCmhPlxZ44ZQRdN43Jlz6V4EkQ= =0rRx -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --xHFwDpU9dbj6ez1V--