RFC notmuch-pick: an emacs threaded message view with split-pane

[Mark Walters]

On Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:59:39 +0100, Daniel Schoepe <daniel at schoepe.org> wrote:
> On Sun, 12 Feb 2012 12:46:36 -0800, Jameson Graef Rollins <jrollins at finestructure.net> wrote:
> > Hey, Mark.  I really like the idea, since I've been looking for
> > something like this for a while, but there's something I'm confused
> > about.  Is this meant to replace notmuch-search, or notmuch-show?  I had
> > been hoping for a notmuch *show* replacement that shows the nice tree
> > view for the thread, with a single message view below.  But it sounds
> > like you're meant to be replacing notmuch search?  That seems confusing
> > to me, particularly in light of the big performance hit you describe.
> 
> As far as I can tell, it is intended as a third option and can be used
> for both, viewing all messages matching a search in a tree structure
> (with a pane for an individual message) as in most other mail clients
> (mutt, thunderbird, Gnus, etc.) and viewing a single thread in the
> manner you described.
> 
> This has the added bonus, that it can be offered _in addition_ to show
> in search, since I wouldn't want to give up the current
> search-view. notmuch-show might also be preferred by some users (due to
> its similarity to sup and gmail). Of course, this would mean that we
> would have to maintain threading capabilities for two modes. (It relies
> on show for displaying a single message, so that part is not
> duplicated).

This is exactly my view: it comes somewhere between search and show. I
use it both ways: as a view for my inbox (i.e., as a replacement for
search) and when I get lost "showing" a long thread. 

I haven't tried Daniel's suggestion of notmuch-search-pick (going from a
thread to the pick view of that thread). But I will add it as an option.

Best wishes

Mark