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diff --git a/desktop/modules/mail/README.md b/desktop/modules/mail/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..34eaa53 --- /dev/null +++ b/desktop/modules/mail/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,254 @@ +# mail-overview + +Unread mail across every account, as one waybar number and a drawer behind it. +Clicking the icon opens the drawer; Escape or a click outside closes it. + + ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ + │ Mail 33 unread │ + ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ + │ ● Account A 2 │ + │ Some Sender Today 06:18 │ + │ [a-list] a subject line that is elided... │ + ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ + │ ● Account B 0 │ + │ ● Account C 31 │ + │ ...three newest threads... │ + │ ● Account D 0 │ + │ ● Account E 0 │ + ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ + │ ● watcher ok · 25 folders │ + ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ + │ [Open qtmaildir] │ + └──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ + +## Running it + + qs -p . + +It is started from `autostart.lua` and reached over IPC, so the shell has to be +running for the waybar click to do anything: + + qs -p ~/Programming/GIT/quickshell/mail-overview ipc call mail toggle + +Write that path out in full in the real config. Waybar's `exec` and `on-click` +have no shell to expand `~`, and neither do Hyprland's Lua strings. + +## The accounts are not listed here + +`qtmaildir.conf` already has one `[account.<key>]` section per account, and +`<key>` is exactly the suffix of the notmuch tag `account-<key>`, with a short +`label` and a `color` alongside. The panel parses that file, in file order, so +adding an account to qtmaildir makes it appear here with no edit to any QML. +The file is watched, so that happens without a restart. + +The `color` is the account's own, from its config section. It marks the dot +beside each row and nothing else: per-account identity is not a palette, and +`Theme` still owns every other colour. + +**Parsing walks lines rather than matching one regex over the file.** The +obvious pattern for a section body, everything up to the next `[`, is wrong +here: several accounts have folders named like `[Gmail]/Bozze`, so the body +ended at that bracket, before the `label` line, and three of five accounts +quietly fell back to displaying their raw key. Nothing errored, because falling +back is a legitimate path for an account with no label. + +## Counting + +Every count is `tag:unread and tag:inbox`. Plain `tag:unread` also counts +archived-but-unread mail and mailing list traffic that was never in the inbox, +which for one account here was the difference between 32 and 41; the +inbox-scoped number is the one that means new mail worth looking at. + +**By the `account-*` tag, never by a `path:` glob.** qtmaildir itself scopes an +account with `path:"<maildir>/**"`, and copying that query would be wrong for +this panel. notmuch deduplicates by message id, so a message that arrived at +two of the configured addresses is one message with two file paths: a glob +counts it under both accounts, and the rows then sum to more than the total the +waybar icon shows. Measured here, five accounts summed to 102 against a global +total of 101. The tag is a property of the message, so it is singular and the +rows always sum to the header. The cost is that such a message appears under +only the account the `post-new` hook attributed it to, which is the right trade +for an overview whose headline figure is a single number. + +## notmuch fails two ways, and only one is detectable + +A query notmuch rejects prints nothing and exits 1: + + notmuch count 'tag:unread and (' + +A query Xapian merely misparses returns a plausible wrong number and exits 0: + + notmuch count 'tag:unread and ((' # 41, exit 0 + notmuch count 'tag:unread and tag:' # 3, exit 0 + +So the exit status is not the test, and neither is any check that a wrong +number could pass. Counts are validated as non-negative integers, which catches +the first case, where empty output would otherwise render as an empty inbox. +The second is not catchable; the defence against it is that the queries are +fixed strings and are never built from anything. + +An unknown count shows a dash, never a zero, for the same reason the VM panel +refuses to substitute libvirt's host-side figures: a number that is actually a +failure reads as a fact. + +## The waybar module + +A `custom` module in **continuous mode**: the script never exits, prints one +JSON line per database commit, and waybar redraws on each line. There is no +`interval`, and no daemon to supervise, because waybar owns the process. + + "custom/mail": { + "format": "<span font='18px'></span> {}", + "return-type": "json", + "exec": "~/Programming/GIT/quickshell/mail-overview/waybar-mail.sh", + "on-click": "qs -p ~/Programming/GIT/quickshell/mail-overview ipc call mail toggle", + "on-click-right": "~/bin/mailsync.sh", + "tooltip": false + } + +The count drops the moment mail is read in qtmaildir and rises the moment +mbsync commits, because both write the database and the watcher sees either. + +Two details in that loop are load-bearing. The watch is on the **xapian +directory**, not on a file inside it: a commit replaces files, and a watch held +on a filename dies with it. And a short sleep coalesces the several writes of +one commit, without which the module redraws three or four times per sync with +intermediate counts. + +The old setup this replaces ran three copies of a python script polling the +Gmail API with stored credentials, covered three of the five accounts, and +opened Thunderbird. Everything it fetched over the network was already in the +local index. + +## Notifications on arrival + +`mail-notify.sh` sends one notification per account when mail lands, with the +newest three threads' sender and subject and a `+N more` line when the batch is +bigger. Each message is a bullet on its own line with a blank line between, +under a bold `New Mail` heading with the account and count as the second line. +Started from `autostart.lua`, it runs for the whole session. + + /home/you/Programming/GIT/quickshell/mail-overview/mail-notify.sh + +It watches the same xapian directory the waybar module does, for the same +reason and with the same 0.3s debounce. It is a **separate process rather +than part of `waybar-mail.sh`**, which already has that edge: waybar owns +that script's process, so a bar restart would stop notifications with nothing +reporting it. + +**A commit is not the same as new mail.** Reading a message in qtmaildir drops +its `unread` tag and commits; so does tagging. Arrival is found with notmuch's +revision counter instead: + + notmuch count --lastmod 'tag:unread and tag:inbox' + +which prints count, database UUID and revision, tab separated. Each account is +then asked what it gained in `lastmod:<prev+1>..<cur>`, the lower bound one +revision after the stored one so it is exclusive. A count delta was +rejected because it cannot name senders, and a `date:` watermark because +`date:` is the message's own Date header: backdated mail would never notify +and future-dated mail would notify forever. + +Position is kept in `~/.local/state/mail-notify.lastmod`, written by atomic +replace, holding the **UUID as well as the revision**. Revisions only compare +within one database, so a rebuild restarts the counter and a stored revision +from the old one means nothing. + +**Missing, corrupt or mismatched state seeds silently**, recording the current +revision and notifying nothing. Without that floor, `lastmod:0..` matches every +unread message ever: 101 of them here, which is a wall of popups at every +login. The same applies to a restart, so mail that arrived while it was down is +never notified. The waybar count is still right and the drawer still shows it, +so nothing is lost but a stale popup. + +The notification is sent with dunstify. The icon is passed as an **absolute +path** to the active icon theme's `mail-unread-multiple`, because this dunst +resolves an icon *name* only through the `icon_path` in `dunstrc`, and that +path holds no mail icon, so a name renders no icon at all. The click action +(`-A default,open`) makes dunst prepend an `(A)` action indicator when +`show_indicators` is on, so `dunstrc` sets `show_indicators = no`. A middle +click (dunst's `do_action`) opens qtmaildir, but not the account it belongs +to: `qtmaildir` takes no arguments and `startup_account` is a static setting +rather than a flag, the same limitation the thread rows have. + +`test-mail-notify.sh` is the check. It sources the script as a library and +asserts on the functions that only move text around, so it needs no mail and no +notmuch: + + ./test-mail-notify.sh + +## Geometry, and the one property that differs from the other panels + +The window is a fullscreen overlay with a dimmed backdrop and the drawer itself +anchored to its top right, which is the idiom `vm-manager` and `appearance` both +use and what gives click-outside-to-close and a focusable item for Escape. + +It differs from those two in one property: `exclusionMode` is `Normal`, not +`Ignore`. Waybar claims an exclusive zone at the top of this screen, so +respecting it places the overlay below the bar with no height constant here to +drift. Measured: waybar at `y=-540 h=42`, this overlay at `y=-498 h=1038`, +starting exactly where the bar ends. The backdrop therefore never dims waybar. + +**Key events reach a focused item, not a window.** Setting +`WlrLayershell.keyboardFocus` is necessary but not sufficient, and +`Keys.onEscapePressed` on a `PanelWindow` never fires, so the focus sits on an +inner `Item`. + +## Thread rows are read-only + +Each account shows its three newest unread threads as author, relative date and +subject. Clicking one launches qtmaildir and nothing more, because `qtmaildir` +accepts no command line arguments: there is no way to tell it which thread to +open. `startup_account` in its config is a static setting, not a flag, so +"open on this account" is unavailable for the same reason. Marking read from +here was rejected rather than deferred: it would write the database behind a +possibly running client. + +"Open qtmaildir" launches the client. There is no "Sync now" button: the +watcher triggers a sync the moment mail lands, the cron tick is the backstop, +and `on-click-right` on the waybar module runs `~/bin/mailsync.sh` for a manual +pull. + +## The watcher status dot + +Below the accounts, above the button, a coloured dot reports whether +`mail-watcher` is alive and sane, read from its heartbeat at +`~/.local/state/mail-watcher.heartbeat`: + +- **green** (`watcher ok · N folders`) heartbeat fresh, no dead threads. +- **yellow** (`N folder(s) dead, check the log`) heartbeat fresh, but a folder + gave up permanently. +- **red** (`watcher not running`) heartbeat missing, unparseable, or older than + 300s. + +Backoff never turns the dot: it is normal recovery from a dropped IDLE +connection, and the watcher's own health check treats it as healthy. The +staleness rule is the same one `mail-watcher` uses (`heartbeat_is_healthy`), +reimplemented here in a few lines rather than shelling out to +`mail-watcher.py --status` on every open. + +The heartbeat is read once per open. The drawer is a `LazyLoader`, so closing +and reopening rebuilds the `FileView` and reads the file current. A file watch +is deliberately not used: the heartbeat is written by atomic replace (tmpfile +then rename), so an inotify watch held on the old inode dies with it, which is +the same trap as watching a file inside the Xapian directory. The cost is that +a drawer left open does not update until reopened, which for 60s heartbeat data +is not worth a timer. + +## Theme and blur + +`Theme.qml` is the shared one: the palette comes from +`~/.cache/wal/udt-palette.qml` and is watched. It is a fourth identical copy, +which is a known loose end, not a palette to grow. + +Frosting is Hyprland's, matched on this window's namespace: + + hl.layer_rule({ + name = "blur-mail", + match = { namespace = "^(quickshell-mail)$" }, + blur = true, + xray = false, + ignore_alpha = 0.1, + }) + +Without the rule it still works, rendering flat translucent. |