Re: nnir and notmuch?

[Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net>]

Rainer M Krug <Rainer@krugs.de> writes:

> Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net> writes:
>
>> Rainer M Krug <Rainer@krugs.de> writes:
>>
>>> <#secure method=pgpmime mode=sign> 
>>>
>>> Steinar Bang <sb@dod.no> writes:
>>>
>>>>>>>>> Rainer M Krug <Rainer@krugs.de>:
>>>>
>>>>> Now that I can search gmane (perfect - love it!) I can't search my
>>>>> local imap server via notmuch anymore - any suggestions how I can
>>>>> achieve both via nnir or "G G"?
>>>>
>>>> One way would be to replace
>>>>  (nnimap . imap) in nnir-method-default-engines with
>>>>  (nnimap . notmuch)
>>>
>>> I had
>>>
>>> ,----
>>> |            '(nnimap "Maildir"
>>> |                       (nnimap-stream shell) (nnimap-shell-program
>>> |                       "/usr/local/opt/dovecot/libexec/dovecot/imap -o
>>> |                       mail_location=maildir:$HOME/Maildir")
>>> |                       (nnir-search-engine 'notmuch)))
>>> `----
>>>
>>> in my gnus file, but it produced an error message.
>>> I am just trying your suggestion, and I get the following:
>>>
>>> ,----
>>> | notmuch args: search --format=text --output=files hallo
>>> | Massaging notmuch output...done
>>> | Search produced empty results.
>>> | gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group: Couldn't request group: Search produced empty results.
>>> `----
>>
>> For a while I ran notmuch and imap configured like this, and got a lot
>> of the same problems, because I was a bit confused about how all the
>> bits and pieces interacted. I think the problem is that notmuch returns
>> its hits based on filesystem paths. These paths don't necessarily match
>> up with how imap locates its messages, though -- things like mailboxes
>> transformations and namespaces can mean that imap sees the location of a
>> message in a way that doesn't jive with the filesystem path.
>
> This might be the reason - makes sense. As I want to use dovecot to
> access my email stored in maildir (for notmuch, as this is not modifying
> thew mails when only used for searching), I think I can not use it this
> way. Makes perfect sense.
>
>>
>> If you've got multiple Gnus backends in effect, another awkwardness is
>> that notmuch will probably return all the hits from all backends,
>> whereas nnir will attempt to filter out anything that doesn't belong to
>> the group/server from which you initiated the search.
>
> I have only the local imap and gmane.
>
>>
>> I don't know all the grisly details, or whether it could be made to
>> work: when I realized what was happening I just stopped using notmuch
>> as a nnir engine for nnimap messages.
>
> I think I will do the same here.
>
>> Now I have a Frankenstein search setup, using notmuch-search by
>> itself, and the imap nnir engine, in parallel. 
>
> Sounds like the best solution - and then just bind notmuch-search to a
> keyboard shortcut.
>
>> I'm shifting over to using nnir only, and will eventually get rid of
>> notmuch.
>
> I tried the normal search on y imap folders, and it is incredibly slow
> (folders with 10 000 and more emails). Also, my archive is split into
> years, and a topic can span two years - so the normal imap search is not
> an option for me here.

You can search more than one group with nnir, by marking the desired
groups, or calling it on a topic heading, or on a whole server in the
*Server* buffer.

I just set up a new system with the lucene text indexer, and it works
much better. I have a blog post mostly written about this, and can post
it sooner if you think it might be helpful.

>> Not very helpful, I know, but I think there are fundamental
>> incompatibilities in specifying notmuch as a nnir engine for imap
>> servers.
>
> In contrast - quite helpful, as I understood why it is not working to
> use notmuch for an imap backend. And as my setup is running nicely, I do
> not intend to change it.
>
> Thanks a lot,
>
> Rainer
>
>>
>> Eric
>>
>>
>>