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 215C4431FBC for ; Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:50:29 -0800 (PST) X-Virus-Scanned: Debian amavisd-new at olra.theworths.org X-Spam-Flag: NO X-Spam-Score: -2.3 X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.3 tagged_above=-999 required=5 tests=[RCVD_IN_DNSWL_MED=-2.3] 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 m5O0bLEuPW-O for ; Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:50:28 -0800 (PST) Received: from outgoing-mail.its.caltech.edu (outgoing-mail.its.caltech.edu [131.215.239.19]) by olra.theworths.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 91788431FAF for ; Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:50:28 -0800 (PST) Received: from fire-doxen.imss.caltech.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by fire-doxen-postvirus (Postfix) with ESMTP id 322F72E50BB3; Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:50:24 -0800 (PST) X-Spam-Scanned: at Caltech-IMSS on fire-doxen by amavisd-new Received: from finestructure.net (cpe-76-166-145-133.socal.res.rr.com [76.166.145.133]) (Authenticated sender: jrollins) by fire-doxen-submit (Postfix) with ESMTP id 372532E50CFF; Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:50:20 -0800 (PST) Received: by finestructure.net (Postfix, from userid 1000) id DD50262219; Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:50:13 -0800 (PST) From: Jameson Graef Rollins To: David Bremner , Jani Nikula , notmuch@notmuchmail.org Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/6] notmuch cli config changes In-Reply-To: <87y5f0fhtd.fsf@zancas.localnet> References: <871ucts54t.fsf@servo.finestructure.net> <87y5f0fhtd.fsf@zancas.localnet> User-Agent: Notmuch/0.15+8~gd4a7374 (http://notmuchmail.org) Emacs/24.2.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:50:11 -0800 Message-ID: <87fw12nf7w.fsf@servo.finestructure.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; boundary="=-=-="; micalg=pgp-sha256; protocol="application/pgp-signature" 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: Tue, 12 Feb 2013 07:50:29 -0000 --=-=-= Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Thu, Feb 07 2013, David Bremner wrote: > In my experience the environment variable is somewhat dangerous to use > while testing. If left set to the wrong value, it can lead the loss of > tag information. I have never noticed this to be an issue, but if it is variables can be applied only at run time as well: NOTMUCH_CONFIG=3D/path/to/foo notmuch .... >> In general, I am a strong advocate of keeping the CLI slim. IMHO, >> adding more options makes the interface clunkier, and the manual harder >> to parse, and I'm against adding things that a normal user would likely >> never use.=20 > > Well, it's are reasonable heuristic, although I might disagree in > general where the cutoff for "normal use" is, as I do in this case. My main point is that shoving every possible thing that can be tweaked into CLI options is imho a bad idea. Look at gpg. The interface is horrible, and the man page is basically impenetrable because it's so loaded with options that it's impossible to figure out how to do the one basic operation you're looking for. But you're right that I'm making a pretty arbitrary distinction. The notmuch CLI already includes options to handle output formatting, etc. that normal users are probably never going to use in their infrequent use of the CLI. In that regard an option to point to a alternate config file doesn't seem that unreasonable. I just don't want to see notmuch fall into the same UI black hole that e.g. gpg did. jamie. --=-=-= Content-Type: application/pgp-signature -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.12 (GNU/Linux) iQIcBAEBCAAGBQJRGfQzAAoJEO00zqvie6q86FUQALPeenSEfwfBZOzgyuKu7llW /9bsGKrBFwOuqie0aMovZxIT+YGrJ4DRFbZujttXyCWSD16jHQb/1hGBiXh+0EKy LkVh0CiXzyIKwmYiNoogXyduAQTS7rU59kms6qazd8xUVq9qxKFEoXVqwrxCowxT XCh7rVnQf81MhQe78AxGzINR+g5lCMSM3NNiWMqDX1bWFdopF42zM+76P+ftOPh2 zBQtJ4bRJYbYpmYt5y2LSH1JrSco3MFKQJJB4HNoFUvYR0jw8ry0lSkW3kzDQ04A K3kUHUgNaOb1FgZAAyZpDMsRueBISFTOJHhTBvA6B7kN47QgxzWgzk53rUYnA4hi Qnt12mutpGZ5nFRIoavswlzX1W69KfCl6TwAPxV7gZaWF8QdxbMRVMB/OXM4NEe1 nIFZCny8MesltyqgT0QjO8DyW7RqjqadorZMUK4bTCNtF7IstelJ57sjgT1kLBnI YAuSjtc6dpt76iMur90rwmzSAGLOm7llC4K67IHGnhuGmlS3CP/vPwq6yK5cmqc0 i8M7KXgmpno9+hPkmFAWGcjbb3dBq9fJAp5Av9he79KjEyNK+s6MB0+9lXVLm67M uKb/OsK49juCHzgirJDkSROtmA6Nsar/Lbb6Qy8LVqTuOti0aZEtK2QgX+1OI6m8 ByKcMBOyugo/y0EW2sZF =YTg1 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --=-=-=--