1 files changed, 217 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/email-clients.txt b/Documentation/email-clients.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..113165b48305
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/email-clients.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,217 @@
+Email clients info for Linux
+======================================================================
+
+General Preferences
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+Patches for the Linux kernel are submitted via email, preferably as
+inline text in the body of the email.  Some maintainers accept
+attachments, but then the attachments should have content-type
+"text/plain".  However, attachments are generally frowned upon because
+it makes quoting portions of the patch more difficult in the patch
+review process.
+
+Email clients that are used for Linux kernel patches should send the
+patch text untouched.  For example, they should not modify or delete tabs
+or spaces, even at the beginning or end of lines.
+
+Don't send patches with "format=flowed".  This can cause unexpected
+and unwanted line breaks.
+
+Don't let your email client do automatic word wrapping for you.
+This can also corrupt your patch.
+
+Email clients should not modify the character set encoding of the text.
+Emailed patches should be in ASCII or UTF-8 encoding only.
+If you configure your email client to send emails with UTF-8 encoding,
+you avoid some possible charset problems.
+
+Email clients should generate and maintain References: or In-Reply-To:
+headers so that mail threading is not broken.
+
+Copy-and-paste (or cut-and-paste) usually does not work for patches
+because tabs are converted to spaces.  Using xclipboard, xclip, and/or
+xcutsel may work, but it's best to test this for yourself or just avoid
+copy-and-paste.
+
+Don't use PGP/GPG signatures in mail that contains patches.
+This breaks many scripts that read and apply the patches.
+(This should be fixable.)
+
+It's a good idea to send a patch to yourself, save the received message,
+and successfully apply it with 'patch' before sending patches to Linux
+mailing lists.
+
+
+Some email client (MUA) hints
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+Here are some specific MUA configuration hints for editing and sending
+patches for the Linux kernel.  These are not meant to be complete
+software package configuration summaries.
+
+Legend:
+TUI = text-based user interface
+GUI = graphical user interface
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Alpine (TUI)
+
+Config options:
+In the "Sending Preferences" section:
+
+- "Do Not Send Flowed Text" must be enabled
+- "Strip Whitespace Before Sending" must be disabled
+
+When composing the message, the cursor should be placed where the patch
+should appear, and then pressing CTRL-R let you specify the patch file
+to insert into the message.
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Evolution (GUI)
+
+Some people use this successfully for patches.
+
+When composing mail select: Preformat
+  from Format->Heading->Preformatted (Ctrl-7)
+  or the toolbar
+
+Then use:
+  Insert->Text File... (Alt-n x)
+to insert the patch.
+
+You can also "diff -Nru old.c new.c | xclip", select Preformat, then
+paste with the middle button.
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Kmail (GUI)
+
+Some people use Kmail successfully for patches.
+
+The default setting of not composing in HTML is appropriate; do not
+enable it.
+
+When composing an email, under options, uncheck "word wrap". The only
+disadvantage is any text you type in the email will not be word-wrapped
+so you will have to manually word wrap text before the patch. The easiest
+way around this is to compose your email with word wrap enabled, then save
+it as a draft. Once you pull it up again from your drafts it is now hard
+word-wrapped and you can uncheck "word wrap" without losing the existing
+wrapping.
+
+At the bottom of your email, put the commonly-used patch delimiter before
+inserting your patch:  three hyphens (---).
+
+Then from the "Message" menu item, select insert file and choose your patch.
+As an added bonus you can customise the message creation toolbar menu
+and put the "insert file" icon there.
+
+You can safely GPG sign attachments, but inlined text is preferred for
+patches so do not GPG sign them.  Signing patches that have been inserted
+as inlined text will make them tricky to extract from their 7-bit encoding.
+
+If you absolutely must send patches as attachments instead of inlining
+them as text, right click on the attachment and select properties, and
+highlight "Suggest automatic display" to make the attachment inlined to
+make it more viewable.
+
+When saving patches that are sent as inlined text, select the email that
+contains the patch from the message list pane, right click and select
+"save as".  You can use the whole email unmodified as a patch if it was
+properly composed.  There is no option currently to save the email when you
+are actually viewing it in its own window -- there has been a request filed
+at kmail's bugzilla and hopefully this will be addressed.  Emails are saved
+as read-write for user only so you will have to chmod them to make them
+group and world readable if you copy them elsewhere.
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Lotus Notes (GUI)
+
+Run away from it.
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Mutt (TUI)
+
+Plenty of Linux developers use mutt, so it must work pretty well.
+
+Mutt doesn't come with an editor, so whatever editor you use should be
+used in a way that there are no automatic linebreaks.  Most editors have
+an "insert file" option that inserts the contents of a file unaltered.
+
+To use 'vim' with mutt:
+  set editor="vi"
+
+  If using xclip, type the command
+  :set paste
+  before middle button or shift-insert or use
+  :r filename
+
+if you want to include the patch inline.
+(a)ttach works fine without "set paste".
+
+Config options:
+It should work with default settings.
+However, it's a good idea to set the "send_charset" to:
+  set send_charset="us-ascii:utf-8"
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Pine (TUI)
+
+Pine has had some whitespace truncation issues in the past, but these
+should all be fixed now.
+
+Use alpine (pine's successor) if you can.
+
+Config options:
+- quell-flowed-text is needed for recent versions
+- the "no-strip-whitespace-before-send" option is needed
+
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Sylpheed (GUI)
+
+- Works well for inlining text (or using attachments).
+- Allows use of an external editor.
+- Not good for IMAP.
+- Is slow on large folders.
+- Won't do TLS SMTP auth over a non-SSL connection.
+- Has a helpful ruler bar in the compose window.
+- Adding addresses to address book doesn't understand the display name
+  properly.
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Thunderbird (GUI)
+
+By default, thunderbird likes to mangle text, but there are ways to
+coerce it into being nice.
+
+- Under account settings, composition and addressing, uncheck "Compose
+  messages in HTML format".
+
+- Edit your Thunderbird config settings to tell it not to wrap lines:
+      user_pref("mailnews.wraplength", 0);
+
+- Edit your Thunderbird config settings so that it won't use format=flowed:
+      user_pref("mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed", false);
+
+- You need to get Thunderbird into preformat mode:
+. If you compose HTML messages by default, it's not too hard. Just select
+  "Preformat" from the drop-down box just under the subject line.
+. If you compose in text by default, you have to tell it to compose a new
+  message in HTML (just as a one-off), and then force it from there back to
+  text, else it will wrap lines. To do this, use shift-click on the Write
+  icon to compose to get HTML compose mode, then select "Preformat" from
+  the drop-down box just under the subject line.
+
+- Allows use of an external editor:
+  The easiest thing to do with Thunderbird and patches is to use an
+  "external editor" extension and then just use your favorite $EDITOR
+  for reading/merging patches into the body text.  To do this, download
+  and install the extension, then add a button for it using
+  View->Toolbars->Customize... and finally just click on it when in the
+  Compose dialog.
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+TkRat (GUI)
+
+Works.  Use "Insert file..." or external editor.
+
+                                ###