# Send source patches with (G Suite) and Thunderbird [にほんご](https://qiita.com/wataash/items/6538c193b5c80a52c285) Gmail's web mail client is not suitable for sending code patches, since it doesn't send the email contents **as is**. TABs are converted to white spaces, trailing spaces are trimmed. ![patch collapsed via web Gmail](2020-08-01-21-38-25.png "patch collapsed via web Gmail") So the patch cannot be applied with `git am` or `git apply`! ```c $ git apply < patch.txt error: patch failed: gdb/ChangeLog:1 error: gdb/ChangeLog: patch does not apply error: patch failed: gdb/darwin-nat.c:1985 error: gdb/darwin-nat.c: patch does not apply ``` We have to use an external email client (MUA; Mail User Agent). ## Which email client should I use? TL;DR: Use Mutt if you're familiar with it, otherwise use Thunderbird. If you're sending git patch, use [git-send-email(1)][] with googling ["git send-email gmail"](https://www.google.com/search?q=git+send-email+gmail). [It is the recommended way to send patches to Linux kernel.][linux] [git-send-email(1)]: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-send-email [linux]: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/email-clients.html In this article, `cvs diff`, `svn diff`, or any other *unified diff* (`diff -u`) formatted patches are supposed to be sent. So I my checked out all the clients listed in [Linux kernel's document][linux] and [git-format-patch(1) man page][git-format-patch]. My requirements are: [git-format-patch]: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-format-patch - Open source - Continuously developed; Google changes the Gmail's IMAP interface several times, so incompatibility in the client should be fixed soon; for instance, in 2019, [the password login for IMAP was disabled by default][1], and the standard authentication was replaced with OAuth - Many users send patches with that client; If we encounter a problem, someone has likely already solved it on Stack Overflow [1]: https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2019/12/less-secure-apps-oauth-google-username-password-incorrect.html Accordingly with the following google results: Search keywords | GUI or TUI | # results as of 2020/03/13 --- | --- | --- "git am" Mutt | TUI | 11,800 "git am" Thunderbird | GUI | 11,600 "git am" Alpine | TUI | 5,300 "git am" KMail | GUI | 1,650 "git am" Claws Mail | GUI | 2,270 "git am" TkRat | GUI | 252 "git am" Sylpheed | GUI | 262 "git am" Evolution (run only on Linux) | GUI | 11,900 "git am" outlook (non open source) | GUI | 6,690 "git am" apple mail (non open source) | GUI | 7,850 "git am" "apple mail" (non open source) | GUI | 101 At first I tried Mutt, which seemed to meet the needs, then faced an error like *authentication failed*. I discarded mutt right after searching *gmail mutt "authentication failed"* which didn't show any useful information to solve it. Next I tried Thunderbird, and I found out it's very easy, many people are sending patches with it, and there are many knowledges in the web about sending patches. ## Enable Gmail's IMAP *Enable IMAP* in Settings. ![enable IMAP in Gmail's Setting](2020-08-01-21-38-48.png "enable IMAP in Gmail's Setting") ## Add account in Thunderbird *File* → *New* → *Existing Mail Account...* ![add Gmail's account on Thunderbird (1)](2020-08-01-21-40-57.png "add Gmail's account on Thunderbird (1)") Enter your name and Gmail (foo@gmail.com) or G Suite (foo@foo-organization.com) email address and press *Continue*. Leave *Password* blank. ![add Gmail's account on Thunderbird (2)](2020-08-01-21-41-04.png "add Gmail's account on Thunderbird (2)") Press *Manual config*. ![add Gmail's account on Thunderbird (3)](2020-08-01-21-41-12.png "add Gmail's account on Thunderbird (3)") Make sure that *Authentication* is *OAuth2* and press *Done*. ![add Gmail's account on Thunderbird (4 Google OAuth)](2020-08-01-21-41-20.png "add Gmail's account on Thunderbird (4 Google OAuth)") ![add Gmail's account on Thunderbird (5 Google OAuth)](2020-08-01-21-41-26.png "add Gmail's account on Thunderbird (5 Google OAuth)") Enter your Google (G Suite) password. ![add Gmail's account on Thunderbird (6)](2020-08-01-21-41-49.png "add Gmail's account on Thunderbird (6)") Unfortunately, this time I failed the authentication with the following errors: - User name or password invalid - Configuration could not be verified ― is the user name or password wrong? I believe this will fixed soon. As a workaround I used the password authentication. ### Password authentication **Leave the Thunderbird's setting window open!** First, we have to allow *less secure app access* for password authentication. If you're adding G Suite account (if email address is you@your-company.com, not you@gmail.com), the G Suite administrator have to allow [Control access to less secure apps](https://support.google.com/a/answer/6260879?hl=en). ![(G Suite) Allow users to manage their access to less secure apps](2020-08-01-21-42-11.png "(G Suite) Allow users to manage their access to less secure apps") For both Gmail and G Suite, goto [Less secure app access settings](https://myaccount.google.com/lesssecureapps) and turn on *Allow less secure apps*. Account can be switched by clicking the icon on the upper right. ![turn on: Allow less secure apps](2020-08-01-21-42-25.png "turn on: Allow less secure apps") Then on Thunderbird, choose *Normal password* as *Authentication* and press *Done*. ![add Gmail's account on Thunderbird (7)](2020-08-01-21-42-33.png "add Gmail's account on Thunderbird (7)") You will see the received emails on Gmail, hooray 🎉 ## Disable format=flowed But still Thunderbird trims white spaces! Change the settings following to [git-format-patch(1)][git-format-patch]: - *Edit* → *Account Settings* → *Composition & Addressing* → uncheck *Compose messages in HTML format* - *Edit* → *Preferences* → *Advanced* → *Config Editor...* - `mail.wrap_long_lines`: `false` - `mailnews.wraplength`: `0` - `mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed`: `false` Now `format=flowed` will be removed from email headers: ```c To: bar@gmail.com From: Wataru Ashihara Subject: test Message-ID: <***@gmail.com> Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2020 19:48:53 +0900 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:60.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/60.9.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ this removed! Content-Language: en-US Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit body ``` and body will be sent *AS IS*.