Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
On Fri, Aug 19, 2022 at 09:08:01AM +0200, martin f krafft via Mutt-users wrote: > Regarding the following, written by "Victor Goff" on 2022-08-18 at 20:09 Uhr > -0400: >> I have used https://tmate.io for those on Windows and those with a >> small amount of experience with computers in general. Since you can >> share a browser, and they can either type with you or not, and they >> do not necessarily need to even generate ssh keys, this is a point >> of allowing that to happen easily. > > Nice, but this isn't going to be a live presentation, so it really has > to be a PDF. Well, you could: - set up Mutt instance as previously suggested (e.g. use muttrc/whatever to capture key-presses other than Up, Down, PgUp, and PgDn), on an internet-connected machine that can accept SSH connections - log in to Mutt instance via tmate.io or other web-based SSH gateway - share link (URL) to intended recipients.
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
Regarding the following, written by "Victor Goff" on 2022-08-18 at 20:09 Uhr -0400: I have used https://tmate.io for those on Windows and those with a small amount of experience with computers in general. Since you can share a browser, and they can either type with you or not, and they do not necessarily need to even generate ssh keys, this is a point of allowing that to happen easily. Nice, but this isn't going to be a live presentation, so it really has to be a PDF. -- @martinkrafft | https://matrix.to/#/#madduck:madduck.net in the beginning was the word, and the word was content-type: text/plain spamtraps: madduck.bo...@madduck.net
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
On Thu, Aug 18, 2022 at 01:02:39PM -0500, Derek Martin wrote: > On Thu, Aug 18, 2022 at 09:17:11AM +, Sam Kuper wrote: > > On Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 04:59:41PM -0500, Derek Martin wrote: > > Or they could just use SSH. > > SSH is ubiquitous. But outside of tech circles, the ability to use it > is not. If you've ever sat in a meeting with a bunch of pure > management types, you'll understand why this suggestion is a > non-starer. Likewise for your other suggestions. I have used https://tmate.io for those on Windows and those with a small amount of experience with computers in general. Since you can share a browser, and they can either type with you or not, and they do not necessarily need to even generate ssh keys, this is a point of allowing that to happen easily. It allows those to connect using an https connection that may not be able to join in on a terminal session directly via ssh.
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
Regarding the following, written by "Derek Martin" on 2022-08-18 at 15:23 Uhr -0500: If this is all you need to do, then, do you really need to preserve the threading? Excellent point, and the answer is no. It helps with: enough info to demonstrate their uniqueness. but I can just throw the Message-ID in there as well. Confuse them a bit ;) Threading visualised would just make it visually more appealing and clearer. But it is certainly not required, and heck: most people in the Windows world don't even understand what it is. :rofl: But damn you for mentioning formail. You know I'll now hack together a one-liner trial-and-error-style, rather than just to sit down and do it in Python, which might take longer, but will be infinitely better in the long run. Thanks, -m PS: (signature randomly chosen) -- @martinkrafft | https://matrix.to/#/#madduck:madduck.net (on the statement print "42 monkeys"+"1 snake") btw, both perl and python get this wrong. perl gives 43 and python gives "42 monkeys1 snake", when the answer is clearly "41 monkeys and 1 fat snake". -- jim fulton spamtraps: madduck.bo...@madduck.net digital_signature_gpg.asc Description: Digital GPG signature (see http://martin-krafft.net/gpg/sig-policy/999bbcc4/current)
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
On Thu, Aug 18, 2022 at 10:10:38AM +0200, martin f krafft via Mutt-users wrote: > Thanks for your responses so far! > > The reason I need this index is that I have to provide evidence of "a huge > volume of mails" on a given topic, without actually sharing the emails. If this is all you need to do, then, do you really need to preserve the threading? Seems all you really need is a list of the messages for the given subject, presumably with enough info to demonstrate their uniqueness. Assuming you or someone else on your behalf can get at them, you can probably get what you need from the mail system's logs. Or you can use formail to spit out just the headers that are interesting from your maildir folder... Something like this: cd $mail_folder/cur for file in *; do formail -X from: -X subject: -X date: done > some_output_file This will give you a bunch of groups of 3 lines that contain the three headers for each message. There should always be 3 lines (unless you have some broken messages that excluded any of those headers, which can happen, but shouldn't)--but they probably won't always be in the same order. You can, of course, specify additional headers... The formail command provides -x and -X options; -x extracts just the header value, whereas -X extracts the full header line. You want -X so you know which header you're looking at, so you don't have to write code to try to figure it out heuristically. You can do all of the above entirely in Python, which avoids the nasty quoting problems with constructions like "for file in *; ..." by using os.scandir(), and using the subprocess module (or similar) to execute the formail command for each message file. It also makes it possible to know that a given line of output is for the specific file you're asking about, so the ordering and potential absence of the message's headers becomes a non-concern. Then you can read the output line by line, assigning the header value to a dict field based on the header name. Stuff your dicts in a list, or something. Then you can pass your dicts to, say, csv.DictWriter, and write them out as a CSV file. Or as JSON. Or add records for them to a database, so you can query the data. Or whatever. If you really do need to show the thread graph, you can produce that yourself using the message IDs and references. Is any of this better than just using Python's email module? Probably not... YMMV. But either way, if I had to solve this I would just use Python, and not try to hack around with other utilities. -- Derek D. Martinhttp://www.pizzashack.org/ GPG Key ID: 0xDFBEAD02 -=-=-=-=- This message is posted from an invalid address. Replying to it will result in undeliverable mail due to spam prevention. Sorry for the inconvenience. signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
On Thu, Aug 18, 2022 at 01:02:39PM -0500, Derek Martin wrote: > On Thu, Aug 18, 2022 at 09:17:11AM +, Sam Kuper wrote: > > On Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 04:59:41PM -0500, Derek Martin wrote: > > > On Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 09:33:44PM +, Sam Kuper wrote: > > Or they could just use SSH. > > SSH is ubiquitous. But outside of tech circles, the ability to use it > is not. If you've ever sat in a meeting with a bunch of pure > management types, you'll understand why this suggestion is a > non-starer. Likewise for your other suggestions. Granted, I'm making assumptions about the audience, but given the nature of the task, I think they are safe ones. ;-) Also, even for tech-oriented audiences, making them ssh into a machine and run mutt to view the index will feel like "making us jump through hoops..." It's extremely likely, in my estimation, that it's not going to go over well with the audience, regardless of who the audience is. -- Derek D. Martinhttp://www.pizzashack.org/ GPG Key ID: 0xDFBEAD02 -=-=-=-=- This message is posted from an invalid address. Replying to it will result in undeliverable mail due to spam prevention. Sorry for the inconvenience. signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
On Thu, Aug 18, 2022 at 10:10:38AM +0200, martin f krafft via Mutt-users wrote: > > I don't think it will be better or easier than what you've done. But > > you could try using a '|' filter in $index_format to append some output > > to a file as a side effect. It would still entail manually pgdn'ing > > through the index. > > Not a bad idea, but unfortunately, the Unicode characters used to represent > threads in mutt's index seem to be some sort of ncurses-special They are not--they're standard Unicode (IIRC they can also be replaced by ASCII characters with a config option, but I don't recall the details). If this is a limitation for you, perhaps if you explain the context of the limitation, we can help you overcome it. -- Derek D. Martinhttp://www.pizzashack.org/ GPG Key ID: 0xDFBEAD02 -=-=-=-=- This message is posted from an invalid address. Replying to it will result in undeliverable mail due to spam prevention. Sorry for the inconvenience. signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
On Thu, Aug 18, 2022 at 09:17:11AM +, Sam Kuper wrote: > On Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 04:59:41PM -0500, Derek Martin wrote: > > On Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 09:33:44PM +, Sam Kuper wrote: > >> On Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 09:22:31PM +0200, martin f krafft via Mutt-users > >> wrote: > >> > For reasons you don't want to know, > >> > >> You may be underestimating the curiosity of your audience. > > > > I suspect what Sam really meant was, "For reasons that would make you > > sad if you knew..." =8^) > > I think you mean Martin rather than Sam, but that's OK :) Indeed! :) > >>> Is there a way to "screenshot" the Mutt index beyond the scroll > >>> window? > >> > >> Why would you need to? In what way does Mutt itself not meet your > >> requirements? > > > > Presumably because in order to *share* such a visualization, i.e. with > > someone remote, they would have to have a copy of the inbox AND run > > Mutt. > > Or they could just use SSH. SSH is ubiquitous. But outside of tech circles, the ability to use it is not. If you've ever sat in a meeting with a bunch of pure management types, you'll understand why this suggestion is a non-starer. Likewise for your other suggestions. -- Derek D. Martinhttp://www.pizzashack.org/ GPG Key ID: 0xDFBEAD02 -=-=-=-=- This message is posted from an invalid address. Replying to it will result in undeliverable mail due to spam prevention. Sorry for the inconvenience. signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
Regarding the following, written by "Bastian" on 2022-08-18 at 14:48 Uhr +0200: 1981% mutt > /dev/shm/o *blindly pressing q* bastian@t6l ~ 1982% wc /dev/shm/o 1 599 6251 /dev/shm/o ``` lotus:/dev/shm% mutt > /dev/shm/mutt || echo $? #(pts/3) 18 17:51:11.605 1 ``` -- @martinkrafft | https://matrix.to/#/#madduck:madduck.net why didn't noah swat those two mosquitoes? spamtraps: madduck.bo...@madduck.net
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
On Thu, Aug 18, 2022 at 10:10:38AM +0200, martin f krafft via Mutt-users wrote: > Thanks for your responses so far! > > The reason I need this index is that I have to provide evidence of "a huge > volume of mails" on a given topic, without actually sharing the emails. So I > need a PDF index. Hence I thought making an HTML table, and then printing > that. Easiest. > > A screenshot/bitmap approach would be very hard to turn into a useable PDF, > I think. > > Sam is right, threads are digraphs, but Mutt displays them in a table, and I > think that's a good compromise. > > > I don't think it will be better or easier than what you've done. But > > you could try using a '|' filter in $index_format to append some output > > to a file as a side effect. It would still entail manually pgdn'ing > > through the index. > > Not a bad idea, but unfortunately, the Unicode characters used to represent > threads in mutt's index seem to be some sort of ncurses-special, and the > whole thing would need parsing. But this is definitely an interesting > approach, as I could probably craft an `$index_format` that generates HTML > ``'s, and PgDn'ing over a thousand messages might be something the X > repeat buffer can do. ;) > > I knew why I'd ask here! ;) > > Thanks, > > -- > @martinkrafft | https://matrix.to/#/#madduck:madduck.net > "i worked myself up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty." > -- groucho marx > spamtraps: madduck.bo...@madduck.net Perhaps notmuch's json output with threading that you mentioned can be fed into jq which could transform it into csv. cheers, raf
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
On 18Aug22 12:00+0200, martin f krafft via Mutt-users wrote: > Regarding the following, written by "Bastian" on 2022-08-18 at 11:41 Uhr > +0200: > > --- paste: % LINES=10 COLUMNS=1 mutt $OPTIONS > maildir.out --- > > eop Oh, I am sorry to hear that. I tested it on my side before and it piped a lot from the redirected stream into the file. Here again: --- paste: bastian@t6l ~ 1981% mutt > /dev/shm/o *blindly pressing q* bastian@t6l ~ 1982% wc /dev/shm/o 1 599 6251 /dev/shm/o --- eop The file /dev/shm/o contains lots and lots of control characters. So this would be another task to get them stripped; less -r does it. -- Bastian
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
Regarding the following, written by "Christian Brabandt" on 2022-08-18 at 13:15 Uhr +0200: I wonder if you can make use of public-inbox, which is e.g. used to create the git mailinglist archive. It's not pretty, but generates a threaded mail archive from a Maildir, IIRC. Not sure how easy enough it is to add date and from header https://github.com/nojb/public-inbox Also a good idea! Mail archivers! -- @martinkrafft | https://matrix.to/#/#madduck:madduck.net "when a gentoo admin tells me that the KISS principle is good for 'busy sysadmins', and that it's not an evolutionary step backwards, i wonder whether their tape is already running backwards." spamtraps: madduck.bo...@madduck.net
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
On Mi, 17 Aug 2022, martin f krafft via Mutt-users wrote: > Folks, > > This isn't really a Mutt question, but you're the kind of people that most > likely would have good answers on the following: > > For reasons you don't want to know, I have to visualise a Maildir with a > couple of thousand messages, i.e. essentially provide a mutt-style index > with correspondents, dates, subjects, and threading, ideally in form of an > HTML table. > > Apart from the threading, Python's email module can do most of the work, and > combined with e.g. Jinja templating, I should be able to get results > quickly, but since I don't like reinventing wheels, I was wondering if maybe > you had a better idea? > > Is there a way to "screenshot" the Mutt index beyond the scroll window? > > Or can you think of command-line tools that visualise threads? Notmuch, > which I use, can very quickly list all the threads, including the count of > messages, but I actually need to list to be *really big* and not condensed, > for reasons you don't want to know. > > I can make notmuch output json with threading, and then process that with > Python to create a list, but maybe there's a better tool? I wonder if you can make use of public-inbox, which is e.g. used to create the git mailinglist archive. It's not pretty, but generates a threaded mail archive from a Maildir, IIRC. Not sure how easy enough it is to add date and from header https://github.com/nojb/public-inbox regards, Christian -- "PLEASE RESPECT INTELLECTUAL RIGHTS!" "Please demonstrate intellect." ;)
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
Regarding the following, written by "Bastian" on 2022-08-18 at 11:41 Uhr +0200: --- paste: % LINES=10 COLUMNS=1 mutt $OPTIONS > maildir.out --- eop This does not generate any output for me, i.e. the generated file is empty. -- @martinkrafft | https://matrix.to/#/#madduck:madduck.net chaos reigns within. reflect, repent, reboot. order shall return. spamtraps: madduck.bo...@madduck.net
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
On Thu, Aug 18, 2022 at 10:45:04AM +0100, Sam Kuper wrote: > If you find a lightweight markup language that has PDF output AND has > table markup tags that correspond one-to-one with the '|' filter's > ncurses strings, then you could use the `|` filter as Kevin proposes > above, and pipe the output through sed to replace the ncurses strings > with lightweight markup language strings. > > If you really need PDF output, then this may well be the best > approach. This approach (lightweight markup + sed) might also work with Bastian's suggestion, in another branch of this thread, to use stdout instead of the `|` filter. Sam
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
On Thu, Aug 18, 2022 at 10:10:38AM +0200, martin f krafft via Mutt-users wrote: > The reason I need this index is that I have to provide evidence of "a > huge volume of mails" on a given topic, without actually sharing the > emails. OK, but... > So I need a PDF index. That is a non-sequitur. In another branch of this thread, I proposed several ways to provide the evidence you need, without sharing the emails AND without creating PDFs. So, unless achieving a PDF is a *requirement* (in which case it might have been helpful to mention that in the first place!), generating a PDF just seems to be an unnecessary headache. > Hence I thought making an HTML table, and then printing that. Easiest. Maybe. Or you could use a lightweight markup language (lighter than HTML) that has tables, and a relevant PDF generator for that markup language. If you like that idea, here's a handy table showing which lightweight markup languages have tables: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lightweight_markup_language=1104650806#Comparison_of_language_features and here's another useful table showing which lightweight markup languages also offer PDF output: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lightweight_markup_language=1104650806#Comparison_of_implementation_features > A screenshot/bitmap approach would be very hard to turn into a useable > PDF, I think. Depends what you mean by "usable". If all you need is e.g. an image per PDF page, several tools can trivially achieve that (e.g. `img2pdf`). Some tools can also compress the images for you, or you can pipe the images via compression tools before assembling the PDF, to avoid creating a humungous PDF. > Sam is right, threads are digraphs, but Mutt displays them in a table, > and I think that's a good compromise. Fair point, if you're also going to capture the ASCII art that indicates the thread structure. >> I don't think it will be better or easier than what you've done. >> But you could try using a '|' filter in $index_format to append some >> output to a file as a side effect. It would still entail manually >> pgdn'ing through the index. > > Not a bad idea, but unfortunately, the Unicode characters used to > represent threads in mutt's index seem to be some sort of > ncurses-special, and the whole thing would need parsing. But this is > definitely an interesting approach, as I could probably craft an > `$index_format` that generates HTML ``'s, and PgDn'ing over a > thousand messages might be something the X repeat buffer can do. ;) If you find a lightweight markup language that has PDF output AND has table markup tags that correspond one-to-one with the '|' filter's ncurses strings, then you could use the `|` filter as Kevin proposes above, and pipe the output through sed to replace the ncurses strings with lightweight markup language strings. If you really need PDF output, then this may well be the best approach. All best, Sam
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
On 18Aug22 10:38+0200, martin f krafft via Mutt-users wrote: > Not a bad idea to use the screendump functionality of X terminals. But I am > talking thousands of lines… doubt this will work, but if it does, I'll > report back. Probably this could work: --- paste: % LINES=10 COLUMNS=1 mutt $OPTIONS > maildir.out --- eop You need to find the OPTIONS that mutt enters your mailbox of interest; and then quit it blindly. Cheers, -- Bastian
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
On Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 04:59:41PM -0500, Derek Martin wrote: > On Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 09:33:44PM +, Sam Kuper wrote: >> On Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 09:22:31PM +0200, martin f krafft via Mutt-users >> wrote: >> > For reasons you don't want to know, >> >> You may be underestimating the curiosity of your audience. > > I suspect what Sam really meant was, "For reasons that would make you > sad if you knew..." =8^) I think you mean Martin rather than Sam, but that's OK :) >>> Is there a way to "screenshot" the Mutt index beyond the scroll >>> window? >> >> Why would you need to? In what way does Mutt itself not meet your >> requirements? > > Presumably because in order to *share* such a visualization, i.e. with > someone remote, they would have to have a copy of the inbox AND run > Mutt. Or they could just use SSH. If the person viewing the visualization should be prevented from modifying the inbox, then Mutt could be invoked with the `-R` (read-only) option. If the person viewing the visualization should be prevented from seeing the *content* of any of the mails in the inbox, then either: 1. Configure the muttrc, or the shell hosting Mutt, or Mutt itself (edit source and recompile), to intercept and discard any keypresses other than the ones for scrolling up and down Mutt's index. I'd probably attempt those options in that order. 2. Alternatively (or additionally), the underlying message files in the Maildir on the filesystem could be stripped, using a script (Python, Bash, whatever) of all but their headers. This would have some perhaps undesirable side-effects, though: it would affect some fields displayed in Mutt's index view, such as the number of attachments. I probably wouldn't bother with this unless the underlying messages' contents were especially sensitive (e.g. sensitive personal or commercial information). 3. Alternatively (or additionally) again, those underlying message files could instead have their content and attachments replaced by an equivalent quantity of Lorem Ipsum, to at least keep file sizes and number of attachments constant. I probably wouldn't bother with this unless the underlying messages' contents were especially sensitive (e.g. sensitive personal or commercial information) AND the file size / number of attachments metadata were of interest. > Presumably what you'd want is an image or document that contains the > desired visualization, that can be displayed by some common tool > available to the general community, like a web browser, > company-installed word processor or similar productivity app, etc.. SSH is very widely available. It's installed by default on GNU/Linux, and most Unixes including macOS. It is available for Windows via PuTTY or Windows Subsystem for Linux. > Mutt could still meet the need, though it would be some work. You > could screenshot each individual page of the index, and then use an > image editing program to assemble them together. Maybe--if the > resulting image was not too large for your application to handle. Or > you could just paste each image into a document in a word processor, > one image per page... Or use tmux or GNU Screen to copy/paste into a text document? But still, creating a whole new interface onto the index view from scratch seems over-elaborate when Mutt's index view already works perfectly well. > It might be possible to create a virtual desktop large enough to > display the entire index at once, and then use imagemagick or similar > to capture the window to a file, but I suspect there again you may run > into memory problems. Or, again, use tmux or GNU Screen to copy/paste from the virtual desktop into a text document? Again, though, building a whole new interface onto the index view from scratch seems over-elaborate when Mutt's index view already works perfectly well. Sam
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
Regarding the following, written by "Marcus C. Gottwald" on 2022-08-18 at 09:53 Uhr +0200: So, if one of these output formats would be a step forward, and you found a way to make an xterm window enormously large, Not a bad idea to use the screendump functionality of X terminals. But I am talking thousands of lines… doubt this will work, but if it does, I'll report back. -- @martinkrafft | https://matrix.to/#/#madduck:madduck.net fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity. -- the irish times, washington dc spamtraps: madduck.bo...@madduck.net
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
martin f krafft via Mutt-users wrote (Wed 2022-Aug-17 21:22:31 +0200): > Is there a way to "screenshot" the Mutt index beyond the scroll > window? xterm can create decent screenshots in HTML or SVG format. The HTML version essentially is one big using CSS and s for colors and other highlighting; the SVG version places characters at their pixel-position on the SVG canvas. I can reach those functions using Ctrl + left mouse button, "XHTML Screen Dump" and "SVG Screen Dump". The files are called something like "xterm.2022.08.18.09.23.33.xhtml"; not exactly sure where they get created (home dir? working dir?). So, if one of these output formats would be a step forward, and you found a way to make an xterm window enormously large, and you found a way to trigger xterm's "screen dump" function (if you don't want to do that manually), then you could use Mutt running in the xterm window... Cheers, Marcus -- Marcus C. Gottwald ·· @mcg:cheers.de
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
Thanks for your responses so far! The reason I need this index is that I have to provide evidence of "a huge volume of mails" on a given topic, without actually sharing the emails. So I need a PDF index. Hence I thought making an HTML table, and then printing that. Easiest. A screenshot/bitmap approach would be very hard to turn into a useable PDF, I think. Sam is right, threads are digraphs, but Mutt displays them in a table, and I think that's a good compromise. I don't think it will be better or easier than what you've done. But you could try using a '|' filter in $index_format to append some output to a file as a side effect. It would still entail manually pgdn'ing through the index. Not a bad idea, but unfortunately, the Unicode characters used to represent threads in mutt's index seem to be some sort of ncurses-special, and the whole thing would need parsing. But this is definitely an interesting approach, as I could probably craft an `$index_format` that generates HTML ``'s, and PgDn'ing over a thousand messages might be something the X repeat buffer can do. ;) I knew why I'd ask here! ;) Thanks, -- @martinkrafft | https://matrix.to/#/#madduck:madduck.net "i worked myself up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty." -- groucho marx spamtraps: madduck.bo...@madduck.net
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
On Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 09:22:31PM +0200, martin f krafft via Mutt-users wrote: Is there a way to "screenshot" the Mutt index beyond the scroll window? I don't think it will be better or easier than what you've done. But you could try using a '|' filter in $index_format to append some output to a file as a side effect. It would still entail manually pgdn'ing through the index. -- Kevin J. McCarthy GPG Fingerprint: 8975 A9B3 3AA3 7910 385C 5308 ADEF 7684 8031 6BDA signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
On Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 09:33:44PM +, Sam Kuper wrote: > On Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 09:22:31PM +0200, martin f krafft via Mutt-users > wrote: > > For reasons you don't want to know, > > You may be underestimating the curiosity of your audience. I suspect what Sam really meant was, "For reasons that would make you sad if you knew..." =8^) > > Is there a way to "screenshot" the Mutt index beyond the scroll > > window? > > Why would you need to? In what way does Mutt itself not meet your > requirements? Presumably because in order to *share* such a visualization, i.e. with someone remote, they would have to have a copy of the inbox AND run Mutt. This is not typically desireable, when essentially the equivalent of sharing a document is the sole purpose for it. Presumably what you'd want is an image or document that contains the desired visualization, that can be displayed by some common tool available to the general community, like a web browser, company-installed word processor or similar productivity app, etc.. Mutt could still meet the need, though it would be some work. You could screenshot each individual page of the index, and then use an image editing program to assemble them together. Maybe--if the resulting image was not too large for your application to handle. Or you could just paste each image into a document in a word processor, one image per page... It might be possible to create a virtual desktop large enough to display the entire index at once, and then use imagemagick or similar to capture the window to a file, but I suspect there again you may run into memory problems. I'm not sure any of those qualify as "something better..." -- Derek D. Martinhttp://www.pizzashack.org/ GPG Key ID: 0xDFBEAD02 -=-=-=-=- This message is posted from an invalid address. Replying to it will result in undeliverable mail due to spam prevention. Sorry for the inconvenience. signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: Visualising contents of a Maildir
On Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 09:22:31PM +0200, martin f krafft via Mutt-users wrote: > For reasons you don't want to know, You may be underestimating the curiosity of your audience. > I have to visualise a Maildir with a couple of thousand messages, i.e. > essentially provide a mutt-style index with correspondents, dates, > subjects, and threading, So far, so good. Use Mutt. It does this very nicely. (I'm not trying to be facetious - even with my repetitive answers below. This is a use-case for which Mutt is genuinely well-suited.) > ideally in form of an HTML table. This is puzzling, as follows: - Tables are tabular. - Threads are digraphs (usually polytrees - although in principle a single message can be a reply to *multiple* earlier messages). So there seems to be something of a topological mismatch between your intended input data structure and your intended output data structure. > Apart from the threading, Python's email module can do most of the > work, and combined with e.g. Jinja templating, I should be able to get > results quickly, but since I don't like reinventing wheels, I was > wondering if maybe you had a better idea? Again, Mutt does this very nicely. Why not just use Mutt? > Is there a way to "screenshot" the Mutt index beyond the scroll > window? Why would you need to? In what way does Mutt itself not meet your requirements? > Or can you think of command-line tools that visualise threads? Again: Mutt. (Emacs can do this, too. Probably there are other tools as well.) > Notmuch, which I use, can very quickly list all the threads, including > the count of messages, but I actually need to list to be *really big* > and not condensed, for reasons you don't want to know. > > I can make notmuch output json with threading, and then process that > with Python to create a list, but maybe there's a better tool? Again, why not just use Mutt? Sam
