[PATCH v2 3/6] cli: add support for replying just to the sender in "notmuch reply"

[Jani Nikula]

On Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:23:15 +0000, Mark Walters <markwalters1009 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I like this version (of the whole series) but have two queries. (Note I
> haven't actually tried it out yet: I have just been reading the code.)
> 
> > +	/* Force recipient type in reply-to-sender mode just in case replying to
> > +	 * user's own message finds recipients in Cc/Bcc fields only.
> > +	 */
> > +	if (reply_all)
> > +	    recipient_type = reply_to_map[i].recipient_type;
> > +	else
> > +	    recipient_type = GMIME_RECIPIENT_TYPE_TO;
> > +
> > +	addr = add_recipients_for_string (reply, config, recipient_type,
> > +					  recipients, add_recipients);
> > +
> 
> Why force the recipient type?  I do not think notmuch should ever move
> bcc people onto a different header. I think that will bite someone when
> it leaks information.
> 
> I would be happy with either empty headers or with the people staying
> as bcc.
> 
> In the cc: case I have no preference (as those addresses are already
> public) but I would suggest being consistent with bcc so either empty
> headers or keep them in the cc line.

I think you're right. I was trying to clean up a corner case in
reply-to-self, but probably over did it. I'll remove the recipient type
forcing altogether. Then it'll keep addresses in the same header as they
were.

> >     for (messages = notmuch_query_search_messages (query);
> >         notmuch_messages_valid (messages);
> >         notmuch_messages_move_to_next (messages))
> >     {
> [...]
> >       (void)add_recipients_from_message (reply, config, message, reply_all);
> 
> Since the above logic is applied to each email individually I think
> working out the recipients when replying to multiple emails (e.g.,
> reply-to-sender on a thread) could be very confusing. Some of the people
> being replied to will have been senders, some recipients (it is very
> likely that the thread contains messages we sent), some could even be
> cc, bcc people. Personally, I would have no idea what to expect from
> reply-to-sender in this case.
> 
> (My personal choice would be not to allow notmuch-reply-to-sender if
> multiple messages are specified. But I can obtain that by unbinding "r"
> in the notmuch-search-mode-map keymap.)

The reply-to-thread is a rare case anyway, regardless of reply-to-all or
reply-to-sender, and even the current implementation does not gather all
the recipients from all the messages. Try it out, it seems to me it does
not quite do what you think it does.

IMHO it should use oldest-first rather than newest-first sort order, and
I guess it should really go through the messages being replied to and
get the recipients from all of them. It's just out of scope for this
patch set to fix these. But if that gets fixed later, I would like the
reply-to-sender for multiple messages follow the logic of single-reply,
just with all the addresses put together.


BR,
Jani.