mirror of
https://git.notmuchmail.org/git/notmuch
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dd9112e7d8
Previously the fact that some configuration options were only stored
in the database (and thus editing the config file had no effect) was a
source of user confusion. This was fixed with the series ending at
d9af0af164.
On the other hand, the underlying partition of config options into
those stored by default in the database and those stored in the config
file remained. This is also confusing, since now some invocations of
"notmuch config set" modify the config file, and others silently
modify the database instead.
With this commit, it is up to the user to decide which configuration
to modify. A new "--database" option is provided for notmuch config to
enable modifying the configuration information in the database;
otherwise the default is to update an external config file.
192 lines
6.3 KiB
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192 lines
6.3 KiB
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=======
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notmuch
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=======
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SYNOPSIS
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========
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**notmuch** [option ...] **command** [arg ...]
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DESCRIPTION
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===========
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Notmuch is a command-line based program for indexing, searching,
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reading, and tagging large collections of email messages.
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This page describes how to get started using notmuch from the command
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line, and gives a brief overview of the commands available. For more
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information on e.g. **notmuch show** consult the **notmuch-show(1)** man
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page, also accessible via **notmuch help show**
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The quickest way to get started with Notmuch is to simply invoke the
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``notmuch`` command with no arguments, which will interactively guide
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you through the process of indexing your mail.
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NOTE
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====
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While the command-line program ``notmuch`` provides powerful
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functionality, it does not provide the most convenient interface for
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that functionality. More sophisticated interfaces are expected to be
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built on top of either the command-line interface, or more likely, on
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top of the notmuch library interface. See https://notmuchmail.org for
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more about alternate interfaces to notmuch. The emacs-based interface to
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notmuch (available under **emacs/** in the Notmuch source distribution)
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is probably the most widely used at this time.
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OPTIONS
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=======
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Supported global options for ``notmuch`` include
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``--help`` [command-name]
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Print a synopsis of available commands and exit. With an optional
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command name, show the man page for that subcommand.
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``--version``
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Print the installed version of notmuch, and exit.
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``--config=FILE``
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Specify the configuration file to use. This overrides any
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configuration file specified by ${NOTMUCH\_CONFIG}. The empty
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string is a permitted and sometimes useful value of *FILE*, which
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tells ``notmuch`` to use only configuration metadata from the database.
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``--uuid=HEX``
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Enforce that the database UUID (a unique identifier which persists
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until e.g. the database is compacted) is HEX; exit with an error
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if it is not. This is useful to detect rollover in modification
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counts on messages. You can find this UUID using e.g. ``notmuch
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count --lastmod``
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All global options except ``--config`` can also be specified after the
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command. For example, ``notmuch subcommand --uuid=HEX`` is equivalent
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to ``notmuch --uuid=HEX subcommand``.
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COMMANDS
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========
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SETUP
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-----
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The **notmuch setup** command is used to configure Notmuch for first
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use, (or to reconfigure it later).
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The setup command will prompt for your full name, your primary email
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address, any alternate email addresses you use, and the directory
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containing your email archives. Your answers will be written to a
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configuration file in ${NOTMUCH\_CONFIG} (if set) or
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${HOME}/.notmuch-config . This configuration file will be created with
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descriptive comments, making it easy to edit by hand later to change the
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configuration. Or you can run **notmuch setup** again to change the
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configuration.
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The mail directory you specify can contain any number of sub-directories
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and should primarily contain only files with individual email messages
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(eg. maildir or mh archives are perfect). If there are other, non-email
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files (such as indexes maintained by other email programs) then notmuch
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will do its best to detect those and ignore them.
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Mail storage that uses mbox format, (where one mbox file contains many
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messages), will not work with notmuch. If that's how your mail is
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currently stored, it is recommended you first convert it to maildir
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format with a utility such as mb2md before running **notmuch setup .**
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Invoking ``notmuch`` with no command argument will run **setup** if the
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setup command has not previously been completed.
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OTHER COMMANDS
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--------------
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Several of the notmuch commands accept search terms with a common
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syntax. See **notmuch-search-terms**\ (7) for more details on the
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supported syntax.
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The **search**, **show**, **address** and **count** commands are used
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to query the email database.
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The **reply** command is useful for preparing a template for an email
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reply.
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The **tag** command is the only command available for manipulating
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database contents.
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The **dump** and **restore** commands can be used to create a textual
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dump of email tags for backup purposes, and to restore from that dump.
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The **config** command can be used to get or set settings in the notmuch
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configuration file.
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CUSTOM COMMANDS
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---------------
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If the given command is not known to notmuch, notmuch tries to execute
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the external **notmuch-<subcommand>** in ${PATH} instead. This allows
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users to have their own notmuch related tools to be run via the
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notmuch command. By design, this does not allow notmuch's own commands
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to be overridden using external commands.
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OPTION SYNTAX
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-------------
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All options accepting an argument can be used with '=' or ':' as a
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separator. Except for boolean options (which would be ambiguous), a
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space can also be used as a separator. The following are all
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equivalent:
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::
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notmuch --config=alt-config config get user.name
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notmuch --config:alt-config config get user.name
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notmuch --config alt-config config get user.name
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ENVIRONMENT
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===========
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The following environment variables can be used to control the behavior
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of notmuch.
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**NOTMUCH\_CONFIG**
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Specifies the location of the notmuch configuration file. Notmuch
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will use ${HOME}/.notmuch-config if this variable is not set.
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**NOTMUCH\_TALLOC\_REPORT**
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Location to write a talloc memory usage report. See
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**talloc\_enable\_leak\_report\_full** in **talloc(3)** for more
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information.
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**NOTMUCH\_DEBUG\_QUERY**
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If set to a non-empty value, the notmuch library will print (to
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stderr) Xapian queries it constructs.
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SEE ALSO
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========
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**notmuch-address(1)**,
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**notmuch-compact(1)**,
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**notmuch-config(1)**,
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**notmuch-count(1)**,
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**notmuch-dump(1)**,
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**notmuch-hooks(5)**,
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**notmuch-insert(1)**,
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**notmuch-new(1)**,
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**notmuch-properties(7)**,
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**notmuch-reindex(1)**,
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**notmuch-reply(1)**,
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**notmuch-restore(1)**,
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**notmuch-search(1)**,
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**notmuch-search-terms(7)**,
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**notmuch-show(1)**,
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**notmuch-tag(1)**
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The notmuch website: **https://notmuchmail.org**
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CONTACT
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=======
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Feel free to send questions, comments, or kudos to the notmuch mailing
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list <notmuch@notmuchmail.org> . Subscription is not required before
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posting, but is available from the notmuchmail.org website.
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Real-time interaction with the Notmuch community is available via IRC
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(server: irc.freenode.net, channel: #notmuch).
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