offlineimapui.txt 4.1 KB

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  1. offlineimapui(7)
  2. ================
  3. NAME
  4. ----
  5. offlineimapui - The User Interfaces
  6. DESCRIPTION
  7. -----------
  8. OfflineIMAP comes with different UIs, each aiming its own purpose.
  9. TTYUI
  10. ------
  11. TTYUI interface is for people running in terminals. It prints out basic
  12. status messages and is generally friendly to use on a console or xterm.
  13. Basic
  14. ------
  15. Basic is designed for situations in which OfflineIMAP will be run non-attended
  16. and the status of its execution will be logged.
  17. This user interface is not capable of reading a password from the keyboard;
  18. account passwords must be specified using one of the configuration file
  19. options. For example, it will not print periodic sleep announcements and tends
  20. to be a tad less verbose, in general.
  21. Blinkenlights
  22. -------------
  23. Blinkenlights is an interface designed to be sleek, fun to watch, and
  24. informative of the overall picture of what OfflineIMAP is doing.
  25. Blinkenlights contains a row of "LEDs" with command buttons and a log. The
  26. log shows more detail about what is happening and is color-coded to match the
  27. color of the lights.
  28. Each light in the Blinkenlights interface represents a thread of execution --
  29. that is, a particular task that OfflineIMAP is performing right now. The
  30. colors indicate what task the particular thread is performing, and are as
  31. follows:
  32. * Black
  33. indicates that this light's thread has terminated; it will light up again
  34. later when new threads start up. So, black indicates no activity.
  35. * Red (Meaning 1)
  36. is the color of the main program's thread, which basically does nothing but
  37. monitor the others. It might remind you of HAL 9000 in 2001.
  38. * Gray
  39. indicates that the thread is establishing a new connection to the IMAP
  40. server.
  41. * Purple
  42. is the color of an account synchronization thread that is monitoring the
  43. progress of the folders in that account (not generating any I/O).
  44. * Cyan
  45. indicates that the thread is syncing a folder.
  46. * Green
  47. means that a folder's message list is being loaded.
  48. * Blue
  49. is the color of a message synchronization controller thread.
  50. * Orange
  51. indicates that an actual message is being copied. (We use fuchsia for fake
  52. messages.)
  53. * Red (meaning 2)
  54. indicates that a message is being deleted.
  55. * Yellow / bright orange
  56. indicates that message flags are being added.
  57. * Pink / bright red
  58. indicates that message flags are being removed.
  59. * Red / Black Flashing
  60. corresponds to the countdown timer that runs between synchronizations.
  61. The name of this interfaces derives from a bit of computer history. Eric
  62. Raymond's Jargon File defines blinkenlights, in part, as:
  63. Front-panel diagnostic lights on a computer, esp. a dinosaur. Now that
  64. dinosaurs are rare, this term usually refers to status lights on a modem,
  65. network hub, or the like.
  66. This term derives from the last word of the famous blackletter-Gothic sign in
  67. mangled pseudo-German that once graced about half the computer rooms in the
  68. English-speaking world. One version ran in its entirety as follows:
  69. ACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!
  70. Das computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mittengrabben.
  71. Ist easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen und poppencorken
  72. mit spitzensparken. Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen.
  73. Das rubbernecken sichtseeren keepen das cotten-pickenen hans in das
  74. pockets muss; relaxen und watchen das blinkenlichten.
  75. Quiet
  76. -----
  77. It will output nothing except errors and serious warnings. Like Basic, this
  78. user interface is not capable of reading a password from the keyboard; account
  79. passwords must be specified using one of the configuration file options.
  80. Syslog
  81. ------
  82. Syslog is designed for situations where OfflineIMAP is run as a daemon (e.g.,
  83. as a systemd --user service), but errors should be forwarded to the system log.
  84. Like Basic, this user interface is not capable of reading a password from the
  85. keyboard; account passwords must be specified using one of the configuration
  86. file options.
  87. MachineUI
  88. ---------
  89. MachineUI generates output in a machine-parsable format. It is designed
  90. for other programs that will interface to OfflineIMAP.
  91. See Also
  92. --------
  93. offlineimap(1)