1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
4 @settitle T-gnus 6.15 Message Manual
10 * Message: (message). Mail and news composition mode that goes with Gnus.
15 @setchapternewpage odd
19 This file documents Message, the Emacs message composition mode.
21 Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
23 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
24 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
25 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
26 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
27 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
28 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
29 License'' in the Emacs manual.
31 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
32 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
33 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
35 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
36 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
37 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
38 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
44 @title T-gnus 6.15 Message Manual
46 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
49 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
50 Copyright @copyright{} 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
51 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
53 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
54 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
55 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
56 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
57 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
58 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
59 License'' in the Emacs manual.
61 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
62 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
63 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
65 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
66 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
67 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
68 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
77 All message composition from Gnus (both mail and news) takes place in
81 * Interface:: Setting up message buffers.
82 * Commands:: Commands you can execute in message mode buffers.
83 * Variables:: Customizing the message buffers.
84 * Compatibility:: Making Message backwards compatible.
85 * Appendices:: More technical things.
86 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
87 * Key Index:: List of Message mode keys.
90 This manual corresponds to T-gnus 6.15 Message. Message is distributed
91 with the Gnus distribution bearing the same version number as this
98 When a program (or a person) wants to respond to a message -- reply,
99 follow up, forward, cancel -- the program (or person) should just put
100 point in the buffer where the message is and call the required command.
101 @code{Message} will then pop up a new @code{message} mode buffer with
102 appropriate headers filled out, and the user can edit the message before
106 * New Mail Message:: Editing a brand new mail message.
107 * New News Message:: Editing a brand new news message.
108 * Reply:: Replying via mail.
109 * Wide Reply:: Responding to all people via mail.
110 * Followup:: Following up via news.
111 * Canceling News:: Canceling a news article.
112 * Superseding:: Superseding a message.
113 * Forwarding:: Forwarding a message via news or mail.
114 * Resending:: Resending a mail message.
115 * Bouncing:: Bouncing a mail message.
116 * Mailing Lists:: Send mail to mailing lists.
120 @node New Mail Message
121 @section New Mail Message
124 The @code{message-mail} command pops up a new message buffer.
126 Two optional parameters are accepted: The first will be used as the
127 @code{To} header and the second as the @code{Subject} header. If these
128 are @code{nil}, those two headers will be empty.
131 @node New News Message
132 @section New News Message
135 The @code{message-news} command pops up a new message buffer.
137 This function accepts two optional parameters. The first will be used
138 as the @code{Newsgroups} header and the second as the @code{Subject}
139 header. If these are @code{nil}, those two headers will be empty.
145 @findex message-reply
146 The @code{message-reply} function pops up a message buffer that's a
147 reply to the message in the current buffer.
149 @vindex message-reply-to-function
150 Message uses the normal methods to determine where replies are to go
151 (@pxref{Responses}), but you can change the behavior to suit your needs
152 by fiddling with the @code{message-reply-to-function} variable.
154 If you want the replies to go to the @code{Sender} instead of the
155 @code{From}, you could do something like this:
158 (setq message-reply-to-function
160 (cond ((equal (mail-fetch-field "from") "somebody")
161 (list (cons 'To (mail-fetch-field "sender"))))
166 This function will be called narrowed to the head of the article that is
169 As you can see, this function should return a string if it has an
170 opinion as to what the To header should be. If it does not, it should
171 just return @code{nil}, and the normal methods for determining the To
174 This function can also return a list. In that case, each list element
175 should be a cons, where the car should be the name of an header
176 (eg. @code{Cc}) and the cdr should be the header value
177 (eg. @samp{larsi@@ifi.uio.no}). All these headers will be inserted into
178 the head of the outgoing mail.
184 @findex message-wide-reply
185 The @code{message-wide-reply} pops up a message buffer that's a wide
186 reply to the message in the current buffer. A @dfn{wide reply} is a
187 reply that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From}
188 (or @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
190 @vindex message-wide-reply-to-function
191 Message uses the normal methods to determine where wide replies are to go,
192 but you can change the behavior to suit your needs by fiddling with the
193 @code{message-wide-reply-to-function}. It is used in the same way as
194 @code{message-reply-to-function} (@pxref{Reply}).
196 @findex message-dont-reply-to-names
197 Addresses that match the @code{message-dont-reply-to-names} regular
198 expression will be removed from the @code{Cc} header.
204 @findex message-followup
205 The @code{message-followup} command pops up a message buffer that's a
206 followup to the message in the current buffer.
208 @vindex message-followup-to-function
209 Message uses the normal methods to determine where followups are to go,
210 but you can change the behavior to suit your needs by fiddling with the
211 @code{message-followup-to-function}. It is used in the same way as
212 @code{message-reply-to-function} (@pxref{Reply}).
214 @vindex message-use-followup-to
215 The @code{message-use-followup-to} variable says what to do about
216 @code{Followup-To} headers. If it is @code{use}, always use the value.
217 If it is @code{ask} (which is the default), ask whether to use the
218 value. If it is @code{t}, use the value unless it is @samp{poster}. If
219 it is @code{nil}, don't use the value.
223 @section Canceling News
225 @findex message-cancel-news
226 The @code{message-cancel-news} command cancels the article in the
233 @findex message-supersede
234 The @code{message-supersede} command pops up a message buffer that will
235 supersede the message in the current buffer.
237 @vindex message-ignored-supersedes-headers
238 Headers matching the @code{message-ignored-supersedes-headers} are
239 removed before popping up the new message buffer. The default is@*
240 @samp{^Path:\\|^Date\\|^NNTP-Posting-Host:\\|^Xref:\\|^Lines:\\|@*
241 ^Received:\\|^X-From-Line:\\|Return-Path:\\|^Supersedes:}.
248 @findex message-forward
249 The @code{message-forward} command pops up a message buffer to forward
250 the message in the current buffer. If given a prefix, forward using
254 @item message-forward-ignored-headers
255 @vindex message-forward-ignored-headers
256 All headers that match this regexp will be deleted when forwarding a message.
258 @item message-make-forward-subject-function
259 @vindex message-make-forward-subject-function
260 A list of functions that are called to generate a subject header for
261 forwarded messages. The subject generated by the previous function is
262 passed into each successive function.
264 The provided functions are:
267 @item message-forward-subject-author-subject
268 @findex message-forward-subject-author-subject
269 Source of article (author or newsgroup), in brackets followed by the
272 @item message-forward-subject-fwd
273 Subject of article with @samp{Fwd:} prepended to it.
276 @item message-wash-forwarded-subjects
277 @vindex message-wash-forwarded-subjects
278 If this variable is @code{t}, the subjects of forwarded messages have
279 the evidence of previous forwards (such as @samp{Fwd:}, @samp{Re:},
280 @samp{(fwd)}) removed before the new subject is
281 constructed. The default value is @code{nil}.
283 @item message-forward-as-mime
284 @vindex message-forward-as-mime
285 If this variable is @code{t} (the default), forwarded messages are
286 included as inline @sc{mime} RFC822 parts. If it's @code{nil}, forwarded
287 messages will just be copied inline to the new message, like previous,
288 non @sc{mime}-savvy versions of gnus would do.
295 @findex message-resend
296 The @code{message-resend} command will prompt the user for an address
297 and resend the message in the current buffer to that address.
299 @vindex message-ignored-resent-headers
300 Headers that match the @code{message-ignored-resent-headers} regexp will
301 be removed before sending the message. The default is
302 @samp{^Return-receipt}.
308 @findex message-bounce
309 The @code{message-bounce} command will, if the current buffer contains a
310 bounced mail message, pop up a message buffer stripped of the bounce
311 information. A @dfn{bounced message} is typically a mail you've sent
312 out that has been returned by some @code{mailer-daemon} as
315 @vindex message-ignored-bounced-headers
316 Headers that match the @code{message-ignored-bounced-headers} regexp
317 will be removed before popping up the buffer. The default is
318 @samp{^\\(Received\\|Return-Path\\):}.
322 @section Mailing Lists
324 Sometimes while posting to mailing lists, the poster needs to direct
325 followups to the post to specific places. The Mail-Followup-To (MFT)
326 was created to enable just this. Two example scenarios where this is
331 A mailing list poster can use MFT to express that responses should be
332 sent to just the list, and not the poster as well. This will happen
333 if the poster is already subscribed to the list.
336 A mailing list poster can use MFT to express that responses should be
337 sent to the list and the poster as well. This will happen if the poster
338 is not subscribed to the list.
341 If a message is posted to several mailing lists, MFT may also be used
342 to direct the following discussion to one list only, because
343 discussions that are spread over several lists tend to be fragmented
344 and very difficult to follow.
348 Gnus honors the MFT header in other's messages (i.e. while following
349 up to someone else's post) and also provides support for generating
350 sensible MFT headers for outgoing messages as well.
353 @c * Honoring an MFT post:: What to do when one already exists
354 @c * Composing with a MFT header:: Creating one from scratch.
357 @c @node Composing with a MFT header
358 @subsection Composing a correct MFT header automagically
360 The first step in getting Gnus to automagically generate a MFT header
361 in posts you make is to give Gnus a list of the mailing lists
362 addresses you are subscribed to. You can do this in more than one
363 way. The following variables would come in handy.
367 @vindex message-subscribed-addresses
368 @item message-subscribed-addresses
369 This should be a list of addresses the user is subscribed to. Its
370 default value is @code{nil}. Example:
372 (setq message-subscribed-addresses
373 '("ding@@gnus.org" "bing@@noose.org"))
376 @vindex message-subscribed-regexps
377 @item message-subscribed-regexps
378 This should be a list of regexps denoting the addresses of mailing
379 lists subscribed to. Default value is @code{nil}. Example: If you
380 want to achieve the same result as above:
382 (setq message-subscribed-regexps
383 '("\\(ding@@gnus\\)\\|\\(bing@@noose\\)\\.org")
386 @vindex message-subscribed-address-functions
387 @item message-subscribed-address-functions
388 This can be a list of functions to be called (one at a time!!) to
389 determine the value of MFT headers. It is advisable that these
390 functions not take any arguments. Default value is @code{nil}.
392 There is a pre-defined function in Gnus that is a good candidate for
393 this variable. @code{gnus-find-subscribed-addresses} is a function
394 that returns a list of addresses corresponding to the groups that have
395 the @code{subscribed} (@pxref{(gnus)subscribed})
396 group parameter set to a non-nil value. This is how you would do it.
399 (setq message-subscribed-address-functions
400 '(gnus-find-subscribed-addresses))
403 @item message-subscribed-address-file
404 You might be one organised human freak and have a list of addresses of
405 all subscribed mailing lists in a separate file! Then you can just
406 set this variable to the name of the file and life would be good.
410 You can use one or more of the above variables. All their values are
411 ``added'' in some way that works :-)
413 Now you are all set. Just start composing a message as you normally do.
414 And just send it; as always. Just before the message is sent out, Gnus'
415 MFT generation thingy kicks in and checks if the message already has a
416 MFT field. If there is one, it is left alone. (Except if it's empty -
417 in that case, the field is removed and is not replaced with an
418 automatically generated one. This lets you disable MFT generation on a
419 per-message basis.) If there is none, then the list of recipient
420 addresses (in the To: and Cc: headers) is checked to see if one of them
421 is a list address you are subscribed to. If none of them is a list
422 address, then no MFT is generated; otherwise, a MFT is added to the
423 other headers and set to the value of all addresses in To: and Cc:
426 @findex message-goto-mail-followup-to
427 Hm. ``So'', you ask, ``what if I send an email to a list I am not
428 subscribed to? I want my MFT to say that I want an extra copy.'' (This
429 is supposed to be interpreted by others the same way as if there were no
430 MFT, but you can use an explicit MFT to override someone else's
431 to-address group parameter.) Well, the kind folks at Gnus Towers are
432 working on a database of all known mailing list addresses that can be
433 used for this purpose. Till then, you could, like, insert a MFT header
434 manually, with the help of @kbd{C-c C-f C-m} (@code{message-goto-mail-followup-to})!!
436 @c @node Honoring an MFT post
437 @subsection Honoring an MFT post
439 @vindex message-use-mail-followup-to
440 When you followup to a post on a mailing list, and the post has a MFT
441 header, Gnus' action will depend on the value of the variable
442 @code{message-use-mail-followup-to}. This variable can be one of:
446 Always honor MFTs. The To: and Cc: headers in your followup will be
447 derived from the MFT header of the original post. This is the default.
450 Always dishonor MFTs (just ignore the darned thing)
453 Gnus will prompt you for an action.
457 It is considered good nettiquette to honor MFT, as it is assumed the
458 fellow who posted a message knows where the followups need to go
465 * Buffer Entry:: Commands after entering a Message buffer.
466 * Header Commands:: Commands for moving to headers.
467 * Movement:: Moving around in message buffers.
468 * Insertion:: Inserting things into message buffers.
469 * MIME:: @sc{mime} considerations.
470 * Security:: Signing and encrypting messages.
471 * Various Commands:: Various things.
472 * Sending:: Actually sending the message.
473 * Mail Aliases:: How to use mail aliases.
474 * Spelling:: Having Emacs check your spelling.
479 @section Buffer Entry
483 You most often end up in a Message buffer when responding to some other
484 message of some sort. Message does lots of handling of quoted text, and
485 may remove signatures, reformat the text, or the like---depending on
486 which used settings you're using. Message usually gets things right,
487 but sometimes it stumbles. To help the user unwind these stumblings,
488 Message sets the undo boundary before each major automatic action it
489 takes. If you press the undo key (usually located at @kbd{C-_}) a few
490 times, you will get back the un-edited message you're responding to.
493 @node Header Commands
494 @section Header Commands
496 All these commands move to the header in question (except for the
497 @samp{Importance:} related commands). If it doesn't exist, it will be
504 @findex describe-mode
505 Describe the message mode.
509 @findex message-goto-to
510 Go to the @code{To} header (@code{message-goto-to}).
514 @findex message-goto-from
515 Go to the @code{From} header (@code{message-goto-from}). (The ``o''
516 in the key binding is for Originator.)
520 @findex message-goto-bcc
521 Go to the @code{Bcc} header (@code{message-goto-bcc}).
525 @findex message-goto-fcc
526 Go to the @code{Fcc} header (@code{message-goto-fcc}).
530 @findex message-goto-cc
531 Go to the @code{Cc} header (@code{message-goto-cc}).
535 @findex message-goto-subject
536 Go to the @code{Subject} header (@code{message-goto-subject}).
540 @findex message-goto-reply-to
541 Go to the @code{Reply-To} header (@code{message-goto-reply-to}).
545 @findex message-goto-newsgroups
546 Go to the @code{Newsgroups} header (@code{message-goto-newsgroups}).
550 @findex message-goto-distribution
551 Go to the @code{Distribution} header (@code{message-goto-distribution}).
555 @findex message-goto-followup-to
556 Go to the @code{Followup-To} header (@code{message-goto-followup-to}).
560 @findex message-goto-keywords
561 Go to the @code{Keywords} header (@code{message-goto-keywords}).
565 @findex message-goto-summary
566 Go to the @code{Summary} header (@code{message-goto-summary}).
570 @findex message-insert-or-toggle-importance
571 This inserts the @samp{Importance:} header with a value of
572 @samp{high}. This header is used to signal the importance of the
573 message to the receiver. If the header is already present in the
574 buffer, it cycles between the three valid values according to RFC
575 1376: @samp{low}, @samp{normal} and @samp{high}.
577 @item M-x message-insert-importance-high
578 @kindex M-x message-insert-importance-high
579 @findex message-insert-importance-high
580 Insert a @samp{Importance:} header with a value of @samp{high},
581 deleting headers if necessary.
583 @item M-x message-insert-importance-low
584 @kindex M-x message-insert-importance-low
585 @findex message-insert-importance-low
586 Insert a @samp{Importance:} header with a value of @samp{low},
587 deleting headers if necessary.
598 @findex message-goto-body
599 Move to the beginning of the body of the message
600 (@code{message-goto-body}).
604 @findex message-goto-signature
605 Move to the signature of the message (@code{message-goto-signature}).
609 @findex message-beginning-of-line
610 If at beginning of header value, go to beginning of line, else go to
611 beginning of header value. (The header value comes after the header
624 @findex message-yank-original
625 Yank the message in the buffer @code{gnus-article-copy} into the message
626 buffer. Normally @code{gnus-article-copy} is what you are replying to
627 (@code{message-yank-original}).
631 @findex message-yank-buffer
632 Prompt for a buffer name and yank the contents of that buffer into the
633 message buffer (@code{message-yank-buffer}).
637 @findex message-fill-yanked-message
638 Fill the yanked message (@code{message-fill-yanked-message}). Warning:
639 Can severely mess up the yanked text if its quoting conventions are
640 strange. You'll quickly get a feel for when it's safe, though. Anyway,
641 just remember that @kbd{C-x u} (@code{undo}) is available and you'll be
646 @findex message-insert-signature
647 Insert a signature at the end of the buffer
648 (@code{message-insert-signature}).
652 @findex message-insert-headers
653 Insert the message headers (@code{message-insert-headers}).
657 @findex message-insert-disposition-notification-to
658 Insert a request for a disposition
659 notification. (@code{message-insert-disposition-notification-to}).
660 This means that if the recipient support RFC 2298 she might send you a
661 notification that she received the message.
673 Message is a @sc{mime}-compliant posting agent. The user generally
674 doesn't have to do anything to make the @sc{mime} happen---Message will
675 automatically add the @code{Content-Type} and
676 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} headers.
678 The most typical thing users want to use the multipart things in
679 @sc{mime} for is to add ``attachments'' to mail they send out. This can
680 be done with the @kbd{C-c C-a} command, which will prompt for a file
681 name and a @sc{mime} type.
683 You can also create arbitrarily complex multiparts using the MML
684 language (@pxref{Composing, , Composing, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME
697 Using the MML language, Message is able to create digitally signed and
698 digitally encrypted messages. Message (or rather MML) currently
699 support PGP (RFC 1991), @sc{pgp/mime} (RFC 2015/3156) and @sc{s/mime}.
700 Instructing MML to perform security operations on a @sc{mime} part is
701 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c
702 C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
708 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
710 Digitally sign current message using @sc{s/mime}.
714 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
716 Digitally sign current message using PGP.
720 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgpmime
722 Digitally sign current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
726 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
728 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{s/mime}.
732 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
734 Digitally encrypt current message using PGP.
738 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
740 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
744 @findex mml-unsecure-message
745 Remove security related MML tags from message.
749 These commands do not immediately sign or encrypt the message, they
750 merely insert the proper MML secure tag to instruct the MML engine to
751 perform that operation when the message is actually sent. They may
752 perform other operations too, such as locating and retrieving a
753 @sc{s/mime} certificate of the person you wish to send encrypted mail
754 to. When the mml parsing engine converts your MML into a properly
755 encoded @sc{mime} message, the secure tag will be replaced with either
756 a part or a multipart tag. If your message contains other mml parts,
757 a multipart tag will be used; if no other parts are present in your
758 message a single part tag will be used. This way, message mode will
759 do the Right Thing (TM) with signed/encrypted multipart messages.
761 Since signing and especially encryption often is used when sensitive
762 information is sent, you may want to have some way to ensure that your
763 mail is actually signed or encrypted. After invoking the above
764 sign/encrypt commands, it is possible to preview the raw article by
765 using @kbd{C-u C-c RET P} (@code{mml-preview}). Then you can
766 verify that your long rant about what your ex-significant other or
767 whomever actually did with that funny looking person at that strange
768 party the other night, actually will be sent encrypted.
770 @emph{Note!} Neither @sc{pgp/mime} nor @sc{s/mime} encrypt/signs
771 RFC822 headers. They only operate on the @sc{mime} object. Keep this
772 in mind before sending mail with a sensitive Subject line.
774 Actually using the security commands above is not very difficult. At
775 least not compared with making sure all involved programs talk with each
776 other properly. Thus, we now describe what external libraries or
777 programs are required to make things work, and some small general hints.
779 @subsection Using S/MIME
781 @emph{Note!} This section assume you have a basic familiarity with
782 modern cryptography, @sc{s/mime}, various PKCS standards, OpenSSL and
785 The @sc{s/mime} support in Message (and MML) require OpenSSL. OpenSSL
786 perform the actual @sc{s/mime} sign/encrypt operations. OpenSSL can
787 be found at @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL 0.9.6 and later
788 should work. Version 0.9.5a cannot extract mail addresses from
789 certificates, and it insert a spurious CR character into @sc{mime}
790 separators so you may wish to avoid it if you would like to avoid
791 being regarded as someone who send strange mail. (Although by sending
792 @sc{s/mime} messages you've probably already lost that contest.)
794 To be able to send encrypted mail, a personal certificate is not
795 required. Message (MML) need a certificate for the person to whom you
796 wish to communicate with though. You're asked for this when you type
797 @kbd{C-c C-m c s}. Currently there are two ways to retrieve this
798 certificate, from a local file or from DNS. If you chose a local
799 file, it need to contain a X.509 certificate in PEM format. If you
800 chose DNS, you're asked for the domain name where the certificate is
801 stored, the default is a good guess. To my belief, Message (MML) is
802 the first mail agent in the world to support retrieving @sc{s/mime}
803 certificates from DNS, so you're not likely to find very many
804 certificates out there. At least there should be one, stored at the
805 domain @code{simon.josefsson.org}. LDAP is a more popular method of
806 distributing certificates, support for it is planned. (Meanwhile, you
807 can use @code{ldapsearch} from the command line to retrieve a
808 certificate into a file and use it.)
810 As for signing messages, OpenSSL can't perform signing operations
811 without some kind of configuration. Especially, you need to tell it
812 where your private key and your certificate is stored. MML uses an
813 Emacs interface to OpenSSL, aptly named @code{smime.el}, and it
814 contain a @code{custom} group used for this configuration. So, try
815 @kbd{M-x customize-group RET smime RET} and look around.
817 Currently there is no support for talking to a CA (or RA) to create
818 your own certificate. None is planned either. You need to do this
819 manually with OpenSSL or using some other program. I used Netscape
820 and got a free @sc{s/mime} certificate from one of the big CA's on the
821 net. Netscape is able to export your private key and certificate in
822 PKCS #12 format. Use OpenSSL to convert this into a plain X.509
823 certificate in PEM format as follows.
826 $ openssl pkcs12 -in ns.p12 -clcerts -nodes > key+cert.pem
829 The @file{key+cert.pem} file should be pointed to from the
830 @code{smime-keys} variable. You should now be able to send signed mail.
832 @emph{Note!} Your private key is store unencrypted in the file, so take
835 @subsection Using PGP/MIME
837 @sc{pgp/mime} requires an external OpenPGP implementation, such as GNU
838 Privacy Guard (@uref{http://www.gnupg.org/}). It also requires an
839 Emacs interface to it, such as Mailcrypt (available from
840 @uref{http://www.nb.net/~lbudney/linux/software/mailcrypt.html}) or
841 Florian Weimer's @code{gpg.el}.
843 @vindex gpg-temp-directory
844 Note, if you are using the @code{gpg.el} you must make sure that the
845 path specified by @code{gpg-temp-directory} have permissions 0700.
847 Creating your own OpenPGP key is described in detail in the
848 documentation of your OpenPGP implementation, so we refer to it.
850 @node Various Commands
851 @section Various Commands
857 @findex message-caesar-buffer-body
858 Caesar rotate (aka. rot13) the current message
859 (@code{message-caesar-buffer-body}). If narrowing is in effect, just
860 rotate the visible portion of the buffer. A numerical prefix says how
861 many places to rotate the text. The default is 13.
865 @findex message-elide-region
866 Elide the text between point and mark (@code{message-elide-region}).
867 The text is killed and replaced with the contents of the variable
868 @code{message-elide-ellipsis}. The default value is to use an ellipsis
873 @findex message-kill-to-signature
874 Kill all the text up to the signature, or if that's missing, up to the
875 end of the message (@code{message-kill-to-signature}).
879 @findex message-delete-not-region
880 Delete all text in the body of the message that is outside the region
881 (@code{message-delete-not-region}).
885 @findex message-newline-and-reformat
886 Insert four newlines, and then reformat if inside quoted text.
891 > This is some quoted text. And here's more quoted text.
894 If point is before @samp{And} and you press @kbd{M-RET}, you'll get:
897 > This is some quoted text.
901 > And here's more quoted text.
904 @samp{*} says where point will be placed.
908 @findex message-insert-to
909 Insert a @code{To} header that contains the @code{Reply-To} or
910 @code{From} header of the message you're following up
911 (@code{message-insert-to}).
915 @findex message-insert-newsgroups
916 Insert a @code{Newsgroups} header that reflects the @code{Followup-To}
917 or @code{Newsgroups} header of the article you're replying to
918 (@code{message-insert-newsgroups}).
922 @findex message-rename-buffer
923 Rename the buffer (@code{message-rename-buffer}). If given a prefix,
924 prompt for a new buffer name.
935 @findex message-send-and-exit
936 Send the message and bury the current buffer
937 (@code{message-send-and-exit}).
942 Send the message (@code{message-send}).
946 @findex message-dont-send
947 Bury the message buffer and exit (@code{message-dont-send}).
951 @findex message-kill-buffer
952 Kill the message buffer and exit (@code{message-kill-buffer}). It will
953 delete the message frame if it has been created exclusively for the
954 message buffer. If the option
955 @code{message-kill-buffer-and-remove-file} is non-@code{nil} and the
956 backup file has been created for the message buffer, it will also remove
957 the file after prompting to the user.
961 @findex message-mimic-kill-buffer
962 @vindex message-kill-buffer-and-remove-file
963 This is an imitation for @code{kill-buffer}
964 (@code{message-mimic-kill-buffer}). It dynamically binds the variable
965 @code{message-kill-buffer-and-remove-file} to @code{nil} and calls the
966 function @code{message-kill-buffer}.
973 @section Mail Aliases
977 @vindex message-mail-alias-type
978 The @code{message-mail-alias-type} variable controls what type of mail
979 alias expansion to use. Currently only one form is supported---Message
980 uses @code{mailabbrev} to handle mail aliases. If this variable is
981 @code{nil}, no mail alias expansion will be performed.
983 @code{mailabbrev} works by parsing the @file{/etc/mailrc} and
984 @file{~/.mailrc} files. These files look like:
987 alias lmi "Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@ifi.uio.no>"
988 alias ding "ding@@ifi.uio.no (ding mailing list)"
991 After adding lines like this to your @file{~/.mailrc} file, you should
992 be able to just write @samp{lmi} in the @code{To} or @code{Cc} (and so
993 on) headers and press @kbd{SPC} to expand the alias.
995 No expansion will be performed upon sending of the message---all
996 expansions have to be done explicitly.
1002 @findex ispell-message
1004 There are two popular ways to have Emacs spell-check your messages:
1005 @code{ispell} and @code{flyspell}. @code{ispell} is the older and
1006 probably more popular package. You typically first write the message,
1007 and then run the entire thing through @code{ispell} and fix all the
1008 typos. To have this happen automatically when you send a message, put
1009 something like the following in your @file{.emacs} file:
1012 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
1015 @vindex ispell-message-dictionary-alist
1016 If you're in the habit of writing in different languages, this can be
1017 controlled by the @code{ispell-message-dictionary-alist} variable:
1020 (setq ispell-message-dictionary-alist
1021 '(("^Newsgroups:.*\\bde\\." . "deutsch8")
1022 (".*" . "default")))
1025 @code{ispell} depends on having the external @samp{ispell} command
1028 The other popular method is using @code{flyspell}. This package checks
1029 your spelling while you're writing, and marks any mis-spelled words in
1032 To use @code{flyspell}, put something like the following in your
1036 (defun my-message-setup-routine ()
1038 (add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'my-message-setup-routine)
1041 @code{flyspell} depends on having the external @samp{ispell} command
1049 * Message Headers:: General message header stuff.
1050 * Mail Headers:: Customizing mail headers.
1051 * Mail Variables:: Other mail variables.
1052 * News Headers:: Customizing news headers.
1053 * News Variables:: Other news variables.
1054 * Insertion Variables:: Customizing how things are inserted.
1055 * Various Message Variables:: Other message variables.
1056 * Sending Variables:: Variables for sending.
1057 * Message Buffers:: How Message names its buffers.
1058 * Message Actions:: Actions to be performed when exiting.
1062 @node Message Headers
1063 @section Message Headers
1065 Message is quite aggressive on the message generation front. It has to
1066 be -- it's a combined news and mail agent. To be able to send combined
1067 messages, it has to generate all headers itself (instead of letting the
1068 mail/news system do it) to ensure that mail and news copies of messages
1069 look sufficiently similar.
1073 @item message-generate-headers-first
1074 @vindex message-generate-headers-first
1075 If non-@code{nil}, generate all required headers before starting to
1076 compose the message.
1078 The variables @code{message-required-mail-headers} and
1079 @code{message-required-news-headers} specify which headers are required.
1081 Note that some headers will be removed and re-generated before posting,
1082 because of the variable @code{message-deletable-headers} (see below).
1084 @item message-from-style
1085 @vindex message-from-style
1086 Specifies how @code{From} headers should look. There are four valid
1091 Just the address -- @samp{king@@grassland.com}.
1094 @samp{king@@grassland.com (Elvis Parsley)}.
1097 @samp{Elvis Parsley <king@@grassland.com>}.
1100 Look like @code{angles} if that doesn't require quoting, and
1101 @code{parens} if it does. If even @code{parens} requires quoting, use
1102 @code{angles} anyway.
1106 @item message-deletable-headers
1107 @vindex message-deletable-headers
1108 Headers in this list that were previously generated by Message will be
1109 deleted before posting. Let's say you post an article. Then you decide
1110 to post it again to some other group, you naughty boy, so you jump back
1111 to the @code{*post-buf*} buffer, edit the @code{Newsgroups} line, and
1112 ship it off again. By default, this variable makes sure that the old
1113 generated @code{Message-ID} is deleted, and a new one generated. If
1114 this isn't done, the entire empire would probably crumble, anarchy would
1115 prevail, and cats would start walking on two legs and rule the world.
1118 @item message-default-headers
1119 @vindex message-default-headers
1120 This string is inserted at the end of the headers in all message
1123 @item message-subject-re-regexp
1124 @vindex message-subject-re-regexp
1128 Responses to messages have subjects that start with @samp{Re: }. This
1129 is @emph{not} an abbreviation of the English word ``response'', but is
1130 Latin, and means ``in response to''. Some illiterate nincompoops have
1131 failed to grasp this fact, and have ``internationalized'' their software
1132 to use abonimations like @samp{Aw: } (``antwort'') or @samp{Sv: }
1133 (``svar'') instead, which is meaningless and evil. However, you may
1134 have to deal with users that use these evil tools, in which case you may
1135 set this variable to a regexp that matches these prefixes. Myself, I
1136 just throw away non-compliant mail.
1138 Here's an example of a value to deal with these headers when
1139 responding to a message:
1142 (setq message-subject-re-regexp
1143 "^\\(\\(\\([Rr][Ee]\\|[Ss][Vv]\\|[Aa][Ww]\\): *\\)+\\))
1146 @item message-alternative-emails
1147 @vindex message-alternative-emails
1148 A regexp to match the alternative email addresses. The first matched
1149 address (not primary one) is used in the @code{From} field.
1155 @section Mail Headers
1158 @item message-required-mail-headers
1159 @vindex message-required-mail-headers
1160 @xref{News Headers}, for the syntax of this variable. It is
1161 @code{(From Date Subject (optional . In-Reply-To) Message-ID Lines
1162 (optional . User-Agent))} by default.
1164 @item message-ignored-mail-headers
1165 @vindex message-ignored-mail-headers
1166 Regexp of headers to be removed before mailing. The default is
1167 @samp{^[GF]cc:\\|^Resent-Fcc:\\|^Xref:\\|^X-Draft-From:}.
1169 @item message-default-mail-headers
1170 @vindex message-default-mail-headers
1171 This string is inserted at the end of the headers in all message
1172 buffers that are initialized as mail.
1177 @node Mail Variables
1178 @section Mail Variables
1181 @item message-send-mail-function
1182 @vindex message-send-mail-function
1183 @findex message-send-mail-with-sendmail
1184 @findex message-send-mail-with-mh
1185 @findex message-send-mail-with-qmail
1186 @findex smtpmail-send-it
1187 @findex feedmail-send-it
1188 Function used to send the current buffer as mail. The default is
1189 @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}. Other valid values include
1190 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
1191 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
1193 @item message-mh-deletable-headers
1194 @vindex message-mh-deletable-headers
1195 Most versions of MH doesn't like being fed messages that contain the
1196 headers in this variable. If this variable is non-@code{nil} (which is
1197 the default), these headers will be removed before mailing when sending
1198 messages via MH. Set it to @code{nil} if your MH can handle these
1201 @item message-send-mail-partially-limit
1202 @vindex message-send-mail-partially-limit
1203 The limitation of messages sent as message/partial.
1204 The lower bound of message size in characters, beyond which the message
1205 should be sent in several parts. If it is nil, the size is unlimited.
1211 @section News Headers
1213 @vindex message-required-news-headers
1214 @code{message-required-news-headers} a list of header symbols. These
1215 headers will either be automatically generated, or, if that's
1216 impossible, they will be prompted for. The following symbols are valid:
1222 @findex user-full-name
1223 @findex user-mail-address
1224 This required header will be filled out with the result of the
1225 @code{message-make-from} function, which depends on the
1226 @code{message-from-style}, @code{user-full-name},
1227 @code{user-mail-address} variables.
1231 This required header will be prompted for if not present already.
1235 This required header says which newsgroups the article is to be posted
1236 to. If it isn't present already, it will be prompted for.
1239 @cindex organization
1240 This optional header will be filled out depending on the
1241 @code{message-user-organization} variable.
1242 @code{message-user-organization-file} will be used if this variable is
1243 @code{t}. This variable can also be a string (in which case this string
1244 will be used), or it can be a function (which will be called with no
1245 parameters and should return a string to be used).
1249 This optional header will be computed by Message.
1253 @vindex mail-host-address
1256 This required header will be generated by Message. A unique ID will be
1257 created based on the date, time, user name and system name. Message
1258 will use @code{system-name} to determine the name of the system. If
1259 this isn't a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), Message will use
1260 @code{mail-host-address} as the FQDN of the machine.
1264 This optional header will be filled out according to the
1265 @code{message-newsreader} local variable.
1268 This optional header is filled out using the @code{Date} and @code{From}
1269 header of the article being replied to.
1273 This extremely optional header will be inserted according to the
1274 @code{message-expires} variable. It is highly deprecated and shouldn't
1275 be used unless you know what you're doing.
1278 @cindex Distribution
1279 This optional header is filled out according to the
1280 @code{message-distribution-function} variable. It is a deprecated and
1281 much misunderstood header.
1285 This extremely optional header should probably never be used.
1286 However, some @emph{very} old servers require that this header is
1287 present. @code{message-user-path} further controls how this
1288 @code{Path} header is to look. If it is @code{nil}, use the server name
1289 as the leaf node. If it is a string, use the string. If it is neither
1290 a string nor @code{nil}, use the user name only. However, it is highly
1291 unlikely that you should need to fiddle with this variable at all.
1295 @cindex Mime-Version
1296 In addition, you can enter conses into this list. The car of this cons
1297 should be a symbol. This symbol's name is the name of the header, and
1298 the cdr can either be a string to be entered verbatim as the value of
1299 this header, or it can be a function to be called. This function should
1300 return a string to be inserted. For instance, if you want to insert
1301 @code{Mime-Version: 1.0}, you should enter @code{(Mime-Version . "1.0")}
1302 into the list. If you want to insert a funny quote, you could enter
1303 something like @code{(X-Yow . yow)} into the list. The function
1304 @code{yow} will then be called without any arguments.
1306 If the list contains a cons where the car of the cons is
1307 @code{optional}, the cdr of this cons will only be inserted if it is
1310 Other variables for customizing outgoing news articles:
1314 @item message-syntax-checks
1315 @vindex message-syntax-checks
1316 Controls what syntax checks should not be performed on outgoing posts.
1317 To disable checking of long signatures, for instance, add
1320 (signature . disabled)
1329 Check the subject for commands.
1332 Insert a new @code{Sender} header if the @code{From} header looks odd.
1333 @item multiple-headers
1334 Check for the existence of multiple equal headers.
1337 Check for the existence of version and sendsys commands.
1339 Check whether the @code{Message-ID} looks ok.
1341 Check whether the @code{From} header seems nice.
1344 Check for too long lines.
1346 Check for invalid characters.
1348 Check for excessive size.
1350 Check whether there is any new text in the messages.
1352 Check the length of the signature.
1355 Check whether the article has an @code{Approved} header, which is
1356 something only moderators should include.
1358 Check whether the article is empty.
1359 @item invisible-text
1360 Check whether there is any invisible text in the buffer.
1362 Check whether any of the headers are empty.
1363 @item existing-newsgroups
1364 Check whether the newsgroups mentioned in the @code{Newsgroups} and
1365 @code{Followup-To} headers exist.
1366 @item valid-newsgroups
1367 Check whether the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-to} headers
1368 are valid syntactically.
1369 @item repeated-newsgroups
1370 Check whether the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-to} headers
1371 contains repeated group names.
1372 @item shorten-followup-to
1373 Check whether to add a @code{Followup-to} header to shorten the number
1374 of groups to post to.
1377 All these conditions are checked by default.
1379 @item message-ignored-news-headers
1380 @vindex message-ignored-news-headers
1381 Regexp of headers to be removed before posting. The default is@*
1382 @samp{^NNTP-Posting-Host:\\|^Xref:\\|^[BGF]cc:\\|^Resent-Fcc:\\|^X-Draft-From:}.
1384 @item message-default-news-headers
1385 @vindex message-default-news-headers
1386 This string is inserted at the end of the headers in all message
1387 buffers that are initialized as news.
1392 @node News Variables
1393 @section News Variables
1396 @item message-send-news-function
1397 @vindex message-send-news-function
1398 Function used to send the current buffer as news. The default is
1399 @code{message-send-news}.
1401 @item message-post-method
1402 @vindex message-post-method
1403 Gnusish @dfn{select method} (see the Gnus manual for details) used for
1404 posting a prepared news message.
1409 @node Insertion Variables
1410 @section Insertion Variables
1413 @item message-ignored-cited-headers
1414 @vindex message-ignored-cited-headers
1415 All headers that match this regexp will be removed from yanked
1416 messages. The default is @samp{.}, which means that all headers will be
1419 @item message-cite-prefix-regexp
1420 @vindex message-cite-prefix-regexp
1421 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
1423 @item message-citation-line-function
1424 @vindex message-citation-line-function
1425 @cindex attribution line
1426 Function called to insert the citation line. The default is
1427 @code{message-insert-citation-line}, which will lead to citation lines
1431 Hallvard B Furuseth <h.b.furuseth@@usit.uio.no> writes:
1434 Point will be at the beginning of the body of the message when this
1437 Note that Gnus provides a feature where clicking on `writes:' hides the
1438 cited text. If you change the citation line too much, readers of your
1439 messages will have to adjust their Gnus, too. See the variable
1440 @code{gnus-cite-attribution-suffix}. @xref{Article Highlighting, ,
1441 Article Highlighting, gnus}, for details.
1443 @item message-yank-prefix
1444 @vindex message-yank-prefix
1447 When you are replying to or following up an article, you normally want
1448 to quote the person you are answering. Inserting quoted text is done
1449 by @dfn{yanking}, and each line you yank will have
1450 @code{message-yank-prefix} prepended to it (except for quoted and
1451 empty lines which uses @code{message-yank-cited-prefix}). The default
1454 @item message-yank-cited-prefix
1455 @vindex message-yank-cited-prefix
1459 When yanking text from a article which contains no text or already
1460 cited text, each line will be prefixed with the contents of this
1461 variable. The default is @samp{>}. See also
1462 @code{message-yank-prefix}.
1464 @item message-yank-add-new-references
1465 @vindex message-yank-add-new-references
1467 Non-@code{nil} means new IDs will be added to References field when an
1468 article is yanked by the command @code{message-yank-original}
1469 interactively. If it is a symbol @code{message-id-only}, only an ID
1470 from Message-ID field is used, otherwise IDs extracted from References,
1471 In-Reply-To and Message-ID fields are used.
1473 @item message-list-references-add-position
1474 @vindex message-list-references-add-position
1476 Integer value means position for adding to References field when an
1477 article is yanked by the command @code{message-yank-original}
1480 @item message-indentation-spaces
1481 @vindex message-indentation-spaces
1482 Number of spaces to indent yanked messages.
1484 @item message-cite-function
1485 @vindex message-cite-function
1486 @findex message-cite-original
1487 @findex sc-cite-original
1488 @findex message-cite-original-without-signature
1490 Function for citing an original message. The default is
1491 @code{message-cite-original}, which simply inserts the original message
1492 and prepends @samp{> } to each line.
1493 @code{message-cite-original-without-signature} does the same, but elides
1494 the signature. You can also set it to @code{sc-cite-original} to use
1497 @item message-suspend-font-lock-when-citing
1498 @vindex message-suspend-font-lock-when-citing
1499 If non-@code{nil}, suspend font-lock'ing while citing an original
1500 message. Some lazy demand-driven fontification tools (or Emacs itself)
1501 have a bug that they often miss a buffer to be fontified. It will
1502 mostly occur when Emacs prompts user for any inputs in the minibuffer.
1503 Setting this option to non-@code{nil} may help you to avoid unpleasant
1504 errors even if it is an add-hoc expedient.
1506 @item message-indent-citation-function
1507 @vindex message-indent-citation-function
1508 Function for modifying a citation just inserted in the mail buffer.
1509 This can also be a list of functions. Each function can find the
1510 citation between @code{(point)} and @code{(mark t)}. And each function
1511 should leave point and mark around the citation text as modified.
1513 @item message-signature
1514 @vindex message-signature
1515 String to be inserted at the end of the message buffer. If @code{t}
1516 (which is the default), the @code{message-signature-file} file will be
1517 inserted instead. If a function, the result from the function will be
1518 used instead. If a form, the result from the form will be used instead.
1519 If this variable is @code{nil}, no signature will be inserted at all.
1521 @item message-signature-file
1522 @vindex message-signature-file
1523 File containing the signature to be inserted at the end of the buffer.
1524 The default is @file{~/.signature}.
1528 Note that RFC1036bis says that a signature should be preceded by the three
1529 characters @samp{-- } on a line by themselves. This is to make it
1530 easier for the recipient to automatically recognize and process the
1531 signature. So don't remove those characters, even though you might feel
1532 that they ruin your beautiful design, like, totally.
1534 Also note that no signature should be more than four lines long.
1535 Including ASCII graphics is an efficient way to get everybody to believe
1536 that you are silly and have nothing important to say.
1539 @node Various Message Variables
1540 @section Various Message Variables
1543 @item message-default-charset
1544 @vindex message-default-charset
1546 Symbol naming a @sc{mime} charset. Non-ASCII characters in messages are
1547 assumed to be encoded using this charset. The default is @code{nil},
1548 which means ask the user. (This variable is used only on non-@sc{mule}
1550 @xref{Charset Translation, , Charset Translation, emacs-mime,
1551 Emacs MIME Manual}, for details on the @sc{mule}-to-@sc{mime}
1552 translation process.
1554 @item message-signature-separator
1555 @vindex message-signature-separator
1556 Regexp matching the signature separator. It is @samp{^-- *$} by
1559 @item mail-header-separator
1560 @vindex mail-header-separator
1561 String used to separate the headers from the body. It is @samp{--text
1562 follows this line--} by default.
1564 @item message-directory
1565 @vindex message-directory
1566 Directory used by many mailey things. The default is @file{~/Mail/}.
1568 @item message-signature-setup-hook
1569 @vindex message-signature-setup-hook
1570 Hook run when initializing the message buffer. It is run after the
1571 headers have been inserted but before the signature has been inserted.
1573 @item message-setup-hook
1574 @vindex message-setup-hook
1575 Hook run as the last thing when the message buffer has been initialized,
1576 but before yanked text is inserted.
1578 @item message-header-setup-hook
1579 @vindex message-header-setup-hook
1580 Hook called narrowed to the headers after initializing the headers.
1582 For instance, if you're running Gnus and wish to insert a
1583 @samp{Mail-Copies-To} header in all your news articles and all messages
1584 you send to mailing lists, you could do something like the following:
1587 (defun my-message-header-setup-hook ()
1588 (let ((group (or gnus-newsgroup-name "")))
1589 (when (or (message-fetch-field "newsgroups")
1590 (gnus-group-find-parameter group 'to-address)
1591 (gnus-group-find-parameter group 'to-list))
1592 (insert "Mail-Copies-To: never\n"))))
1594 (add-hook 'message-header-setup-hook
1595 'my-message-header-setup-hook)
1598 @item message-send-hook
1599 @vindex message-send-hook
1600 Hook run before sending messages.
1602 If you want to add certain headers before sending, you can use the
1603 @code{message-add-header} function in this hook. For instance:
1604 @findex message-add-header
1607 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'my-message-add-content)
1608 (defun my-message-add-content ()
1609 (message-add-header "X-In-No-Sense: Nonsense")
1610 (message-add-header "X-Whatever: no"))
1613 This function won't add the header if the header is already present.
1615 @item message-send-mail-hook
1616 @vindex message-send-mail-hook
1617 Hook run before sending mail messages.
1619 @item message-send-news-hook
1620 @vindex message-send-news-hook
1621 Hook run before sending news messages.
1623 @item message-sent-hook
1624 @vindex message-sent-hook
1625 Hook run after sending messages.
1627 @item message-mode-syntax-table
1628 @vindex message-mode-syntax-table
1629 Syntax table used in message mode buffers.
1631 @item message-send-method-alist
1632 @vindex message-send-method-alist
1634 Alist of ways to send outgoing messages. Each element has the form
1637 (TYPE PREDICATE FUNCTION)
1642 A symbol that names the method.
1645 A function called without any parameters to determine whether the
1646 message is a message of type @var{type}.
1649 A function to be called if @var{predicate} returns non-@code{nil}.
1650 @var{function} is called with one parameter -- the prefix.
1654 ((news message-news-p message-send-via-news)
1655 (mail message-mail-p message-send-via-mail))
1664 @node Sending Variables
1665 @section Sending Variables
1669 @item message-fcc-handler-function
1670 @vindex message-fcc-handler-function
1671 A function called to save outgoing articles. This function will be
1672 called with the name of the file to store the article in. The default
1673 function is @code{message-output} which saves in Unix mailbox format.
1675 @item message-courtesy-message
1676 @vindex message-courtesy-message
1677 When sending combined messages, this string is inserted at the start of
1678 the mailed copy. If the string contains the format spec @samp{%s}, the
1679 newsgroups the article has been posted to will be inserted there. If
1680 this variable is @code{nil}, no such courtesy message will be added.
1681 The default value is @samp{"The following message is a courtesy copy of
1682 an article\\nthat has been posted to %s as well.\\n\\n"}.
1684 @item message-fcc-externalize-attachments
1685 @vindex message-fcc-externalize-attachments
1686 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Fcc copies; if it is
1687 non-@code{nil}, attach local files as external parts.
1692 @node Message Buffers
1693 @section Message Buffers
1695 Message will generate new buffers with unique buffer names when you
1696 request a message buffer. When you send the message, the buffer isn't
1697 normally killed off. Its name is changed and a certain number of old
1698 message buffers are kept alive.
1701 @item message-generate-new-buffers
1702 @vindex message-generate-new-buffers
1703 If non-@code{nil}, generate new buffers. The default is @code{t}. If
1704 this is a function, call that function with three parameters: The type,
1705 the to address and the group name. (Any of these may be @code{nil}.)
1706 The function should return the new buffer name.
1708 @item message-use-multi-frames
1709 @vindex message-use-multi-frames
1710 If non-@code{nil}, generate new frames. The default is @code{nil}.
1712 @item message-delete-frame-on-exit
1713 @vindex message-delete-frame-on-exit
1714 The @code{message-delete-frame-on-exit} variable says whether to delete
1715 the frame after sending the message or killing the message buffer. If it
1716 is @code{nil} (which is the default), don't delete the frame. If it is
1717 @code{ask}, ask wheter to delete the frame. If it is @code{t}, always
1720 @item message-max-buffers
1721 @vindex message-max-buffers
1722 This variable says how many old message buffers to keep. If there are
1723 more message buffers than this, the oldest buffer will be killed. The
1724 default is 10. If this variable is @code{nil}, no old message buffers
1725 will ever be killed.
1727 @item message-send-rename-function
1728 @vindex message-send-rename-function
1729 After sending a message, the buffer is renamed from, for instance,
1730 @samp{*reply to Lars*} to @samp{*sent reply to Lars*}. If you don't
1731 like this, set this variable to a function that renames the buffer in a
1732 manner you like. If you don't want to rename the buffer at all, you can
1736 (setq message-send-rename-function 'ignore)
1739 @item message-kill-buffer-on-exit
1740 @vindex message-kill-buffer-on-exit
1741 If non-@code{nil}, kill the buffer immediately on exit.
1743 @item message-kill-buffer-query-function
1744 @vindex message-kill-buffer-query-function
1745 @findex message-kill-buffer
1746 @findex message-mimic-kill-buffer
1747 Function used to prompt user whether to kill the message buffer when the
1748 command @code{message-kill-buffer} or @code{message-mimic-kill-buffer}
1749 is used. It defaults to @code{yes-or-no-p}. You may alter the value to
1750 @code{y-or-n-p}, @code{nnheader-Y-or-n-p}, etc. If it is @code{t}, the
1751 buffer will be killed without query.
1753 @item message-kill-buffer-and-remove-file
1754 @vindex message-kill-buffer-and-remove-file
1755 @findex message-kill-buffer
1756 @findex message-mimic-kill-buffer
1757 If it is non-@code{nil}, remove the backup file if it exists with a
1758 query to the user, after the message buffer is killed. Otherwise the
1759 file won't be removed. It defaults to @code{t}. However, it is treated
1760 as @code{nil} when the command `message-mimic-kill-buffer' is used.
1765 @node Message Actions
1766 @section Message Actions
1768 When Message is being used from a news/mail reader, the reader is likely
1769 to want to perform some task after the message has been sent. Perhaps
1770 return to the previous window configuration or mark an article as
1773 @vindex message-kill-actions
1774 @vindex message-postpone-actions
1775 @vindex message-exit-actions
1776 @vindex message-send-actions
1777 The user may exit from the message buffer in various ways. The most
1778 common is @kbd{C-c C-c}, which sends the message and exits. Other
1779 possibilities are @kbd{C-c C-s} which just sends the message, @kbd{C-c
1780 C-d} which postpones the message editing and buries the message buffer,
1781 and @kbd{C-c C-k} which kills the message buffer. Each of these actions
1782 have lists associated with them that contains actions to be executed:
1783 @code{message-send-actions}, @code{message-exit-actions},
1784 @code{message-postpone-actions}, and @code{message-kill-actions}.
1786 Message provides a function to interface with these lists:
1787 @code{message-add-action}. The first parameter is the action to be
1788 added, and the rest of the arguments are which lists to add this action
1789 to. Here's an example from Gnus:
1793 `(set-window-configuration ,(current-window-configuration))
1794 'exit 'postpone 'kill)
1797 This restores the Gnus window configuration when the message buffer is
1798 killed, postponed or exited.
1800 An @dfn{action} can be either: a normal function, or a list where the
1801 @code{car} is a function and the @code{cdr} is the list of arguments, or
1802 a form to be @code{eval}ed.
1806 @chapter Compatibility
1807 @cindex compatibility
1809 Message uses virtually only its own variables---older @code{mail-}
1810 variables aren't consulted. To force Message to take those variables
1811 into account, you can put the following in your @file{.emacs} file:
1814 (require 'messcompat)
1817 This will initialize many Message variables from the values in the
1818 corresponding mail variables.
1825 * Responses:: Standard rules for determining where responses go.
1832 To determine where a message is to go, the following algorithm is used
1837 A @dfn{reply} is when you want to respond @emph{just} to the person who
1838 sent the message via mail. There will only be one recipient. To
1839 determine who the recipient will be, the following headers are
1850 A @dfn{wide reply} is a mail response that includes @emph{all} entities
1851 mentioned in the message you are responded to. All mailboxes from the
1852 following headers will be concatenated to form the outgoing
1853 @code{To}/@code{Cc} headers:
1857 (unless there's a @code{Reply-To}, in which case that is used instead).
1864 If a @code{Mail-Copies-To} header is present, it will also be included
1865 in the list of mailboxes. If this header is @samp{never}, that means
1866 that the @code{From} (or @code{Reply-To}) mailbox will be suppressed.
1870 A @dfn{followup} is a response sent via news. The following headers
1871 (listed in order of precedence) determine where the response is to be
1882 If a @code{Mail-Copies-To} header is present, it will be used as the
1883 basis of the new @code{Cc} header, except if this header is