Merge Sebastian Spaeth's python bindings into bindings/python

[notmuch] / README

diff --git a/README b/README
index 3b96e6483aed59c02eb2bdc4eafabc8bea2c3068..5f029c828280f6661ea045d2a06496214686cc82 100644 (file)
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,18 +1,71 @@
->>>from cnotmuch import notmuch
->>>db = notmuch.Database("/home/spaetz/mail")
->>>db.get_path()
->>>tags = db.get_all_tags()
->>>for tag in tags: 
->>>  print tag
+Notmuch - thread-based email index, search and tagging.
 
-#---------------------------------------------
+Notmuch is a system for indexing, searching, reading, and tagging
+large collections of email messages in maildir or mh format. It uses
+the Xapian library to provide fast, full-text search with a convenient
+search syntax.
 
->>>db = notmuch.Database("/home/spaetz/mailHAHA")
-NotmuchError: Could not open the specified database
+Notmuch is free software, released under the GNU General Public
+License version 3 (or later).
 
-#---------------------------------------------
+Building notmuch
+----------------
+See the INSTALL file for notes on compiling and installing notmuch.
 
->>>tags = notmuch.Database("/home/spaetz/mail").get_all_tags()
->>>del(tags)
-Freeing the Tags now
-Freeing the database now
\ No newline at end of file
+Contacting users and developers
+-------------------------------
+The website for Notmuch is:
+
+       http://notmuchmail.org
+
+The mailing list address for the notmuch community is:
+
+       notmuch@notmuchmail.org
+
+We welcome any sort of questions, comments, kudos, or code there.
+
+Subscription is not required, (but if you do subscribe you'll avoid
+any delay due to moderation). See the website for subscription
+information.
+
+There is also an IRC channel dedicated to talk about using and
+developing notmuch:
+
+       IRC server:     irc.freenode.net
+       Channel:        #notmuch
+
+Interface options
+-----------------
+Notmuch includes a "notmuch" command-line interface to the system.
+This is not a very convenient interface and it is not expected that
+users will find it satisfying. Instead, there are two option for
+obtaining a more sophisticated interface:
+
+     1. Build on top of the "notmuch" command-line interface.
+
+       This might be a reasonable option for a very text-oriented
+       client environment. For example, an emacs-based interface for
+       notmuch is already under development and is available in the
+       notmuch.el file in this distribution.
+
+       If someone were to write a curses-based interface, or similar,
+       it might also be reasonable to build on the "notmuch"
+       command-line interface.
+
+     2. Build on top of the notmuch library interface.
+
+       This is a better choice for developing an interface that has
+       full control of the presentation of email threads and
+       messages. It is expected that anyone integrating Notmuch into
+       an existing, graphical email program use the notmuch library
+       interface.
+
+       The public interface to the notmuch library is contained in
+       the notmuch.h header file. The "notmuch" command-line program
+       in notmuch.c can be used as good example code, since it is a
+       simple program that is written on top of the library
+       interface.
+
+As can be seen, alternate interfaces to the Notmuch mail system are
+still in development. We would appreciate any contributions to these
+efforts.