Documentation/email-clients.txt

   1 Email clients info for Linux
   2 ======================================================================
   3
   4 Git
   5 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
   6 These days most developers use `git send-email` instead of regular
   7 email clients.  The man page for this is quite good.  On the receiving
   8 end, maintainers use `git am` to apply the patches.
   9
  10 If you are new to git then send your first patch to yourself.  Save it
  11 as raw text including all the headers.  Run `git am raw_email.txt` and
  12 then review the changelog with `git log`.  When that works then send
  13 the patch to the appropriate mailing list(s).
  14
  15 General Preferences
  16 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  17 Patches for the Linux kernel are submitted via email, preferably as
  18 inline text in the body of the email.  Some maintainers accept
  19 attachments, but then the attachments should have content-type
  20 "text/plain".  However, attachments are generally frowned upon because
  21 it makes quoting portions of the patch more difficult in the patch
  22 review process.
  23
  24 Email clients that are used for Linux kernel patches should send the
  25 patch text untouched.  For example, they should not modify or delete tabs
  26 or spaces, even at the beginning or end of lines.
  27
  28 Don't send patches with "format=flowed".  This can cause unexpected
  29 and unwanted line breaks.
  30
  31 Don't let your email client do automatic word wrapping for you.
  32 This can also corrupt your patch.
  33
  34 Email clients should not modify the character set encoding of the text.
  35 Emailed patches should be in ASCII or UTF-8 encoding only.
  36 If you configure your email client to send emails with UTF-8 encoding,
  37 you avoid some possible charset problems.
  38
  39 Email clients should generate and maintain References: or In-Reply-To:
  40 headers so that mail threading is not broken.
  41
  42 Copy-and-paste (or cut-and-paste) usually does not work for patches
  43 because tabs are converted to spaces.  Using xclipboard, xclip, and/or
  44 xcutsel may work, but it's best to test this for yourself or just avoid
  45 copy-and-paste.
  46
  47 Don't use PGP/GPG signatures in mail that contains patches.
  48 This breaks many scripts that read and apply the patches.
  49 (This should be fixable.)
  50
  51 It's a good idea to send a patch to yourself, save the received message,
  52 and successfully apply it with 'patch' before sending patches to Linux
  53 mailing lists.
  54
  55
  56 Some email client (MUA) hints
  57 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  58 Here are some specific MUA configuration hints for editing and sending
  59 patches for the Linux kernel.  These are not meant to be complete
  60 software package configuration summaries.
  61
  62 Legend:
  63 TUI = text-based user interface
  64 GUI = graphical user interface
  65
  66 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  67 Alpine (TUI)
  68
  69 Config options:
  70 In the "Sending Preferences" section:
  71
  72 - "Do Not Send Flowed Text" must be enabled
  73 - "Strip Whitespace Before Sending" must be disabled
  74
  75 When composing the message, the cursor should be placed where the patch
  76 should appear, and then pressing CTRL-R let you specify the patch file
  77 to insert into the message.
  78
  79 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  80 Claws Mail (GUI)
  81
  82 Works. Some people use this successfully for patches.
  83
  84 To insert a patch use Message->Insert File (CTRL+i) or an external editor.
  85
  86 If the inserted patch has to be edited in the Claws composition window
  87 "Auto wrapping" in Configuration->Preferences->Compose->Wrapping should be
  88 disabled.
  89
  90 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  91 Evolution (GUI)
  92
  93 Some people use this successfully for patches.
  94
  95 When composing mail select: Preformat
  96   from Format->Heading->Preformatted (Ctrl-7)
  97   or the toolbar
  98
  99 Then use:
 100   Insert->Text File... (Alt-n x)
 101 to insert the patch.
 102
 103 You can also "diff -Nru old.c new.c | xclip", select Preformat, then
 104 paste with the middle button.
 105
 106 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 107 Kmail (GUI)
 108
 109 Some people use Kmail successfully for patches.
 110
 111 The default setting of not composing in HTML is appropriate; do not
 112 enable it.
 113
 114 When composing an email, under options, uncheck "word wrap". The only
 115 disadvantage is any text you type in the email will not be word-wrapped
 116 so you will have to manually word wrap text before the patch. The easiest
 117 way around this is to compose your email with word wrap enabled, then save
 118 it as a draft. Once you pull it up again from your drafts it is now hard
 119 word-wrapped and you can uncheck "word wrap" without losing the existing
 120 wrapping.
 121
 122 At the bottom of your email, put the commonly-used patch delimiter before
 123 inserting your patch:  three hyphens (---).
 124
 125 Then from the "Message" menu item, select insert file and choose your patch.
 126 As an added bonus you can customise the message creation toolbar menu
 127 and put the "insert file" icon there.
 128
 129 Make the composer window wide enough so that no lines wrap. As of
 130 KMail 1.13.5 (KDE 4.5.4), KMail will apply word wrapping when sending
 131 the email if the lines wrap in the composer window. Having word wrapping
 132 disabled in the Options menu isn't enough. Thus, if your patch has very
 133 long lines, you must make the composer window very wide before sending
 134 the email. See: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=174034
 135
 136 You can safely GPG sign attachments, but inlined text is preferred for
 137 patches so do not GPG sign them.  Signing patches that have been inserted
 138 as inlined text will make them tricky to extract from their 7-bit encoding.
 139
 140 If you absolutely must send patches as attachments instead of inlining
 141 them as text, right click on the attachment and select properties, and
 142 highlight "Suggest automatic display" to make the attachment inlined to
 143 make it more viewable.
 144
 145 When saving patches that are sent as inlined text, select the email that
 146 contains the patch from the message list pane, right click and select
 147 "save as".  You can use the whole email unmodified as a patch if it was
 148 properly composed.  There is no option currently to save the email when you
 149 are actually viewing it in its own window -- there has been a request filed
 150 at kmail's bugzilla and hopefully this will be addressed.  Emails are saved
 151 as read-write for user only so you will have to chmod them to make them
 152 group and world readable if you copy them elsewhere.
 153
 154 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 155 Lotus Notes (GUI)
 156
 157 Run away from it.
 158
 159 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 160 Mutt (TUI)
 161
 162 Plenty of Linux developers use mutt, so it must work pretty well.
 163
 164 Mutt doesn't come with an editor, so whatever editor you use should be
 165 used in a way that there are no automatic linebreaks.  Most editors have
 166 an "insert file" option that inserts the contents of a file unaltered.
 167
 168 To use 'vim' with mutt:
 169   set editor="vi"
 170
 171   If using xclip, type the command
 172   :set paste
 173   before middle button or shift-insert or use
 174   :r filename
 175
 176 if you want to include the patch inline.
 177 (a)ttach works fine without "set paste".
 178
 179 Config options:
 180 It should work with default settings.
 181 However, it's a good idea to set the "send_charset" to:
 182   set send_charset="us-ascii:utf-8"
 183
 184 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 185 Pine (TUI)
 186
 187 Pine has had some whitespace truncation issues in the past, but these
 188 should all be fixed now.
 189
 190 Use alpine (pine's successor) if you can.
 191
 192 Config options:
 193 - quell-flowed-text is needed for recent versions
 194 - the "no-strip-whitespace-before-send" option is needed
 195
 196
 197 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 198 Sylpheed (GUI)
 199
 200 - Works well for inlining text (or using attachments).
 201 - Allows use of an external editor.
 202 - Is slow on large folders.
 203 - Won't do TLS SMTP auth over a non-SSL connection.
 204 - Has a helpful ruler bar in the compose window.
 205 - Adding addresses to address book doesn't understand the display name
 206   properly.
 207
 208 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 209 Thunderbird (GUI)
 210
 211 Thunderbird is an Outlook clone that likes to mangle text, but there are ways
 212 to coerce it into behaving.
 213
 214 - Allows use of an external editor:
 215   The easiest thing to do with Thunderbird and patches is to use an
 216   "external editor" extension and then just use your favorite $EDITOR
 217   for reading/merging patches into the body text.  To do this, download
 218   and install the extension, then add a button for it using
 219   View->Toolbars->Customize... and finally just click on it when in the
 220   Compose dialog.
 221
 222 To beat some sense out of the internal editor, do this:
 223
 224 - Edit your Thunderbird config settings so that it won't use format=flowed.
 225   Go to "edit->preferences->advanced->config editor" to bring up the
 226   thunderbird's registry editor.
 227
 228 - Set "mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed" to "false"
 229
 230 - Set "mailnews.wraplength" from "72" to "0"
 231
 232 - "View" > "Message Body As" > "Plain Text"
 233
 234 - "View" > "Character Encoding" > "Unicode (UTF-8)"
 235
 236 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 237 TkRat (GUI)
 238
 239 Works.  Use "Insert file..." or external editor.
 240
 241 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 242 Gmail (Web GUI)
 243
 244 Does not work for sending patches.
 245
 246 Gmail web client converts tabs to spaces automatically.
 247
 248 At the same time it wraps lines every 78 chars with CRLF style line breaks
 249 although tab2space problem can be solved with external editor.
 250
 251 Another problem is that Gmail will base64-encode any message that has a
 252 non-ASCII character. That includes things like European names.
 253
 254                                 ###