Searching on arbitrary message headers

Searching on arbitrary message headers

[eric casteleijn]

Hi list,

after a tip from a colleague I've installed notmuch over the weekend, 
and I'm impressed with its speed and flexibility to the point that I'd 
really like to switch to using it exclusively.

To be able to do that there is one thing I need that I haven't figured 
out how to do yet, or indeed if it's possible at all currently: Is there 
a way to search in arbitrary headers? From initial experimentation, it 
seems not: I can search in headers that are explicitly indexed, such as 
subject:, to: and from:, or in the body text, but it does not seem that 
the raw message is indexed, and I've not found a way to add additional 
indexes.

My specific use case is that I get a lot of automated mail from 
launchpad, which uses headers like 'X-Launchpad-Message-Rationale' to 
indicate why a particular message is being delivered to me. Thunderbird 
allows me to filter on arbitrary headers, which means I can divert 
messages that are unlikely to need my attention so that they don't hit 
my inbox.

I realize that indexing the raw message is probably not a good idea, 
since for instance the routing of a particular message is unlikely to be 
of interest, but I was wondering if there is a way to specify additional 
headers to be indexed by notmuch, or if not, if others would find this a 
worthwhile addition?

-- 
eric casteleijn
https://code.launchpad.net/~thisfred
http://thisfred.posterous.com/

Re: Searching on arbitrary message headers

[Michal Sojka]

On Tue, 27 Jul 2010, eric casteleijn wrote:
> I realize that indexing the raw message is probably not a good idea, 
> since for instance the routing of a particular message is unlikely to be 
> of interest, but I was wondering if there is a way to specify additional 
> headers to be indexed by notmuch, or if not, if others would find this a 
> worthwhile addition?

Hi Eric,

from notmuch/TODO:

  Add support for the user to specify custom headers to be indexed (and
  re-index these for existing messages at the next database upgrade).

I think that Carl has plans to implement this feature for v0.4 together
with other changes which require changing the database schema. But given
the burstiness of notmuch development I can really say when that will
happen. Of course, patches are welcomed :-)

-Michal

Re: Searching on arbitrary message headers

[eric casteleijn]

> Hi Eric,
>
> from notmuch/TODO:
>
>    Add support for the user to specify custom headers to be indexed (and
>    re-index these for existing messages at the next database upgrade).
>
> I think that Carl has plans to implement this feature for v0.4 together
> with other changes which require changing the database schema. But given
> the burstiness of notmuch development I can really say when that will
> happen. Of course, patches are welcomed :-)

Awesome, thanks, I hadn't checked out the TODO. I'll be available for 
user testing when the time comes. I might try my hand at a patch but 
don't anybody hold their breath.

-- 
eric casteleijn
https://code.launchpad.net/~thisfred
http://thisfred.posterous.com/