phil-blain · November 11, 2020 18:57 · Nov 11, 2020 · Nov 11, 2020 · Oct 3, 2020 · May 28, 2020
diff --git a/git-imap-send-all-the-emails.md b/git-imap-send-all-the-emails.md
@@ -95,3 +95,17 @@ To upload an email or a collection of emails in a gzip'ed mbox to the IMAP inbox
 git in https://lore.kernel.org/git/<message-id>/raw | git imap-send  # single email
 git in https://lore.kernel.org/git/<message-id>/t.mbox.gz | git imap-send  # whole thread
 ```
+
+# Working with public-inbox instances with `b4`
+If the mailing list you are interested in is hosted on a public-inbox instance (like lore.kernel.org), there is a tool called [`b4`](https://pypi.org/project/b4/),
+developed by contributors from the Linux kernel project, that can be used to do what the `git in` script above demonstrates, and much more.
+To download a whole thread, you can use the Message ID of any message in the thread:
+```bash
+# Import the whole thread to the git-imap-send—configured IMAP folder
+b4 mbox -o - <message-id> | git imap-send
+```
+`b4` also has a lot more useful features, like detecting and downloading only patches in a specific thread, which is very useful for local code review:
+```bash
+# Apply the most recent version of a patch series to the current branch
+b4 am -o - <message-id> | git am
+```
diff --git a/git-imap-send-all-the-emails.md b/git-imap-send-all-the-emails.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ mail client (maybe after tweaking the [cover letter](https://git-scm.com/docs/My
 Even if you want to keep up-to-date with the development mailing list of your favorite project, you might not want to
 subscribe to the mailing list, to avoid cluttering your inbox. After all, most development mailing list have a web interface 
 which can be used to browse the list, such as https://lore.kernel.org/git/, the archive for the Git mailing list.
+Some mailing list software (like [public-inbox](https://public-inbox.org/README.html), which powers lore.kernel.org) also provide bridges to other technologies like feed syndication (Atom) or Usenet (NNTP).
 
 But if you're not subscribed to the mailing list, and see an interesting thread that you'd like to answer to, how can you do it easily ?
 If the web archive provides a way to download messages, you can import them into your favorite mail client, but that can be hard to automate 

diff --git a/git-imap-send-all-the-emails.md b/git-imap-send-all-the-emails.md
@@ -38,8 +38,7 @@ import sys
 import os
 import mailbox
 import urllib.request
-import string
-import random
+import tempfile
 import argparse
 import gzip
 
@@ -51,27 +50,26 @@ parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
 parser.add_argument("url", help="URL to download mbox from")
 args = parser.parse_args()
 
-# Construct file name
-ext = '.mbox'
-mbox = os.environ.get('TMPDIR') + 'git-in-' + ''.join(random.choices(string.ascii_lowercase, k=8)) + ext
-
 # Check if the mbox is compressed with gzip
 must_decompress = False
 gz_ext = args.url[-3:]
 if gz_ext == '.gz':
   must_decompress = True
 
-# Download the mbox file from `url` and save it locally under `mbox`:
+# Create and open a temporary file
+(mbox_file, mbox_path) = tempfile.mkstemp('.mbox', 'git-in-')
+
+# Download the mbox file from `url` and save it to the temporary file
 # https://stackoverflow.com/a/7244263/
-with urllib.request.urlopen(args.url) as response, open(mbox, 'wb') as out_file:
+with urllib.request.urlopen(args.url) as response, open(mbox_path, 'wb') as out_file:
     data = response.read() # a `bytes` object
     if must_decompress:
       out_file.write(gzip.decompress(data))
     else:
       out_file.write(data)
 
 # Print messages with ordered headers
-for message in mailbox.mbox(mbox):
+for message in mailbox.mbox(mbox_path):
     # Get 'From:', 'Date:' and 'Subject:' header values 
     from_header = message['from']
     date = message['date']
@@ -87,9 +85,8 @@ for message in mailbox.mbox(mbox):
     # Print unixfrom and message
     print('From ' + message.get_from())
     print(message)
-
-os.remove(mbox)
 
+os.remove(mbox_path)
 ```
 
 To upload an email or a collection of emails in a gzip'ed mbox to the IMAP inbox you configured for `git imap-send`, simply do :

diff --git a/git-in b/git-in
@@ -4,8 +4,7 @@ import sys
 import os
 import mailbox
 import urllib.request
-import string
-import random
+import tempfile
 import argparse
 import gzip
 
@@ -17,27 +16,26 @@ parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
 parser.add_argument("url", help="URL to download mbox from")
 args = parser.parse_args()
 
-# Construct file name
-ext = '.mbox'
-mbox = os.environ.get('TMPDIR') + 'git-in-' + ''.join(random.choices(string.ascii_lowercase, k=8)) + ext
-
 # Check if the mbox is compressed with gzip
 must_decompress = False
 gz_ext = args.url[-3:]
 if gz_ext == '.gz':
   must_decompress = True
 
-# Download the mbox file from `url` and save it locally under `mbox`:
+# Create and open a temporary file
+(mbox_file, mbox_path) = tempfile.mkstemp('.mbox', 'git-in-')
+
+# Download the mbox file from `url` and save it to the temporary file
 # https://stackoverflow.com/a/7244263/
-with urllib.request.urlopen(args.url) as response, open(mbox, 'wb') as out_file:
+with urllib.request.urlopen(args.url) as response, open(mbox_path, 'wb') as out_file:
     data = response.read() # a `bytes` object
     if must_decompress:
       out_file.write(gzip.decompress(data))
     else:
       out_file.write(data)
 
 # Print messages with ordered headers
-for message in mailbox.mbox(mbox):
+for message in mailbox.mbox(mbox_path):
     # Get 'From:', 'Date:' and 'Subject:' header values 
     from_header = message['from']
     date = message['date']
@@ -53,5 +51,5 @@ for message in mailbox.mbox(mbox):
     # Print unixfrom and message
     print('From ' + message.get_from())
     print(message)
-    
-os.remove(mbox)
+
+os.remove(mbox_path)
diff --git a/git-imap-send-all-the-emails.md b/git-imap-send-all-the-emails.md
@@ -41,23 +41,34 @@ import urllib.request
 import string
 import random
 import argparse
+import gzip
 
 # Parse input
 parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
            prog='git in', 
-           description='download mbox from given URL and print messages with headers reordered for `git imap-send`',
+           description="download raw or gzip'ed mbox from given URL and print messages with headers reordered for `git imap-send`",
            epilog='example usage: git in <url> | git imap-send')
 parser.add_argument("url", help="URL to download mbox from")
 args = parser.parse_args()
 
 # Construct file name
-mbox = os.environ.get('TMPDIR') + 'git-in-' + ''.join(random.choices(string.ascii_lowercase, k=8)) + '.mbox'
+ext = '.mbox'
+mbox = os.environ.get('TMPDIR') + 'git-in-' + ''.join(random.choices(string.ascii_lowercase, k=8)) + ext
+
+# Check if the mbox is compressed with gzip
+must_decompress = False
+gz_ext = args.url[-3:]
+if gz_ext == '.gz':
+  must_decompress = True
 
 # Download the mbox file from `url` and save it locally under `mbox`:
 # https://stackoverflow.com/a/7244263/
 with urllib.request.urlopen(args.url) as response, open(mbox, 'wb') as out_file:
     data = response.read() # a `bytes` object
-    out_file.write(data)
+    if must_decompress:
+      out_file.write(gzip.decompress(data))
+    else:
+      out_file.write(data)
 
 # Print messages with ordered headers
 for message in mailbox.mbox(mbox):
@@ -78,13 +89,11 @@ for message in mailbox.mbox(mbox):
     print(message)
 
 os.remove(mbox)
+
 ```
 
-To upload an email to the IMAP inbox you configured for `git imap-send`, simply do :
+To upload an email or a collection of emails in a gzip'ed mbox to the IMAP inbox you configured for `git imap-send`, simply do :
 ```bash
-git in https://lore.kernel.org/git/<message-id>/raw | git imap-send
+git in https://lore.kernel.org/git/<message-id>/raw | git imap-send  # single email
+git in https://lore.kernel.org/git/<message-id>/t.mbox.gz | git imap-send  # whole thread
 ```
-
-# Caveats
-The script expects a raw mbox, so it does not yet support a gzip'ed mbox. 
-That should not be hard to add using the [gzip module](https://docs.python.org/3/library/gzip.html) of the Python standard library.
diff --git a/git-in b/git-in
@@ -7,23 +7,34 @@ import urllib.request
 import string
 import random
 import argparse
+import gzip
 
 # Parse input
 parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
            prog='git in', 
-           description='download mbox from given URL and print messages with headers reordered for `git imap-send`',
+           description="download raw or gzip'ed mbox from given URL and print messages with headers reordered for `git imap-send`",
            epilog='example usage: git in <url> | git imap-send')
 parser.add_argument("url", help="URL to download mbox from")
 args = parser.parse_args()
 
 # Construct file name
-mbox = os.environ.get('TMPDIR') + 'git-in-' + ''.join(random.choices(string.ascii_lowercase, k=8)) + '.mbox'
+ext = '.mbox'
+mbox = os.environ.get('TMPDIR') + 'git-in-' + ''.join(random.choices(string.ascii_lowercase, k=8)) + ext
+
+# Check if the mbox is compressed with gzip
+must_decompress = False
+gz_ext = args.url[-3:]
+if gz_ext == '.gz':
+  must_decompress = True
 
 # Download the mbox file from `url` and save it locally under `mbox`:
 # https://stackoverflow.com/a/7244263/
 with urllib.request.urlopen(args.url) as response, open(mbox, 'wb') as out_file:
     data = response.read() # a `bytes` object
-    out_file.write(data)
+    if must_decompress:
+      out_file.write(gzip.decompress(data))
+    else:
+      out_file.write(data)
 
 # Print messages with ordered headers
 for message in mailbox.mbox(mbox):
@@ -44,6 +55,3 @@ for message in mailbox.mbox(mbox):
     print(message)
 
 os.remove(mbox)
-
-# TODO: support gzip'ed mbox, detect it and decompress it automatically
-# https://docs.python.org/3/library/gzip.html
diff --git a/git-imap-send-all-the-emails.md b/git-imap-send-all-the-emails.md
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+# Email workflows with Git 
+Since Git was designed for the mailing-list heavy workflow of the Linux kernel development community, 
+it has commands that make it easy to transform a commit (also known as a patch) into an email and vice-versa.
+For example, [`git format-patch`](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-format-patch), [`git am`](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-am), 
+[`git send-email`](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-send-email) and [`git imap-send`](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-imap-send).
+
+While `git send-email` can be used to send a list of patches prepared using `git format-patch` to a development mailing list via an SMTP server, 
+`git imap-send` is designed to upload `git format-patch`-prepared patches to an IMAP folder, so that they can then be sent using a regular
+mail client (maybe after tweaking the [cover letter](https://git-scm.com/docs/MyFirstContribution#cover-letter) or the 
+[in-patch commentaries](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-format-patch#Documentation/git-format-patch.txt---notesltrefgt)).
+
+# (Ab)using `git imap-send` to upload any email
+Even if you want to keep up-to-date with the development mailing list of your favorite project, you might not want to
+subscribe to the mailing list, to avoid cluttering your inbox. After all, most development mailing list have a web interface 
+which can be used to browse the list, such as https://lore.kernel.org/git/, the archive for the Git mailing list.
+
+But if you're not subscribed to the mailing list, and see an interesting thread that you'd like to answer to, how can you do it easily ?
+If the web archive provides a way to download messages, you can import them into your favorite mail client, but that can be hard to automate 
+when you are using a desktop email client (and not old-school `mutt` or `alpine`).
+
+So why not use `git imap-send` ? That's the plan, but since it's designed to work hand-in-hand with `git format-patch`, it expects a certain
+ordering of email headers ("From: ", "Date :" and "Subject :" must appear in that order). So a simple 
+
+```bash
+curl https://lore.kernel.org/git/<message-id>/raw | git imap-send
+```
+
+might work if the email corresponding to `<message-id>` is a patch created by `git format-patch`, but it probably won't work if it's a regular email
+(say, a bug report or user question that you wish to answer to).
+
+To make `git imap-send` happy, we simply have to shuffle the email headers in the expected order before piping in the mbox. 
+I use this little Python script that I name `git-in` to conveniently place it in the `git` namespace :
+
+```python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+import sys
+import os
+import mailbox
+import urllib.request
+import string
+import random
+import argparse
+
+# Parse input
+parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+           prog='git in', 
+           description='download mbox from given URL and print messages with headers reordered for `git imap-send`',
+           epilog='example usage: git in <url> | git imap-send')
+parser.add_argument("url", help="URL to download mbox from")
+args = parser.parse_args()
+
+# Construct file name
+mbox = os.environ.get('TMPDIR') + 'git-in-' + ''.join(random.choices(string.ascii_lowercase, k=8)) + '.mbox'
+
+# Download the mbox file from `url` and save it locally under `mbox`:
+# https://stackoverflow.com/a/7244263/
+with urllib.request.urlopen(args.url) as response, open(mbox, 'wb') as out_file:
+    data = response.read() # a `bytes` object
+    out_file.write(data)
+
+# Print messages with ordered headers
+for message in mailbox.mbox(mbox):
+    # Get 'From:', 'Date:' and 'Subject:' header values 
+    from_header = message['from']
+    date = message['date']
+    subject = message['subject']
+    # Delete the 3 headers
+    del message['from']
+    del message['date']
+    del message['subject']
+    # Write the 3 headers in the order `git imap-send` expects
+    message['From'] = from_header
+    message['Date'] = date
+    message['Subject'] = subject
+    # Print unixfrom and message
+    print('From ' + message.get_from())
+    print(message)
+
+os.remove(mbox)
+```
+
+To upload an email to the IMAP inbox you configured for `git imap-send`, simply do :
+```bash
+git in https://lore.kernel.org/git/<message-id>/raw | git imap-send
+```
+
+# Caveats
+The script expects a raw mbox, so it does not yet support a gzip'ed mbox. 
+That should not be hard to add using the [gzip module](https://docs.python.org/3/library/gzip.html) of the Python standard library.
diff --git a/git-in b/git-in
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+import sys
+import os
+import mailbox
+import urllib.request
+import string
+import random
+import argparse
+
+# Parse input
+parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+           prog='git in', 
+           description='download mbox from given URL and print messages with headers reordered for `git imap-send`',
+           epilog='example usage: git in <url> | git imap-send')
+parser.add_argument("url", help="URL to download mbox from")
+args = parser.parse_args()
+
+# Construct file name
+mbox = os.environ.get('TMPDIR') + 'git-in-' + ''.join(random.choices(string.ascii_lowercase, k=8)) + '.mbox'
+
+# Download the mbox file from `url` and save it locally under `mbox`:
+# https://stackoverflow.com/a/7244263/
+with urllib.request.urlopen(args.url) as response, open(mbox, 'wb') as out_file:
+    data = response.read() # a `bytes` object
+    out_file.write(data)
+
+# Print messages with ordered headers
+for message in mailbox.mbox(mbox):
+    # Get 'From:', 'Date:' and 'Subject:' header values 
+    from_header = message['from']
+    date = message['date']
+    subject = message['subject']
+    # Delete the 3 headers
+    del message['from']
+    del message['date']
+    del message['subject']
+    # Write the 3 headers in the order `git imap-send` expects
+    message['From'] = from_header
+    message['Date'] = date
+    message['Subject'] = subject
+    # Print unixfrom and message
+    print('From ' + message.get_from())
+    print(message)
+
+os.remove(mbox)
+
+# TODO: support gzip'ed mbox, detect it and decompress it automatically
+# https://docs.python.org/3/library/gzip.html
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