Re: PATCH for worg about cb_thunderlink (Re: Link from orgmode file to E-Mail (using kmail or notmuch))

[Max Nikulin <manikulin@gmail.com>]

On 02/02/2023 01:16, Bruno Barbier wrote:
> Max Nikulin writes:
> 
>> On 01/02/2023 02:56, Bruno Barbier wrote:
>> Is it intentional that you and the linked page avoid cb_thunderlink page
>> on the official add-on site?
>> https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-us/thunderbird/addon/cb_thunderlink/
> 
> No. But visiting the author site being mandatory to install it, I
> thought it was simpler to point directly there.

The author suggests to install from github assets instead of official 
add-on catalog for some reason. Perhaps it is just survived since times 
when cb_thunderlink was not published yet.

>>> +#+begin_src elisp
>>> +(defvar cbthunderlink-app nil
>>> +  "The full path where you've installed your cb_thunderlink application.")
>>> +
>>> +(defun cbthunderlink-open (message-id)
>>> +  "Open the given email. MESSAGE-ID is the message id."
>>> +  (start-process "cb_thunderlink" " *cb_thunderlink*"
>> --------------------------------------^
> 
> Yes. This is a buffer that is uninteresting to the user, see:

Thank you for clarification, I forgot about it.

>> in both cases it promises to register thunderlink:// and
>> cbthunderlink:// handlers. From my point of view it may be a reason to
>> take advantage of `browse-url' package. It should allow to avoid
>> explicit code to start process and to delegate the task to this package
>> and to handle mid: links by `goto-address-mode' in non-org buffers.
...
> I'm not using `browse-url' (except for web pages) and I wasn't aware of
> `goto-address-mode'.

My idea was to push '("\\`mid:" . custom/browse-url-mid) to 
`browse-url-handlers' having (untested)

(defun custom/browse-url-mid (url &optional _ignored)
   (browse-url
    (replace-regexp-in-string "\\`mid:" "thunderlink:/message-id=" url)))

I am unsure concerning double slash after protocol since host name 
expected after double slash. At least KDE may try to resolve hostname 
and to distort URI. I hope, Message-ID never contains characters that 
may require percent encoding when used in query parameter value.

`browse-url-xdg-open' had a lot of revisions before current 
`call-process' settled inside. It is the reason why I will prefer to 
avoid explicit calls to `start-process' (alternatives known to me are 
even worse) and to delegate as much as possible to `browse-url'.

>> By the way, if cb_thunderlink is more convenient than built-in way to
>> handle mid: links in thunderbird then support of mid: URI protocol is a
>> valid feature request for cb_thunderlink.
> 
> I'm not sure to understand. The `cb_thunderlink' add-on allow to build
> the link in one click from inside Thunderbird; that the part that I find
> really useful. And if Thunderbird is able to open an email from its
> "mid:" URL, the prefered method should probably be to install only the
> add-on inside Thunderbird, and use Thunderbird to reopen the "mid:" link.

Since you suggest thunderlink: links instead of built-in mid: (already 
described in FAQ), I assume that the former approach has some advantage 
over the latter. Nobody forbids to have several handlers for some 
protocol and to let user decide which one their prefer, built-in or 
cb_thunderlink. If cb_thunderlink configures mid: handler then it will 
become available for configuration at the level of desktop environment.