Ticket #2058 (new defect)
browser and account-hook are poorly documented
| Reported by: | reich@… | Owned by: | mutt-dev |
|---|---|---|---|
| Priority: | minor | Milestone: | |
| Component: | mutt | Version: | |
| Keywords: | Cc: |
Description
I have, let's say, two IMAP accounts, imap.fas.harvard.edu and math.harvard.edu. I manage them both by an extensive system of account-hooks; do not accuse me of forgetting variables, for I have not. The hooks are: account-hook . '\ unset imap_home_namespace; \ set mbox="=saved-messages"; \ set postponed="=postponed"; \ set record="=sent-mail" ' account-hook imap://imap\.fas\.harvard\.edu '\ set folder="imap://imap.fas.harvard.edu"; \ set mbox="=saved-messages"; \ set postponed="=postponed"; \ set record="=sent-mail"; \ set spoolfile="=INBOX" ' account-hook imap://math\.harvard\.edu '\ set folder="imap://math.harvard.edu"; \ set imap_home_namespace="mail"; \ set mbox="=saved-messages"; \ set postponed="=postponed"; \ set record="=sent-mail" ' I start my session by logging in to imap.fas.harvard.edu and checking the various folders there via the browser (i.e. hitting c-<tab> various times). Then I switch to math.harvard.edu, but lo, pressiing c-<tab> continues to display the imap.fas.harvard.edu folders. In fact, it manages to re-activate that account-hook, so that I must re-change folders to get back to math.harvard.edu, signing in again. It appears that mutt maintains two parallel "current directories": the first, the current IMAP folder, and the second, the current directory in the browser file hierarchy. Changing the first does not change the second, though changing the second changes the first. Hence, if I enter an IMAP folder through the browser, then change IMAP accounts via a folder change without using the browser, I can no longer use the browser conveniently. There are invonvenient workarounds, naturally. I could type c-=-<tab> to force completing the current $folder, but this has a surprise drawback. It doesn't bring me to the browser if there is an unambiguous (partial) completion available; instead, it substitutes the completion. This is true _even_if_the_current_directory_is_the_base_, and if the unambiguous completion would be elided by an application of $imap_home_namespace. That is, if we have folder=imap://imap.fas.harvard.edu imap_home_namespace=mail and if the only subdirectory of the server's root is mail, then pressing c-=-<tab> will display imap://imap.fas.harvard.edu/mail and the cursor on the editor's line, whereas pressing c-<tab> (before screwing up the browser) will correctly display the _contents_ of mail and not the folder itself. In other words, the editor ignores settings which are relevant to the browser even though it also precludes the use of the browser in some circumstances, so that these settings are, in fact, unreliable. This makes a meaningful "display folders" macro nigh-on impossible in a situation with multiple accounts. c-<tab> is unreliable, and c-=-<tab> is reliable but inaccurate. The apparently sole solution is to decorate each account-hook with a new macro definition for the desired command, according to the particular nature of the server. Though this is technically correct, perhaps the more useful solution is to implement a <show-folders> function that does what it's supposed to and displays the root namespace of the current account, with $imap_home_namespace properly interpreted and without indirecting through the editor. The current browser is little more than a glorified tab-completion mechanism and is apparently not quite in agreement with the editor as to what, exactly, is being completed. >How-To-Repeat: >Fix:
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