Applying Git patches in bulk from Claws Mail

As a Samba developer, I often spend a large amount of time reviewing and testing patches submitted to the samba-technical mailing list. This often sees me jumping between my mailer (Claws Mail) and the console, with the following procedure:

• Retrieve mail
• For each patch in the proposed series:
• Save to local disk in rfc822 format
• Switch to console
• For each patch in the series:
• Apply to the local branch using git am
• Review and test

The process itself isn't overly time consuming, but given the frequency, I decided to set about automating it slightly using Claws Mail's Actions feature:

Configuration->Actions dialog

I added the above Action, which:

• Enters my Samba source directory
• Runs git am with arguments corresponding to all selected messages (%F)

With this simple one-liner, I can select a bunch of patch mails and apply them all to my local tree in one fell swoop.

Action IO dialog, triggered via Tools->Actions->samba_patch_git

I'm content with this approach, but readers should note that there are a number of pitfalls, namely:

• Patch mails must be in a format that git am can parse. E.g. git send-email
• The git repository needs to be in a state ready to accept the patches