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Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -03001.. _email_clients:
2
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -07003Email clients info for Linux
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -03004============================
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -07005
Dan Carpenter7d19e912014-06-27 18:28:46 -07006Git
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -03007---
Dan Carpenter7d19e912014-06-27 18:28:46 -07008
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -03009These days most developers use ``git send-email`` instead of regular
10email clients. The man page for this is quite good. On the receiving
11end, maintainers use ``git am`` to apply the patches.
12
13If you are new to ``git`` then send your first patch to yourself. Save it
14as raw text including all the headers. Run ``git am raw_email.txt`` and
15then review the changelog with ``git log``. When that works then send
Dan Carpenter7d19e912014-06-27 18:28:46 -070016the patch to the appropriate mailing list(s).
17
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -070018General Preferences
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -030019-------------------
20
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -070021Patches for the Linux kernel are submitted via email, preferably as
22inline text in the body of the email. Some maintainers accept
23attachments, but then the attachments should have content-type
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -030024``text/plain``. However, attachments are generally frowned upon because
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -070025it makes quoting portions of the patch more difficult in the patch
26review process.
27
Drew DeVault7433ff32020-09-03 12:05:43 -040028It's also strongly recommended that you use plain text in your email body,
29for patches and other emails alike. https://useplaintext.email may be useful
30for information on how to configure your preferred email client, as well as
31listing recommended email clients should you not already have a preference.
32
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -070033Email clients that are used for Linux kernel patches should send the
34patch text untouched. For example, they should not modify or delete tabs
35or spaces, even at the beginning or end of lines.
36
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -030037Don't send patches with ``format=flowed``. This can cause unexpected
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -070038and unwanted line breaks.
39
40Don't let your email client do automatic word wrapping for you.
41This can also corrupt your patch.
42
43Email clients should not modify the character set encoding of the text.
44Emailed patches should be in ASCII or UTF-8 encoding only.
45If you configure your email client to send emails with UTF-8 encoding,
46you avoid some possible charset problems.
47
Federico Vagae226b4f2019-07-06 23:01:00 +020048Email clients should generate and maintain "References:" or "In-Reply-To:"
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -070049headers so that mail threading is not broken.
50
51Copy-and-paste (or cut-and-paste) usually does not work for patches
52because tabs are converted to spaces. Using xclipboard, xclip, and/or
53xcutsel may work, but it's best to test this for yourself or just avoid
54copy-and-paste.
55
56Don't use PGP/GPG signatures in mail that contains patches.
57This breaks many scripts that read and apply the patches.
58(This should be fixable.)
59
60It's a good idea to send a patch to yourself, save the received message,
61and successfully apply it with 'patch' before sending patches to Linux
62mailing lists.
63
64
65Some email client (MUA) hints
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -030066-----------------------------
67
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -070068Here are some specific MUA configuration hints for editing and sending
69patches for the Linux kernel. These are not meant to be complete
70software package configuration summaries.
71
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -070072
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -030073Legend:
74
75- TUI = text-based user interface
76- GUI = graphical user interface
77
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -070078Alpine (TUI)
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -030079************
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -070080
81Config options:
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -070082
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -030083In the :menuselection:`Sending Preferences` section:
84
85- :menuselection:`Do Not Send Flowed Text` must be ``enabled``
86- :menuselection:`Strip Whitespace Before Sending` must be ``disabled``
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -070087
88When composing the message, the cursor should be placed where the patch
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -030089should appear, and then pressing :kbd:`CTRL-R` let you specify the patch file
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -070090to insert into the message.
91
Richard Leitner04a33022014-12-02 17:44:36 +010092Claws Mail (GUI)
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -030093****************
Richard Leitner04a33022014-12-02 17:44:36 +010094
95Works. Some people use this successfully for patches.
96
Federico Vagae226b4f2019-07-06 23:01:00 +020097To insert a patch use :menuselection:`Message-->Insert File` (:kbd:`CTRL-I`)
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -030098or an external editor.
Richard Leitner04a33022014-12-02 17:44:36 +010099
100If the inserted patch has to be edited in the Claws composition window
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300101"Auto wrapping" in
102:menuselection:`Configuration-->Preferences-->Compose-->Wrapping` should be
Richard Leitner04a33022014-12-02 17:44:36 +0100103disabled.
104
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700105Evolution (GUI)
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300106***************
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700107
108Some people use this successfully for patches.
109
110When composing mail select: Preformat
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300111 from :menuselection:`Format-->Paragraph Style-->Preformatted` (:kbd:`CTRL-7`)
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700112 or the toolbar
113
114Then use:
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300115:menuselection:`Insert-->Text File...` (:kbd:`ALT-N x`)
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700116to insert the patch.
117
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300118You can also ``diff -Nru old.c new.c | xclip``, select
119:menuselection:`Preformat`, then paste with the middle button.
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700120
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700121Kmail (GUI)
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300122***********
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700123
124Some people use Kmail successfully for patches.
125
126The default setting of not composing in HTML is appropriate; do not
127enable it.
128
129When composing an email, under options, uncheck "word wrap". The only
130disadvantage is any text you type in the email will not be word-wrapped
131so you will have to manually word wrap text before the patch. The easiest
132way around this is to compose your email with word wrap enabled, then save
133it as a draft. Once you pull it up again from your drafts it is now hard
134word-wrapped and you can uncheck "word wrap" without losing the existing
135wrapping.
136
137At the bottom of your email, put the commonly-used patch delimiter before
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300138inserting your patch: three hyphens (``---``).
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700139
Federico Vagae226b4f2019-07-06 23:01:00 +0200140Then from the :menuselection:`Message` menu item, select
141:menuselection:`insert file` and choose your patch.
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700142As an added bonus you can customise the message creation toolbar menu
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300143and put the :menuselection:`insert file` icon there.
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700144
Xishi Qiud9a6ed12013-11-06 13:18:19 -0800145Make the composer window wide enough so that no lines wrap. As of
Lasse Collin5d3687d2011-01-12 17:00:28 -0800146KMail 1.13.5 (KDE 4.5.4), KMail will apply word wrapping when sending
147the email if the lines wrap in the composer window. Having word wrapping
148disabled in the Options menu isn't enough. Thus, if your patch has very
149long lines, you must make the composer window very wide before sending
150the email. See: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=174034
151
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700152You can safely GPG sign attachments, but inlined text is preferred for
153patches so do not GPG sign them. Signing patches that have been inserted
154as inlined text will make them tricky to extract from their 7-bit encoding.
155
156If you absolutely must send patches as attachments instead of inlining
Federico Vagae226b4f2019-07-06 23:01:00 +0200157them as text, right click on the attachment and select :menuselection:`properties`,
158and highlight :menuselection:`Suggest automatic display` to make the attachment
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300159inlined to make it more viewable.
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700160
161When saving patches that are sent as inlined text, select the email that
162contains the patch from the message list pane, right click and select
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300163:menuselection:`save as`. You can use the whole email unmodified as a patch
Federico Vagae226b4f2019-07-06 23:01:00 +0200164if it was properly composed. Emails are saved as read-write for user only so
165you will have to chmod them to make them group and world readable if you copy
166them elsewhere.
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700167
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700168Lotus Notes (GUI)
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300169*****************
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700170
171Run away from it.
172
Stewart Smithe34e20e2017-06-19 15:31:22 +1000173IBM Verse (Web GUI)
174*******************
175
176See Lotus Notes.
177
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700178Mutt (TUI)
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300179**********
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700180
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300181Plenty of Linux developers use ``mutt``, so it must work pretty well.
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700182
183Mutt doesn't come with an editor, so whatever editor you use should be
184used in a way that there are no automatic linebreaks. Most editors have
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300185an :menuselection:`insert file` option that inserts the contents of a file
186unaltered.
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700187
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300188To use ``vim`` with mutt::
189
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700190 set editor="vi"
191
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300192If using xclip, type the command::
193
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700194 :set paste
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300195
196before middle button or shift-insert or use::
197
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700198 :r filename
199
200if you want to include the patch inline.
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300201(a)ttach works fine without ``set paste``.
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700202
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300203You can also generate patches with ``git format-patch`` and then use Mutt
204to send them::
205
Eddie Kovsky803cfe22015-11-05 23:23:01 -0700206 $ mutt -H 0001-some-bug-fix.patch
207
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700208Config options:
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300209
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700210It should work with default settings.
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300211However, it's a good idea to set the ``send_charset`` to::
212
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700213 set send_charset="us-ascii:utf-8"
214
Eddie Kovsky91633a62015-11-05 23:25:35 -0700215Mutt is highly customizable. Here is a minimum configuration to start
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300216using Mutt to send patches through Gmail::
Eddie Kovsky91633a62015-11-05 23:25:35 -0700217
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300218 # .muttrc
219 # ================ IMAP ====================
220 set imap_user = 'yourusername@gmail.com'
221 set imap_pass = 'yourpassword'
222 set spoolfile = imaps://imap.gmail.com/INBOX
223 set folder = imaps://imap.gmail.com/
224 set record="imaps://imap.gmail.com/[Gmail]/Sent Mail"
225 set postponed="imaps://imap.gmail.com/[Gmail]/Drafts"
226 set mbox="imaps://imap.gmail.com/[Gmail]/All Mail"
Eddie Kovsky91633a62015-11-05 23:25:35 -0700227
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300228 # ================ SMTP ====================
229 set smtp_url = "smtp://username@smtp.gmail.com:587/"
230 set smtp_pass = $imap_pass
231 set ssl_force_tls = yes # Require encrypted connection
Eddie Kovsky91633a62015-11-05 23:25:35 -0700232
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300233 # ================ Composition ====================
234 set editor = `echo \$EDITOR`
235 set edit_headers = yes # See the headers when editing
236 set charset = UTF-8 # value of $LANG; also fallback for send_charset
237 # Sender, email address, and sign-off line must match
238 unset use_domain # because joe@localhost is just embarrassing
239 set realname = "YOUR NAME"
240 set from = "username@gmail.com"
241 set use_from = yes
Eddie Kovsky91633a62015-11-05 23:25:35 -0700242
243The Mutt docs have lots more information:
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300244
Bhaskar Chowdhurydff2c2e2020-02-18 15:10:13 +0530245 https://gitlab.com/muttmua/mutt/-/wikis/UseCases/Gmail
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300246
Bhaskar Chowdhurydff2c2e2020-02-18 15:10:13 +0530247 http://www.mutt.org/doc/manual/
Eddie Kovsky91633a62015-11-05 23:25:35 -0700248
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700249Pine (TUI)
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300250**********
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700251
252Pine has had some whitespace truncation issues in the past, but these
253should all be fixed now.
254
255Use alpine (pine's successor) if you can.
256
257Config options:
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300258
259- ``quell-flowed-text`` is needed for recent versions
260- the ``no-strip-whitespace-before-send`` option is needed
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700261
262
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700263Sylpheed (GUI)
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300264**************
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700265
266- Works well for inlining text (or using attachments).
267- Allows use of an external editor.
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700268- Is slow on large folders.
269- Won't do TLS SMTP auth over a non-SSL connection.
270- Has a helpful ruler bar in the compose window.
271- Adding addresses to address book doesn't understand the display name
272 properly.
273
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700274Thunderbird (GUI)
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300275*****************
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700276
Rob Landleye0e34e92011-01-12 17:00:29 -0800277Thunderbird is an Outlook clone that likes to mangle text, but there are ways
278to coerce it into behaving.
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700279
Giedrius Statkevičiusd50ca072015-03-09 03:53:45 +0200280- Allow use of an external editor:
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700281 The easiest thing to do with Thunderbird and patches is to use an
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300282 "external editor" extension and then just use your favorite ``$EDITOR``
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700283 for reading/merging patches into the body text. To do this, download
284 and install the extension, then add a button for it using
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300285 :menuselection:`View-->Toolbars-->Customize...` and finally just click on it
286 when in the :menuselection:`Compose` dialog.
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700287
Giedrius Statkevičiusd50ca072015-03-09 03:53:45 +0200288 Please note that "external editor" requires that your editor must not
Luis de Bethencourta02b4fc2015-09-29 14:15:33 +0100289 fork, or in other words, the editor must not return before closing.
Giedrius Statkevičiusd50ca072015-03-09 03:53:45 +0200290 You may have to pass additional flags or change the settings of your
291 editor. Most notably if you are using gvim then you must pass the -f
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300292 option to gvim by putting ``/usr/bin/gvim -f`` (if the binary is in
293 ``/usr/bin``) to the text editor field in :menuselection:`external editor`
294 settings. If you are using some other editor then please read its manual
295 to find out how to do this.
Giedrius Statkevičiusd50ca072015-03-09 03:53:45 +0200296
Rob Landleye0e34e92011-01-12 17:00:29 -0800297To beat some sense out of the internal editor, do this:
298
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300299- Edit your Thunderbird config settings so that it won't use ``format=flowed``.
300 Go to :menuselection:`edit-->preferences-->advanced-->config editor` to bring up
301 the thunderbird's registry editor.
Rob Landleye0e34e92011-01-12 17:00:29 -0800302
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300303- Set ``mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed`` to ``false``
Paul Mcquade6989b5b2011-08-13 12:34:54 -0700304
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300305- Set ``mailnews.wraplength`` from ``72`` to ``0``
Paul Mcquade6989b5b2011-08-13 12:34:54 -0700306
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300307- :menuselection:`View-->Message Body As-->Plain Text`
Rob Landleye0e34e92011-01-12 17:00:29 -0800308
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300309- :menuselection:`View-->Character Encoding-->Unicode (UTF-8)`
Rob Landleye0e34e92011-01-12 17:00:29 -0800310
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700311TkRat (GUI)
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300312***********
Randy Dunlapa6cd6bf2007-10-16 23:29:49 -0700313
314Works. Use "Insert file..." or external editor.
315
Tim Hockin1b6bcdb2008-11-06 12:53:33 -0800316Gmail (Web GUI)
Mauro Carvalho Chehab06ad6362016-09-21 07:49:18 -0300317***************
Tim Hockin1b6bcdb2008-11-06 12:53:33 -0800318
Dave Young5ce9f072010-03-10 15:22:02 -0800319Does not work for sending patches.
Tim Hockin1b6bcdb2008-11-06 12:53:33 -0800320
Dave Young5ce9f072010-03-10 15:22:02 -0800321Gmail web client converts tabs to spaces automatically.
Tim Hockin1b6bcdb2008-11-06 12:53:33 -0800322
Dave Young5ce9f072010-03-10 15:22:02 -0800323At the same time it wraps lines every 78 chars with CRLF style line breaks
324although tab2space problem can be solved with external editor.
Tim Hockin1b6bcdb2008-11-06 12:53:33 -0800325
Dave Young5ce9f072010-03-10 15:22:02 -0800326Another problem is that Gmail will base64-encode any message that has a
327non-ASCII character. That includes things like European names.