aerc

aerc is an email client for your terminal.

This is a fork of the original aerc by Drew DeVault.

A short demonstration can be found on https://aerc-mail.org/

Join the IRC channel: #aerc on irc.libera.chat for end-user support, and #aerc-dev for development.

Usage

On its first run, aerc will copy the default config files to ~/.config/aerc on Linux or ~/Library/Preferences/aerc on MacOS (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/aerc if set) and show the account configuration wizard.

If you redirect stdout to a file, logging output will be written to that file:

$ aerc > log

For instructions and documentation: see man aerc and further specific man pages on there.

Note that the example HTML filter (off by default), additionally needs w3m and dante to be installed.

Installation

Binary Packages

Recent versions of aerc are available on:

• Alpine
• Arch
• macOS through Homebrew

And likely other platforms.

From Source

Install the dependencies:

• go (>=1.13)
• scdoc

Then compile aerc:

$ make

aerc optionally supports notmuch. To enable it, you need to have a recent version of notmuch, including the header files (notmuch.h). Then compile aerc with the necessary build tags:

$ GOFLAGS=-tags=notmuch make

To install aerc locally:

# make install

Contribution Quick Start

Anyone can contribute to aerc. First you need to clone the repository and build the project:

$ git clone https://git.sr.ht/~rjarry/aerc
$ cd aerc
$ make

Patch the code. Make some tests. Ensure that your code is properly formatted with gofmt. Ensure that everything builds and works as expected. Ensure that you did not break anything.

• If applicable, update unit tests.
• If adding a new feature, please consider adding new tests.
• Do not forget to update the docs.

Once you are happy with your work, you can create a commit (or several commits). Follow these general rules:

• Limit the first line (title) of the commit message to 60 characters.
• Use a short prefix for the commit title for readability with git log --oneline.
• Use the body of the commit message to actually explain what your patch does and why it is useful.
• Address only one issue/topic per commit.
• If you are fixing a ticket, use appropriate commit trailers.
• If you are fixing a regression introduced by another commit, add a Fixes: trailer with the commit id and its title.

There is a great reference for commit messages in the Linux kernel documentation.

Before sending the patch, you should configure your local clone with sane defaults:

$ git config format.subjectPrefix "PATCH aerc"
$ git config sendemail.to "~rjarry/aerc-devel@lists.sr.ht"

And send the patch to the mailing list:

$ git sendemail --annotate -1

Wait for feedback. Address comments and amend changes to your original commit. Then you should send a v2:

$ git sendemail --in-reply-to=$first_message_id --annotate -v2 -1

Once the maintainer is happy with your patch, they will apply it and push it.

Resources

Send patches and questions to ~rjarry/aerc-devel@lists.sr.ht.

Instructions for preparing a patch are available at git-send-email.io

Subscribe to release announcements on ~rjarry/aerc-announce@lists.sr.ht

Submit bug reports and feature requests on https://todo.sr.ht/~rjarry/aerc.