Add conky maildir notifications blog post

1 files changed, 95 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/content/blog/conky-mails.markdown b/content/blog/conky-mails.markdown
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..34aeb4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/content/blog/conky-mails.markdown
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+---
+title: "Conky Mail Notifications using Maildirs"
+description: "How to configure `conky` to use local `maildirs`"
+tags:
+    - conky
+    - maildir
+    - notifications
+date: "2017-10-08"
+slug: "conky-maildirs-config"
+---
+
+Configuring [`conky`][0] to display a count and symbol of new mail turned out
+to be more tricky than I had originally anticipated.  This small post quickly
+explores the issues and my own misunderstandings that led to a
+working [`conky`][0] configuration and a better understanding
+of [`maildir`][4].
+
+> When the documentation fails you, use the source.
+
+I've been trying to configure [`conky`][0] to show an icon if there is new mail
+in my local [`maildir`][4].  However, I'm seemingly unable to achieve the
+desired result.
+
+Here is a trimmed down version of my [`conky`][0] configuration for reference:
+
+> This is using [`conky`][0]'s new 1.10 syntax.
+
+    conky.config = {
+        out_to_x = false,
+        own_window = false,
+        out_to_console = true,
+        background = false,
+    };
+
+    conky.text = [[
+        ${mails ${HOME}/.mail/} 
+    ]];
+
+
+However, when attempting to run this through [`conky`][0], I receive the
+following error:
+
+    conky: cannot open directory
+
+I also tried adding the `mail_spool` configuration setting to the
+`conky.config` table and removing the folder from the `${mails}` variable.
+Furthermore, I tried both of the above using the `${new_mails}` variable as
+well, similarly to no avail.
+
+> I actually receive a different error suggesting that `mail_spool` is no
+> longer a valid configuration setting.  [Searching the code base][3], I feel
+> this is accurate.
+
+Another variation of the above I have tried is to try quoting the directory
+path, which failed with a different error suggesting [`conky`][0] is attempting
+to literally open the quoted folder.
+
+It wasn't until I read the source of [`conky`][2] that I was able to figure out
+what the _actual_ issue was.
+
+What was not obvious to me from the documentation was that `$mails` and friends
+request a literal [`maildir`][4] as its parameter.  This means, it's required
+to specify a folder with the triplet of folders: `cur`, `new`, and `tmp` under
+it.  Without which, [`conky`][0] returns the error "cannot open directory"
+because [`conky`][0] is trying to open the directory
+`{provided-mail-directory}/cur` instead of the provided directory.
+
+Therefore, to solve my issue, I had changed the path given to `$mails` to the
+following:
+
+    ${mails ${HOME}/{email-account}/INBOX}
+
+Where `{email-account}` is the email account I want updates for.
+
+This has been a frustrating experience, and the documentation
+around [`conky`][0] is unfortunately out of date.  But this is partially my own
+fault, my understanding of [`maildir`][4] was incorrect and certainly led me
+astray.
+
+I'm debating whether to submit a pull request for expanding the documentation
+around [`maildir`][4] usage in the `$*mails` variables but it's likely my own
+misunderstanding of [`maildir`][4] that led me to so much issue.
+
+Next, onto [`conky`][0]'s use of `if_match` and `$battery_short` to display
+different battery symbols based on "charging", "discharging" and "full" states.
+
+[0]: https://github.com/brndnmtthws/conky
+
+[1]: https://stackoverflow.com/
+
+[2]: https://github.com/brndnmtthws/conky/blob/master/src/mail.cc#L255
+
+[3]: https://github.com/brndnmtthws/conky/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=mail_spool&type=
+
+[4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maildir