Documentation: hints for sending patches inline with Thunderbird

jrn · gitster · commit dc53151f02ce · 2011-04-15T13:28:03.000-07:00
The standard reference for this information is the article
"Plain text e-mail - Thunderbird#Completely_plain_email" at
kb.mozillazine.org, but the hints hidden away in git's
SubmittingPatches file are more complete.  Move them to the
"git format-patch" manual so they can be installed with git and
read by a wide audience.

While at it, make some tweaks:

 - update "Approach #1" so it might work with Thunderbird 3;
 - remove ancient version numbers from the descriptions of both
   approaches so current readers might have more reason to
   complain if they don't work.

Signed-off-by: Jonathan Nieder &lt;jrnieder@gmail.com&gt;
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano &lt;gitster@pobox.com&gt;
diff --git a/Documentation/SubmittingPatches b/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
@@ -416,86 +416,7 @@ it.
 Thunderbird
 -----------
 
-(A Large Angry SCM)
-
-By default, Thunderbird will both wrap emails as well as flag them as
-being 'format=flowed', both of which will make the resulting email unusable
-by git.
-
-Here are some hints on how to successfully submit patches inline using
-Thunderbird.
-
-There are two different approaches.  One approach is to configure
-Thunderbird to not mangle patches.  The second approach is to use
-an external editor to keep Thunderbird from mangling the patches.
-
-Approach #1 (configuration):
-
-This recipe is current as of Thunderbird 2.0.0.19.  Three steps:
-  1.  Configure your mail server composition as plain text
-      Edit...Account Settings...Composition & Addressing,
-        uncheck 'Compose Messages in HTML'.
-  2.  Configure your general composition window to not wrap
-      Edit..Preferences..Composition, wrap plain text messages at 0
-  3.  Disable the use of format=flowed
-      Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor.  Search for:
-        mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed
-      toggle it to make sure it is set to 'false'.
-
-After that is done, you should be able to compose email as you
-otherwise would (cut + paste, git-format-patch | git-imap-send, etc),
-and the patches should not be mangled.
-
-Approach #2 (external editor):
-
-This recipe appears to work with the current [*1*] Thunderbird from Suse.
-
-The following Thunderbird extensions are needed:
-	AboutConfig 0.5
-		http://aboutconfig.mozdev.org/
-	External Editor 0.7.2
-		http://globs.org/articles.php?lng=en&pg=8
-
-1) Prepare the patch as a text file using your method of choice.
-
-2) Before opening a compose window, use Edit->Account Settings to
-uncheck the "Compose messages in HTML format" setting in the
-"Composition & Addressing" panel of the account to be used to send the
-patch. [*2*]
-
-3) In the main Thunderbird window, _before_ you open the compose window
-for the patch, use Tools->about:config to set the following to the
-indicated values:
-	mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed	=> false
-	mailnews.wraplength		=> 0
-
-4) Open a compose window and click the external editor icon.
-
-5) In the external editor window, read in the patch file and exit the
-editor normally.
-
-6) Back in the compose window: Add whatever other text you wish to the
-message, complete the addressing and subject fields, and press send.
-
-7) Optionally, undo the about:config/account settings changes made in
-steps 2 & 3.
-
-
-[Footnotes]
-*1* Version 1.0 (20041207) from the MozillaThunderbird-1.0-5 rpm of Suse
-9.3 professional updates.
-
-*2* It may be possible to do this with about:config and the following
-settings but I haven't tried, yet.
-	mail.html_compose			=> false
-	mail.identity.default.compose_html	=> false
-	mail.identity.id?.compose_html		=> false
-
-(Lukas Sandström)
-
-There is a script in contrib/thunderbird-patch-inline which can help
-you include patches with Thunderbird in an easy way. To use it, do the
-steps above and then use the script as the external editor.
+See the MUA-SPECIFIC HINTS section of git-format-patch(1).
 
 Gnus
 ----
diff --git a/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt b/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt
@@ -332,6 +332,89 @@ If it does not apply correctly, there can be various reasons.
   patch e-mail should come after the three-dash line that signals
   the end of the commit message.
 
+MUA-SPECIFIC HINTS
+------------------
+Here are some hints on how to successfully submit patches inline using
+various mailers.
+
+Thunderbird
+~~~~~~~~~~~
+By default, Thunderbird will both wrap emails as well as flag
+them as being 'format=flowed', both of which will make the
+resulting email unusable by git.
+
+There are two different approaches.  One approach is to configure
+Thunderbird to not mangle patches.  The second approach is to use
+an external editor to keep Thunderbird from mangling the patches.
+
+Approach #1 (configuration)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+Three steps:
+
+1. Configure your mail server composition as plain text:
+   Edit...Account Settings...Composition & Addressing,
+   uncheck "Compose Messages in HTML".
+
+2. Configure your general composition window to not wrap.
++
+In Thunderbird 2:
+Edit..Preferences..Composition, wrap plain text messages at 0
++
+In Thunderbird 3:
+Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor.  Search for
+"mail.wrap_long_lines".
+Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`.
+
+3. Disable the use of format=flowed:
+Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor.  Search for
+"mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed".
+Toggle it to make sure it is set to `false`.
+
+After that is done, you should be able to compose email as you
+otherwise would (cut + paste, 'git format-patch' | 'git imap-send', etc),
+and the patches will not be mangled.
+
+Approach #2 (external editor)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The following Thunderbird extensions are needed:
+AboutConfig from http://aboutconfig.mozdev.org/ and
+External Editor from http://globs.org/articles.php?lng=en&pg=8
+
+1. Prepare the patch as a text file using your method of choice.
+
+2. Before opening a compose window, use Edit->Account Settings to
+   uncheck the "Compose messages in HTML format" setting in the
+   "Composition & Addressing" panel of the account to be used to
+   send the patch.
+
+3. In the main Thunderbird window, 'before' you open the compose
+   window for the patch, use Tools->about:config to set the
+   following to the indicated values:
++
+----------
+	mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed  => false
+	mailnews.wraplength             => 0
+----------
+
+4. Open a compose window and click the external editor icon.
+
+5. In the external editor window, read in the patch file and exit
+   the editor normally.
+
+Side note: it may be possible to do step 2 with
+about:config and the following settings but no one's tried yet.
+
+----------
+	mail.html_compose                       => false
+	mail.identity.default.compose_html      => false
+	mail.identity.id?.compose_html          => false
+----------
+
+There is a script in contrib/thunderbird-patch-inline which can help
+you include patches with Thunderbird in an easy way. To use it, do the
+steps above and then use the script as the external editor.
+
 
 EXAMPLES
 --------
