1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
3 @setfilename ../info/message
4 @settitle Message Manual
9 This file documents Message, the Emacs message composition mode.
11 Copyright @copyright{} 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
12 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
15 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
16 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
17 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
18 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
19 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
20 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
21 License'' in the Emacs manual.
23 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
24 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
25 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
27 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
28 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
29 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
30 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
36 * Message: (message). Mail and news composition mode that goes with Gnus.
41 @setchapternewpage odd
46 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
49 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
57 All message composition from Gnus (both mail and news) takes place in
61 * Interface:: Setting up message buffers.
62 * Commands:: Commands you can execute in message mode buffers.
63 * Variables:: Customizing the message buffers.
64 * Compatibility:: Making Message backwards compatible.
65 * Appendices:: More technical things.
66 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
67 * Key Index:: List of Message mode keys.
70 @c Adjust ../Makefile.in if you change the following lines:
71 Message is distributed with Gnus. The Gnus distribution
73 corresponding to this manual is Gnus v5.11.
79 When a program (or a person) wants to respond to a message -- reply,
80 follow up, forward, cancel -- the program (or person) should just put
81 point in the buffer where the message is and call the required command.
82 @code{Message} will then pop up a new @code{message} mode buffer with
83 appropriate headers filled out, and the user can edit the message before
87 * New Mail Message:: Editing a brand new mail message.
88 * New News Message:: Editing a brand new news message.
89 * Reply:: Replying via mail.
90 * Wide Reply:: Responding to all people via mail.
91 * Followup:: Following up via news.
92 * Canceling News:: Canceling a news article.
93 * Superseding:: Superseding a message.
94 * Forwarding:: Forwarding a message via news or mail.
95 * Resending:: Resending a mail message.
96 * Bouncing:: Bouncing a mail message.
97 * Mailing Lists:: Send mail to mailing lists.
101 @node New Mail Message
102 @section New Mail Message
105 The @code{message-mail} command pops up a new message buffer.
107 Two optional parameters are accepted: The first will be used as the
108 @code{To} header and the second as the @code{Subject} header. If these
109 are @code{nil}, those two headers will be empty.
112 @node New News Message
113 @section New News Message
116 The @code{message-news} command pops up a new message buffer.
118 This function accepts two optional parameters. The first will be used
119 as the @code{Newsgroups} header and the second as the @code{Subject}
120 header. If these are @code{nil}, those two headers will be empty.
126 @findex message-reply
127 The @code{message-reply} function pops up a message buffer that's a
128 reply to the message in the current buffer.
130 @vindex message-reply-to-function
131 Message uses the normal methods to determine where replies are to go
132 (@pxref{Responses}), but you can change the behavior to suit your needs
133 by fiddling with the @code{message-reply-to-function} variable.
135 If you want the replies to go to the @code{Sender} instead of the
136 @code{From}, you could do something like this:
139 (setq message-reply-to-function
141 (cond ((equal (mail-fetch-field "from") "somebody")
142 (list (cons 'To (mail-fetch-field "sender"))))
147 This function will be called narrowed to the head of the article that is
150 As you can see, this function should return a list. In this case, it
151 returns @code{((To . "Whom"))} if it has an opinion as to what the To
152 header should be. If it does not, it should just return @code{nil}, and
153 the normal methods for determining the To header will be used.
155 Each list element should be a cons, where the @sc{car} should be the
156 name of a header (e.g. @code{Cc}) and the @sc{cdr} should be the header
157 value (e.g. @samp{larsi@@ifi.uio.no}). All these headers will be
158 inserted into the head of the outgoing mail.
164 @findex message-wide-reply
165 The @code{message-wide-reply} pops up a message buffer that's a wide
166 reply to the message in the current buffer. A @dfn{wide reply} is a
167 reply that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From}
168 (or @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
170 @vindex message-wide-reply-to-function
171 Message uses the normal methods to determine where wide replies are to go,
172 but you can change the behavior to suit your needs by fiddling with the
173 @code{message-wide-reply-to-function}. It is used in the same way as
174 @code{message-reply-to-function} (@pxref{Reply}).
176 @vindex message-dont-reply-to-names
177 Addresses that match the @code{message-dont-reply-to-names} regular
178 expression will be removed from the @code{Cc} header.
180 @vindex message-wide-reply-confirm-recipients
181 If @code{message-wide-reply-confirm-recipients} is non-@code{nil} you
182 will be asked to confirm that you want to reply to multiple
183 recipients. The default is @code{nil}.
188 @findex message-followup
189 The @code{message-followup} command pops up a message buffer that's a
190 followup to the message in the current buffer.
192 @vindex message-followup-to-function
193 Message uses the normal methods to determine where followups are to go,
194 but you can change the behavior to suit your needs by fiddling with the
195 @code{message-followup-to-function}. It is used in the same way as
196 @code{message-reply-to-function} (@pxref{Reply}).
198 @vindex message-use-followup-to
199 The @code{message-use-followup-to} variable says what to do about
200 @code{Followup-To} headers. If it is @code{use}, always use the value.
201 If it is @code{ask} (which is the default), ask whether to use the
202 value. If it is @code{t}, use the value unless it is @samp{poster}. If
203 it is @code{nil}, don't use the value.
207 @section Canceling News
209 @findex message-cancel-news
210 The @code{message-cancel-news} command cancels the article in the
213 @vindex message-cancel-message
214 The value of @code{message-cancel-message} is inserted in the body of
215 the cancel message. The default is @samp{I am canceling my own
219 @vindex message-insert-canlock
221 When Message posts news messages, it inserts @code{Cancel-Lock}
222 headers by default. This is a cryptographic header that ensures that
223 only you can cancel your own messages, which is nice. The downside
224 is that if you lose your @file{.emacs} file (which is where Gnus
225 stores the secret cancel lock password (which is generated
226 automatically the first time you use this feature)), you won't be
227 able to cancel your message. If you want to manage a password yourself,
228 you can put something like the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
231 (setq canlock-password "geheimnis"
232 canlock-password-for-verify canlock-password)
235 Whether to insert the header or not is controlled by the
236 @code{message-insert-canlock} variable.
238 Not many news servers respect the @code{Cancel-Lock} header yet, but
239 this is expected to change in the future.
245 @findex message-supersede
246 The @code{message-supersede} command pops up a message buffer that will
247 supersede the message in the current buffer.
249 @vindex message-ignored-supersedes-headers
250 Headers matching the @code{message-ignored-supersedes-headers} are
251 removed before popping up the new message buffer. The default is@*
252 @samp{^Path:\\|^Date\\|^NNTP-Posting-Host:\\|^Xref:\\|^Lines:\\|@*
253 ^Received:\\|^X-From-Line:\\|^X-Trace:\\|^X-Complaints-To:\\|@*
254 Return-Path:\\|^Supersedes:\\|^NNTP-Posting-Date:\\|^X-Trace:\\|@*
255 ^X-Complaints-To:\\|^Cancel-Lock:\\|^Cancel-Key:\\|^X-Hashcash:\\|@*
263 @findex message-forward
264 The @code{message-forward} command pops up a message buffer to forward
265 the message in the current buffer. If given a prefix, forward using
269 @item message-forward-ignored-headers
270 @vindex message-forward-ignored-headers
271 All headers that match this regexp will be deleted when forwarding a message.
273 @item message-make-forward-subject-function
274 @vindex message-make-forward-subject-function
275 A list of functions that are called to generate a subject header for
276 forwarded messages. The subject generated by the previous function is
277 passed into each successive function.
279 The provided functions are:
282 @item message-forward-subject-author-subject
283 @findex message-forward-subject-author-subject
284 Source of article (author or newsgroup), in brackets followed by the
287 @item message-forward-subject-fwd
288 Subject of article with @samp{Fwd:} prepended to it.
291 @item message-wash-forwarded-subjects
292 @vindex message-wash-forwarded-subjects
293 If this variable is @code{t}, the subjects of forwarded messages have
294 the evidence of previous forwards (such as @samp{Fwd:}, @samp{Re:},
295 @samp{(fwd)}) removed before the new subject is
296 constructed. The default value is @code{nil}.
298 @item message-forward-as-mime
299 @vindex message-forward-as-mime
300 If this variable is @code{t} (the default), forwarded messages are
301 included as inline @acronym{MIME} RFC822 parts. If it's @code{nil}, forwarded
302 messages will just be copied inline to the new message, like previous,
303 non @acronym{MIME}-savvy versions of Gnus would do.
305 @item message-forward-before-signature
306 @vindex message-forward-before-signature
307 If non-@code{nil}, put forwarded message before signature, else after.
315 @findex message-resend
316 The @code{message-resend} command will prompt the user for an address
317 and resend the message in the current buffer to that address.
319 @vindex message-ignored-resent-headers
320 Headers that match the @code{message-ignored-resent-headers} regexp will
321 be removed before sending the message.
327 @findex message-bounce
328 The @code{message-bounce} command will, if the current buffer contains a
329 bounced mail message, pop up a message buffer stripped of the bounce
330 information. A @dfn{bounced message} is typically a mail you've sent
331 out that has been returned by some @code{mailer-daemon} as
334 @vindex message-ignored-bounced-headers
335 Headers that match the @code{message-ignored-bounced-headers} regexp
336 will be removed before popping up the buffer. The default is
337 @samp{^\\(Received\\|Return-Path\\|Delivered-To\\):}.
341 @section Mailing Lists
343 @cindex Mail-Followup-To
344 Sometimes while posting to mailing lists, the poster needs to direct
345 followups to the post to specific places. The Mail-Followup-To (MFT)
346 was created to enable just this. Three example scenarios where this is
351 A mailing list poster can use MFT to express that responses should be
352 sent to just the list, and not the poster as well. This will happen
353 if the poster is already subscribed to the list.
356 A mailing list poster can use MFT to express that responses should be
357 sent to the list and the poster as well. This will happen if the poster
358 is not subscribed to the list.
361 If a message is posted to several mailing lists, MFT may also be used
362 to direct the following discussion to one list only, because
363 discussions that are spread over several lists tend to be fragmented
364 and very difficult to follow.
368 Gnus honors the MFT header in other's messages (i.e. while following
369 up to someone else's post) and also provides support for generating
370 sensible MFT headers for outgoing messages as well.
373 @c * Honoring an MFT post:: What to do when one already exists
374 @c * Composing with a MFT header:: Creating one from scratch.
377 @c @node Composing with a MFT header
378 @subsection Composing a correct MFT header automagically
380 The first step in getting Gnus to automagically generate a MFT header
381 in posts you make is to give Gnus a list of the mailing lists
382 addresses you are subscribed to. You can do this in more than one
383 way. The following variables would come in handy.
387 @vindex message-subscribed-addresses
388 @item message-subscribed-addresses
389 This should be a list of addresses the user is subscribed to. Its
390 default value is @code{nil}. Example:
392 (setq message-subscribed-addresses
393 '("ding@@gnus.org" "bing@@noose.org"))
396 @vindex message-subscribed-regexps
397 @item message-subscribed-regexps
398 This should be a list of regexps denoting the addresses of mailing
399 lists subscribed to. Default value is @code{nil}. Example: If you
400 want to achieve the same result as above:
402 (setq message-subscribed-regexps
403 '("\\(ding@@gnus\\)\\|\\(bing@@noose\\)\\.org")
406 @vindex message-subscribed-address-functions
407 @item message-subscribed-address-functions
408 This can be a list of functions to be called (one at a time!!) to
409 determine the value of MFT headers. It is advisable that these
410 functions not take any arguments. Default value is @code{nil}.
412 There is a pre-defined function in Gnus that is a good candidate for
413 this variable. @code{gnus-find-subscribed-addresses} is a function
414 that returns a list of addresses corresponding to the groups that have
415 the @code{subscribed} (@pxref{Group Parameters, ,Group Parameters,
416 gnus, The Gnus Manual}) group parameter set to a non-@code{nil} value.
417 This is how you would do it.
420 (setq message-subscribed-address-functions
421 '(gnus-find-subscribed-addresses))
424 @vindex message-subscribed-address-file
425 @item message-subscribed-address-file
426 You might be one organized human freak and have a list of addresses of
427 all subscribed mailing lists in a separate file! Then you can just
428 set this variable to the name of the file and life would be good.
432 You can use one or more of the above variables. All their values are
433 ``added'' in some way that works :-)
435 Now you are all set. Just start composing a message as you normally do.
436 And just send it; as always. Just before the message is sent out, Gnus'
437 MFT generation thingy kicks in and checks if the message already has a
438 MFT field. If there is one, it is left alone. (Except if it's empty -
439 in that case, the field is removed and is not replaced with an
440 automatically generated one. This lets you disable MFT generation on a
441 per-message basis.) If there is none, then the list of recipient
442 addresses (in the To: and Cc: headers) is checked to see if one of them
443 is a list address you are subscribed to. If none of them is a list
444 address, then no MFT is generated; otherwise, a MFT is added to the
445 other headers and set to the value of all addresses in To: and Cc:
448 @findex message-generate-unsubscribed-mail-followup-to
450 @findex message-goto-mail-followup-to
451 Hm. ``So'', you ask, ``what if I send an email to a list I am not
452 subscribed to? I want my MFT to say that I want an extra copy.'' (This
453 is supposed to be interpreted by others the same way as if there were no
454 MFT, but you can use an explicit MFT to override someone else's
455 to-address group parameter.) The function
456 @code{message-generate-unsubscribed-mail-followup-to} might come in
457 handy. It is bound to @kbd{C-c C-f C-a} by default. In any case, you
458 can insert a MFT of your own choice; @kbd{C-c C-f C-m}
459 (@code{message-goto-mail-followup-to}) will help you get started.
461 @c @node Honoring an MFT post
462 @subsection Honoring an MFT post
464 @vindex message-use-mail-followup-to
465 When you followup to a post on a mailing list, and the post has a MFT
466 header, Gnus' action will depend on the value of the variable
467 @code{message-use-mail-followup-to}. This variable can be one of:
471 Always honor MFTs. The To: and Cc: headers in your followup will be
472 derived from the MFT header of the original post. This is the default.
475 Always dishonor MFTs (just ignore the darned thing)
478 Gnus will prompt you for an action.
482 It is considered good netiquette to honor MFT, as it is assumed the
483 fellow who posted a message knows where the followups need to go
490 * Buffer Entry:: Commands after entering a Message buffer.
491 * Header Commands:: Commands for moving headers or changing headers.
492 * Movement:: Moving around in message buffers.
493 * Insertion:: Inserting things into message buffers.
494 * MIME:: @acronym{MIME} considerations.
495 * IDNA:: Non-@acronym{ASCII} domain name considerations.
496 * Security:: Signing and encrypting messages.
497 * Various Commands:: Various things.
498 * Sending:: Actually sending the message.
499 * Mail Aliases:: How to use mail aliases.
500 * Spelling:: Having Emacs check your spelling.
505 @section Buffer Entry
509 You most often end up in a Message buffer when responding to some other
510 message of some sort. Message does lots of handling of quoted text, and
511 may remove signatures, reformat the text, or the like---depending on
512 which used settings you're using. Message usually gets things right,
513 but sometimes it stumbles. To help the user unwind these stumblings,
514 Message sets the undo boundary before each major automatic action it
515 takes. If you press the undo key (usually located at @kbd{C-_}) a few
516 times, you will get back the un-edited message you're responding to.
519 @node Header Commands
520 @section Header Commands
522 @subsection Commands for moving to headers
524 These following commands move to the header in question. If it doesn't
525 exist, it will be inserted.
531 @findex describe-mode
532 Describe the message mode.
536 @findex message-goto-to
537 Go to the @code{To} header (@code{message-goto-to}).
541 @findex message-goto-from
542 Go to the @code{From} header (@code{message-goto-from}). (The ``o''
543 in the key binding is for Originator.)
547 @findex message-goto-bcc
548 Go to the @code{Bcc} header (@code{message-goto-bcc}).
552 @findex message-goto-fcc
553 Go to the @code{Fcc} header (@code{message-goto-fcc}).
557 @findex message-goto-cc
558 Go to the @code{Cc} header (@code{message-goto-cc}).
562 @findex message-goto-subject
563 Go to the @code{Subject} header (@code{message-goto-subject}).
567 @findex message-goto-reply-to
568 Go to the @code{Reply-To} header (@code{message-goto-reply-to}).
572 @findex message-goto-newsgroups
573 Go to the @code{Newsgroups} header (@code{message-goto-newsgroups}).
577 @findex message-goto-distribution
578 Go to the @code{Distribution} header (@code{message-goto-distribution}).
582 @findex message-goto-followup-to
583 Go to the @code{Followup-To} header (@code{message-goto-followup-to}).
587 @findex message-goto-keywords
588 Go to the @code{Keywords} header (@code{message-goto-keywords}).
592 @findex message-goto-summary
593 Go to the @code{Summary} header (@code{message-goto-summary}).
597 @findex message-insert-or-toggle-importance
598 This inserts the @samp{Importance:} header with a value of
599 @samp{high}. This header is used to signal the importance of the
600 message to the receiver. If the header is already present in the
601 buffer, it cycles between the three valid values according to RFC
602 1376: @samp{low}, @samp{normal} and @samp{high}.
606 @findex message-generate-unsubscribed-mail-followup-to
607 Insert a reasonable @samp{Mail-Followup-To:} header
608 (@pxref{Mailing Lists}) in a post to an
609 unsubscribed list. When making original posts to a mailing list you are
610 not subscribed to, you have to type in a @samp{Mail-Followup-To:} header
611 by hand. The contents, usually, are the addresses of the list and your
612 own address. This function inserts such a header automatically. It
613 fetches the contents of the @samp{To:} header in the current mail
614 buffer, and appends the current @code{user-mail-address}.
616 If the optional argument @code{include-cc} is non-@code{nil}, the
617 addresses in the @samp{Cc:} header are also put into the
618 @samp{Mail-Followup-To:} header.
622 @subsection Commands to change headers
628 @findex message-sort-headers
629 @vindex message-header-format-alist
630 Sort headers according to @code{message-header-format-alist}
631 (@code{message-sort-headers}).
635 @findex message-insert-to
636 Insert a @code{To} header that contains the @code{Reply-To} or
637 @code{From} header of the message you're following up
638 (@code{message-insert-to}).
642 @findex message-insert-newsgroups
643 Insert a @code{Newsgroups} header that reflects the @code{Followup-To}
644 or @code{Newsgroups} header of the article you're replying to
645 (@code{message-insert-newsgroups}).
649 @findex message-to-list-only
650 Send a message to the list only. Remove all addresses but the list
651 address from @code{To:} and @code{Cc:} headers.
655 @findex message-insert-disposition-notification-to
656 Insert a request for a disposition
657 notification. (@code{message-insert-disposition-notification-to}).
658 This means that if the recipient support RFC 2298 she might send you a
659 notification that she received the message.
661 @item M-x message-insert-importance-high
662 @kindex M-x message-insert-importance-high
663 @findex message-insert-importance-high
665 Insert an @samp{Importance} header with a value of @samp{high},
666 deleting headers if necessary.
668 @item M-x message-insert-importance-low
669 @kindex M-x message-insert-importance-low
670 @findex message-insert-importance-low
672 Insert an @samp{Importance} header with a value of @samp{low}, deleting
673 headers if necessary.
677 @findex message-change-subject
679 Change the current @samp{Subject} header. Ask for new @samp{Subject}
680 header and append @samp{(was: <Old Subject>)}. The old subject can be
681 stripped on replying, see @code{message-subject-trailing-was-query}
682 (@pxref{Message Headers}).
686 @findex message-cross-post-followup-to
687 @vindex message-cross-post-default
688 @vindex message-cross-post-note-function
691 Set up the @samp{FollowUp-To} header with a target newsgroup for a
692 cross-post, add that target newsgroup to the @samp{Newsgroups} header if
693 it is not a member of @samp{Newsgroups}, and insert a note in the body.
694 If @code{message-cross-post-default} is @code{nil} or if this command is
695 called with a prefix-argument, only the @samp{FollowUp-To} header will
696 be set but the the target newsgroup will not be added to the
697 @samp{Newsgroups} header. The function to insert a note is controlled
698 by the @code{message-cross-post-note-function} variable.
702 @findex message-reduce-to-to-cc
703 Replace contents of @samp{To} header with contents of @samp{Cc} or
704 @samp{Bcc} header. (Iff @samp{Cc} header is not present, @samp{Bcc}
705 header will be used instead.)
709 @findex message-insert-wide-reply
710 Insert @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers as if you were doing a wide
711 reply even if the message was not made for a wide reply first.
715 @findex message-add-archive-header
716 @vindex message-archive-header
717 @vindex message-archive-note
719 Insert @samp{X-No-Archive: Yes} in the header and a note in the body.
720 The header and the note can be customized using
721 @code{message-archive-header} and @code{message-archive-note}. When
722 called with a prefix argument, ask for a text to insert. If you don't
723 want the note in the body, set @code{message-archive-note} to
735 @findex message-goto-body
736 Move to the beginning of the body of the message
737 (@code{message-goto-body}).
741 @findex message-goto-signature
742 Move to the signature of the message (@code{message-goto-signature}).
746 @findex message-beginning-of-line
747 @vindex message-beginning-of-line
748 If at beginning of header value, go to beginning of line, else go to
749 beginning of header value. (The header value comes after the header
750 name and the colon.) This behavior can be disabled by toggling
751 the variable @code{message-beginning-of-line}.
763 @findex message-yank-original
764 Yank the message that's being replied to into the message buffer
765 (@code{message-yank-original}).
769 @findex message-yank-buffer
770 Prompt for a buffer name and yank the contents of that buffer into the
771 message buffer (@code{message-yank-buffer}).
775 @findex message-fill-yanked-message
776 Fill the yanked message (@code{message-fill-yanked-message}). Warning:
777 Can severely mess up the yanked text if its quoting conventions are
778 strange. You'll quickly get a feel for when it's safe, though. Anyway,
779 just remember that @kbd{C-x u} (@code{undo}) is available and you'll be
784 @findex message-insert-signature
785 Insert a signature at the end of the buffer
786 (@code{message-insert-signature}).
790 @findex message-insert-headers
791 Insert the message headers (@code{message-insert-headers}).
795 @findex message-mark-inserted-region
796 Mark some region in the current article with enclosing tags.
797 See @code{message-mark-insert-begin} and @code{message-mark-insert-end}.
801 @findex message-mark-insert-file
802 Insert a file in the current article with enclosing tags.
803 See @code{message-mark-insert-begin} and @code{message-mark-insert-end}.
815 Message is a @acronym{MIME}-compliant posting agent. The user generally
816 doesn't have to do anything to make the @acronym{MIME} happen---Message will
817 automatically add the @code{Content-Type} and
818 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} headers.
820 The most typical thing users want to use the multipart things in
821 @acronym{MIME} for is to add ``attachments'' to mail they send out. This can
822 be done with the @kbd{C-c C-a} command, which will prompt for a file
823 name and a @acronym{MIME} type.
825 You can also create arbitrarily complex multiparts using the @acronym{MML}
826 language (@pxref{Composing, , Composing, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME
832 @cindex internationalized domain names
833 @cindex non-ascii domain names
835 Message is a @acronym{IDNA}-compliant posting agent. The user
836 generally doesn't have to do anything to make the @acronym{IDNA}
837 happen---Message will encode non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in @code{From},
838 @code{To}, and @code{Cc} headers automatically.
840 Until @acronym{IDNA} becomes more well known, Message queries you
841 whether @acronym{IDNA} encoding of the domain name really should
842 occur. Some users might not be aware that domain names can contain
843 non-@acronym{ASCII} now, so this gives them a safety net if they accidently
844 typed a non-@acronym{ASCII} domain name.
846 @vindex message-use-idna
847 The @code{message-use-idna} variable control whether @acronym{IDNA} is
848 used. If the variable is @code{nil} no @acronym{IDNA} encoding will
849 ever happen, if it is set to the symbol @code{ask} the user will be
850 queried, and if set to @code{t} (which is the default if @acronym{IDNA}
851 is fully available) @acronym{IDNA} encoding happens automatically.
853 @findex message-idna-to-ascii-rhs
854 If you want to experiment with the @acronym{IDNA} encoding, you can
855 invoke @kbd{M-x message-idna-to-ascii-rhs RET} in the message buffer
856 to have the non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names encoded while you edit
859 Note that you must have @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/, GNU
860 Libidn} installed in order to use this functionality.
872 Using the @acronym{MML} language, Message is able to create digitally
873 signed and digitally encrypted messages. Message (or rather
874 @acronym{MML}) currently support @acronym{PGP} (RFC 1991),
875 @acronym{PGP/MIME} (RFC 2015/3156) and @acronym{S/MIME}. Instructing
876 @acronym{MML} to perform security operations on a @acronym{MIME} part is
877 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c C-m
878 c} key map for encryption, as follows.
884 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
886 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
890 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
892 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP}.
896 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgpmime
898 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
902 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
904 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
908 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
910 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP}.
914 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
916 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
920 @findex mml-unsecure-message
921 Remove security related @acronym{MML} tags from message.
925 These commands do not immediately sign or encrypt the message, they
926 merely insert the proper @acronym{MML} secure tag to instruct the
927 @acronym{MML} engine to perform that operation when the message is
928 actually sent. They may perform other operations too, such as locating
929 and retrieving a @acronym{S/MIME} certificate of the person you wish to
930 send encrypted mail to. When the mml parsing engine converts your
931 @acronym{MML} into a properly encoded @acronym{MIME} message, the secure
932 tag will be replaced with either a part or a multipart tag. If your
933 message contains other mml parts, a multipart tag will be used; if no
934 other parts are present in your message a single part tag will be used.
935 This way, message mode will do the Right Thing (TM) with
936 signed/encrypted multipart messages.
938 Since signing and especially encryption often is used when sensitive
939 information is sent, you may want to have some way to ensure that your
940 mail is actually signed or encrypted. After invoking the above
941 sign/encrypt commands, it is possible to preview the raw article by
942 using @kbd{C-u C-c RET P} (@code{mml-preview}). Then you can
943 verify that your long rant about what your ex-significant other or
944 whomever actually did with that funny looking person at that strange
945 party the other night, actually will be sent encrypted.
947 @emph{Note!} Neither @acronym{PGP/MIME} nor @acronym{S/MIME} encrypt/signs
948 RFC822 headers. They only operate on the @acronym{MIME} object. Keep this
949 in mind before sending mail with a sensitive Subject line.
951 By default, when encrypting a message, Gnus will use the
952 ``signencrypt'' mode, which means the message is both signed and
953 encrypted. If you would like to disable this for a particular
954 message, give the @code{mml-secure-message-encrypt-*} command a prefix
955 argument, e.g., @kbd{C-u C-c C-m c p}.
957 Actually using the security commands above is not very difficult. At
958 least not compared with making sure all involved programs talk with each
959 other properly. Thus, we now describe what external libraries or
960 programs are required to make things work, and some small general hints.
962 @subsection Using S/MIME
964 @emph{Note!} This section assume you have a basic familiarity with
965 modern cryptography, @acronym{S/MIME}, various PKCS standards, OpenSSL and
968 The @acronym{S/MIME} support in Message (and @acronym{MML}) require
969 OpenSSL. OpenSSL performs the actual @acronym{S/MIME} sign/encrypt
970 operations. OpenSSL can be found at @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}.
971 OpenSSL 0.9.6 and later should work. Version 0.9.5a cannot extract mail
972 addresses from certificates, and it insert a spurious CR character into
973 @acronym{MIME} separators so you may wish to avoid it if you would like
974 to avoid being regarded as someone who send strange mail. (Although by
975 sending @acronym{S/MIME} messages you've probably already lost that
978 To be able to send encrypted mail, a personal certificate is not
979 required. Message (@acronym{MML}) need a certificate for the person to whom you
980 wish to communicate with though. You're asked for this when you type
981 @kbd{C-c C-m c s}. Currently there are two ways to retrieve this
982 certificate, from a local file or from DNS. If you chose a local
983 file, it need to contain a X.509 certificate in @acronym{PEM} format.
984 If you chose DNS, you're asked for the domain name where the
985 certificate is stored, the default is a good guess. To my belief,
986 Message (@acronym{MML}) is the first mail agent in the world to support
987 retrieving @acronym{S/MIME} certificates from DNS, so you're not
988 likely to find very many certificates out there. At least there
989 should be one, stored at the domain @code{simon.josefsson.org}. LDAP
990 is a more popular method of distributing certificates, support for it
991 is planned. (Meanwhile, you can use @code{ldapsearch} from the
992 command line to retrieve a certificate into a file and use it.)
994 As for signing messages, OpenSSL can't perform signing operations
995 without some kind of configuration. Especially, you need to tell it
996 where your private key and your certificate is stored. @acronym{MML}
997 uses an Emacs interface to OpenSSL, aptly named @code{smime.el}, and it
998 contain a @code{custom} group used for this configuration. So, try
999 @kbd{M-x customize-group RET smime RET} and look around.
1001 Currently there is no support for talking to a CA (or RA) to create
1002 your own certificate. None is planned either. You need to do this
1003 manually with OpenSSL or using some other program. I used Netscape
1004 and got a free @acronym{S/MIME} certificate from one of the big CA's on the
1005 net. Netscape is able to export your private key and certificate in
1006 PKCS #12 format. Use OpenSSL to convert this into a plain X.509
1007 certificate in PEM format as follows.
1010 $ openssl pkcs12 -in ns.p12 -clcerts -nodes > key+cert.pem
1013 The @file{key+cert.pem} file should be pointed to from the
1014 @code{smime-keys} variable. You should now be able to send signed mail.
1016 @emph{Note!} Your private key is now stored unencrypted in the file,
1017 so take care in handling it. Storing encrypted keys on the disk are
1018 supported, and Gnus will ask you for a passphrase before invoking
1019 OpenSSL. Read the OpenSSL documentation for how to achieve this. If
1020 you use unencrypted keys (e.g., if they are on a secure storage, or if
1021 you are on a secure single user machine) simply press @code{RET} at
1022 the passphrase prompt.
1024 @subsection Using PGP/MIME
1026 @acronym{PGP/MIME} requires an external OpenPGP implementation, such
1027 as @uref{http://www.gnupg.org/, GNU Privacy Guard}. Pre-OpenPGP
1028 implementations such as PGP 2.x and PGP 5.x are also supported. One
1029 Emacs interface to the PGP implementations, PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG,
1030 pgg, PGG Manual}), is included, but Mailcrypt and Florian Weimer's
1031 @code{gpg.el} are also supported.
1033 @vindex gpg-temp-directory
1034 Note, if you are using the @code{gpg.el} you must make sure that the
1035 directory specified by @code{gpg-temp-directory} have permissions
1038 Creating your own key is described in detail in the documentation of
1039 your PGP implementation, so we refer to it.
1041 If you have imported your old PGP 2.x key into GnuPG, and want to send
1042 signed and encrypted messages to your fellow PGP 2.x users, you'll
1043 discover that the receiver cannot understand what you send. One
1044 solution is to use PGP 2.x instead (i.e., if you use @code{pgg}, set
1045 @code{pgg-default-scheme} to @code{pgp}). If you do want to use
1046 GnuPG, you can use a compatibility script called @code{gpg-2comp}
1048 @uref{http://muppet.faveve.uni-stuttgart.de/~gero/gpg-2comp/}. You
1049 could also convince your fellow PGP 2.x users to convert to GnuPG.
1050 @vindex mml-signencrypt-style-alist
1051 As a final workaround, you can make the sign and encryption work in
1052 two steps; separately sign, then encrypt a message. If you would like
1053 to change this behavior you can customize the
1054 @code{mml-signencrypt-style-alist} variable. For example:
1057 (setq mml-signencrypt-style-alist '(("smime" separate)
1059 ("pgpauto" separate)
1060 ("pgpmime" separate)))
1063 This causes to sign and encrypt in two passes, thus generating a
1064 message that can be understood by PGP version 2.
1066 (Refer to @uref{http://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/pgp2x.html} for more
1067 information about the problem.)
1069 @node Various Commands
1070 @section Various Commands
1076 @findex message-caesar-buffer-body
1077 Caesar rotate (aka. rot13) the current message
1078 (@code{message-caesar-buffer-body}). If narrowing is in effect, just
1079 rotate the visible portion of the buffer. A numerical prefix says how
1080 many places to rotate the text. The default is 13.
1084 @findex message-elide-region
1085 @vindex message-elide-ellipsis
1086 Elide the text between point and mark (@code{message-elide-region}).
1087 The text is killed and replaced with the contents of the variable
1088 @code{message-elide-ellipsis}. The default value is to use an ellipsis
1093 @findex message-kill-to-signature
1094 Kill all the text up to the signature, or if that's missing, up to the
1095 end of the message (@code{message-kill-to-signature}).
1099 @findex message-delete-not-region
1100 Delete all text in the body of the message that is outside the region
1101 (@code{message-delete-not-region}).
1105 @findex message-newline-and-reformat
1106 Insert four newlines, and then reformat if inside quoted text.
1111 > This is some quoted text. And here's more quoted text.
1114 If point is before @samp{And} and you press @kbd{M-RET}, you'll get:
1117 > This is some quoted text.
1121 > And here's more quoted text.
1124 @samp{*} says where point will be placed.
1128 @findex message-rename-buffer
1129 Rename the buffer (@code{message-rename-buffer}). If given a prefix,
1130 prompt for a new buffer name.
1135 @vindex message-tab-body-function
1136 If @code{message-tab-body-function} is non-@code{nil}, execute the
1137 function it specifies. Otherwise use the function bound to @kbd{TAB} in
1138 @code{text-mode-map} or @code{global-map}.
1149 @findex message-send-and-exit
1150 Send the message and bury the current buffer
1151 (@code{message-send-and-exit}).
1155 @findex message-send
1156 Send the message (@code{message-send}).
1160 @findex message-dont-send
1161 Bury the message buffer and exit (@code{message-dont-send}).
1165 @findex message-kill-buffer
1166 Kill the message buffer and exit (@code{message-kill-buffer}).
1173 @section Mail Aliases
1174 @cindex mail aliases
1177 @vindex message-mail-alias-type
1178 The @code{message-mail-alias-type} variable controls what type of mail
1179 alias expansion to use. Currently only one form is supported---Message
1180 uses @code{mailabbrev} to handle mail aliases. If this variable is
1181 @code{nil}, no mail alias expansion will be performed.
1183 @code{mailabbrev} works by parsing the @file{/etc/mailrc} and
1184 @file{~/.mailrc} files. These files look like:
1187 alias lmi "Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@ifi.uio.no>"
1188 alias ding "ding@@ifi.uio.no (ding mailing list)"
1191 After adding lines like this to your @file{~/.mailrc} file, you should
1192 be able to just write @samp{lmi} in the @code{To} or @code{Cc} (and so
1193 on) headers and press @kbd{SPC} to expand the alias.
1195 No expansion will be performed upon sending of the message---all
1196 expansions have to be done explicitly.
1202 @findex ispell-message
1204 There are two popular ways to have Emacs spell-check your messages:
1205 @code{ispell} and @code{flyspell}. @code{ispell} is the older and
1206 probably more popular package. You typically first write the message,
1207 and then run the entire thing through @code{ispell} and fix all the
1208 typos. To have this happen automatically when you send a message, put
1209 something like the following in your @file{.emacs} file:
1212 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
1215 @vindex ispell-message-dictionary-alist
1216 If you're in the habit of writing in different languages, this can be
1217 controlled by the @code{ispell-message-dictionary-alist} variable:
1220 (setq ispell-message-dictionary-alist
1221 '(("^Newsgroups:.*\\bde\\." . "deutsch8")
1222 (".*" . "default")))
1225 @code{ispell} depends on having the external @samp{ispell} command
1228 The other popular method is using @code{flyspell}. This package checks
1229 your spelling while you're writing, and marks any mis-spelled words in
1232 To use @code{flyspell}, put something like the following in your
1236 (defun my-message-setup-routine ()
1238 (add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'my-message-setup-routine)
1241 @code{flyspell} depends on having the external @samp{ispell} command
1249 * Message Headers:: General message header stuff.
1250 * Mail Headers:: Customizing mail headers.
1251 * Mail Variables:: Other mail variables.
1252 * News Headers:: Customizing news headers.
1253 * News Variables:: Other news variables.
1254 * Insertion Variables:: Customizing how things are inserted.
1255 * Various Message Variables:: Other message variables.
1256 * Sending Variables:: Variables for sending.
1257 * Message Buffers:: How Message names its buffers.
1258 * Message Actions:: Actions to be performed when exiting.
1262 @node Message Headers
1263 @section Message Headers
1265 Message is quite aggressive on the message generation front. It has to
1266 be -- it's a combined news and mail agent. To be able to send combined
1267 messages, it has to generate all headers itself (instead of letting the
1268 mail/news system do it) to ensure that mail and news copies of messages
1269 look sufficiently similar.
1273 @item message-generate-headers-first
1274 @vindex message-generate-headers-first
1275 If @code{t}, generate all required headers before starting to
1276 compose the message. This can also be a list of headers to generate:
1279 (setq message-generate-headers-first
1283 @vindex message-required-headers
1284 The variables @code{message-required-headers},
1285 @code{message-required-mail-headers} and
1286 @code{message-required-news-headers} specify which headers are
1289 Note that some headers will be removed and re-generated before posting,
1290 because of the variable @code{message-deletable-headers} (see below).
1292 @item message-draft-headers
1293 @vindex message-draft-headers
1294 When running Message from Gnus, the message buffers are associated
1295 with a draft group. @code{message-draft-headers} says which headers
1296 should be generated when a draft is written to the draft group.
1298 @item message-from-style
1299 @vindex message-from-style
1300 Specifies how @code{From} headers should look. There are four valid
1305 Just the address -- @samp{king@@grassland.com}.
1308 @samp{king@@grassland.com (Elvis Parsley)}.
1311 @samp{Elvis Parsley <king@@grassland.com>}.
1314 Look like @code{angles} if that doesn't require quoting, and
1315 @code{parens} if it does. If even @code{parens} requires quoting, use
1316 @code{angles} anyway.
1320 @item message-deletable-headers
1321 @vindex message-deletable-headers
1322 Headers in this list that were previously generated by Message will be
1323 deleted before posting. Let's say you post an article. Then you decide
1324 to post it again to some other group, you naughty boy, so you jump back
1325 to the @code{*post-buf*} buffer, edit the @code{Newsgroups} line, and
1326 ship it off again. By default, this variable makes sure that the old
1327 generated @code{Message-ID} is deleted, and a new one generated. If
1328 this isn't done, the entire empire would probably crumble, anarchy would
1329 prevail, and cats would start walking on two legs and rule the world.
1332 @item message-default-headers
1333 @vindex message-default-headers
1334 This string is inserted at the end of the headers in all message
1337 @item message-subject-re-regexp
1338 @vindex message-subject-re-regexp
1342 Responses to messages have subjects that start with @samp{Re: }. This
1343 is @emph{not} an abbreviation of the English word ``response'', but is
1344 Latin, and means ``in response to''. Some illiterate nincompoops have
1345 failed to grasp this fact, and have ``internationalized'' their software
1346 to use abominations like @samp{Aw: } (``antwort'') or @samp{Sv: }
1347 (``svar'') instead, which is meaningless and evil. However, you may
1348 have to deal with users that use these evil tools, in which case you may
1349 set this variable to a regexp that matches these prefixes. Myself, I
1350 just throw away non-compliant mail.
1352 Here's an example of a value to deal with these headers when
1353 responding to a message:
1356 (setq message-subject-re-regexp
1361 "[Aa][Nn][Tt][Ww]\\.?\\|" ; antw
1363 "[Ff][Ww][Dd]?\\|" ; fwd
1364 "[Oo][Dd][Pp]\\|" ; odp
1366 "[Rr][\311\351][Ff]\\.?\\|" ; ref
1369 "\\(\\[[0-9]*\\]\\)"
1376 @item message-subject-trailing-was-query
1377 @vindex message-subject-trailing-was-query
1378 @vindex message-subject-trailing-was-ask-regexp
1379 @vindex message-subject-trailing-was-regexp
1380 Controls what to do with trailing @samp{(was: <old subject>)} in subject
1381 lines. If @code{nil}, leave the subject unchanged. If it is the symbol
1382 @code{ask}, query the user what do do. In this case, the subject is
1383 matched against @code{message-subject-trailing-was-ask-regexp}. If
1384 @code{message-subject-trailing-was-query} is @code{t}, always strip the
1385 trailing old subject. In this case,
1386 @code{message-subject-trailing-was-regexp} is used.
1388 @item message-alternative-emails
1389 @vindex message-alternative-emails
1390 Regexp matching alternative email addresses. The first address in the
1391 To, Cc or From headers of the original article matching this variable is
1392 used as the From field of outgoing messages, replacing the default From
1395 For example, if you have two secondary email addresses john@@home.net
1396 and john.doe@@work.com and want to use them in the From field when
1397 composing a reply to a message addressed to one of them, you could set
1398 this variable like this:
1401 (setq message-alternative-emails
1402 (regexp-opt '("john@@home.net" "john.doe@@work.com")))
1405 This variable has precedence over posting styles and anything that runs
1406 off @code{message-setup-hook}.
1408 @item message-allow-no-recipients
1409 @vindex message-allow-no-recipients
1410 Specifies what to do when there are no recipients other than
1411 @code{Gcc} or @code{Fcc}. If it is @code{always}, the posting is
1412 allowed. If it is @code{never}, the posting is not allowed. If it is
1413 @code{ask} (the default), you are prompted.
1415 @item message-hidden-headers
1416 @vindex message-hidden-headers
1417 A regexp, a list of regexps, or a list where the first element is
1418 @code{not} and the rest are regexps. It says which headers to keep
1419 hidden when composing a message.
1422 (setq message-hidden-headers
1423 '(not "From" "Subject" "To" "Cc" "Newsgroups"))
1426 @item message-header-synonyms
1427 @vindex message-header-synonyms
1428 A list of lists of header synonyms. E.g., if this list contains a
1429 member list with elements @code{Cc} and @code{To}, then
1430 @code{message-carefully-insert-headers} will not insert a @code{To}
1431 header when the message is already @code{Cc}ed to the recipient.
1437 @section Mail Headers
1440 @item message-required-mail-headers
1441 @vindex message-required-mail-headers
1442 @xref{News Headers}, for the syntax of this variable. It is
1443 @code{(From Subject Date (optional . In-Reply-To) Message-ID
1444 (optional . User-Agent))} by default.
1446 @item message-ignored-mail-headers
1447 @vindex message-ignored-mail-headers
1448 Regexp of headers to be removed before mailing. The default is@*
1449 @samp{^[GF]cc:\\|^Resent-Fcc:\\|^Xref:\\|^X-Draft-From:\\|@*
1450 ^X-Gnus-Agent-Meta-Information:}.
1452 @item message-default-mail-headers
1453 @vindex message-default-mail-headers
1454 This string is inserted at the end of the headers in all message
1455 buffers that are initialized as mail.
1460 @node Mail Variables
1461 @section Mail Variables
1464 @item message-send-mail-function
1465 @vindex message-send-mail-function
1466 @findex message-send-mail-with-sendmail
1467 @findex message-send-mail-with-mh
1468 @findex message-send-mail-with-qmail
1469 @findex message-smtpmail-send-it
1470 @findex smtpmail-send-it
1471 @findex feedmail-send-it
1472 Function used to send the current buffer as mail. The default is
1473 @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}. Other valid values include
1474 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
1475 @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}, @code{smtpmail-send-it} and
1476 @code{feedmail-send-it}.
1478 @item message-mh-deletable-headers
1479 @vindex message-mh-deletable-headers
1480 Most versions of MH doesn't like being fed messages that contain the
1481 headers in this variable. If this variable is non-@code{nil} (which is
1482 the default), these headers will be removed before mailing when sending
1483 messages via MH. Set it to @code{nil} if your MH can handle these
1486 @item message-qmail-inject-program
1487 @vindex message-qmail-inject-program
1489 Location of the qmail-inject program.
1491 @item message-qmail-inject-args
1492 @vindex message-qmail-inject-args
1493 Arguments passed to qmail-inject programs.
1494 This should be a list of strings, one string for each argument. It
1495 may also be a function.
1497 For e.g., if you wish to set the envelope sender address so that bounces
1498 go to the right place or to deal with listserv's usage of that address, you
1499 might set this variable to @code{'("-f" "you@@some.where")}.
1501 @item message-sendmail-f-is-evil
1502 @vindex message-sendmail-f-is-evil
1504 Non-@code{nil} means don't add @samp{-f username} to the sendmail
1505 command line. Doing so would be even more evil than leaving it out.
1507 @item message-sendmail-envelope-from
1508 @vindex message-sendmail-envelope-from
1509 When @code{message-sendmail-f-is-evil} is @code{nil}, this specifies
1510 the address to use in the @acronym{SMTP} envelope. If it is
1511 @code{nil}, use @code{user-mail-address}. If it is the symbol
1512 @code{header}, use the @samp{From} header of the message.
1514 @item message-mailer-swallows-blank-line
1515 @vindex message-mailer-swallows-blank-line
1516 Set this to non-@code{nil} if the system's mailer runs the header and
1517 body together. (This problem exists on SunOS 4 when sendmail is run
1518 in remote mode.) The value should be an expression to test whether
1519 the problem will actually occur.
1521 @item message-send-mail-partially-limit
1522 @vindex message-send-mail-partially-limit
1523 @cindex split large message
1524 The limitation of messages sent as message/partial. The lower bound
1525 of message size in characters, beyond which the message should be sent
1526 in several parts. If it is @code{nil}, the size is unlimited.
1532 @section News Headers
1534 @vindex message-required-news-headers
1535 @code{message-required-news-headers} a list of header symbols. These
1536 headers will either be automatically generated, or, if that's
1537 impossible, they will be prompted for. The following symbols are valid:
1543 @findex user-full-name
1544 @findex user-mail-address
1545 This required header will be filled out with the result of the
1546 @code{message-make-from} function, which depends on the
1547 @code{message-from-style}, @code{user-full-name},
1548 @code{user-mail-address} variables.
1552 This required header will be prompted for if not present already.
1556 This required header says which newsgroups the article is to be posted
1557 to. If it isn't present already, it will be prompted for.
1560 @cindex organization
1561 @vindex message-user-organization
1562 @vindex message-user-organization-file
1563 This optional header will be filled out depending on the
1564 @code{message-user-organization} variable.
1565 @code{message-user-organization-file} will be used if this variable is
1566 @code{t}. This variable can also be a string (in which case this string
1567 will be used), or it can be a function (which will be called with no
1568 parameters and should return a string to be used).
1572 This optional header will be computed by Message.
1576 @vindex message-user-fqdn
1577 @vindex mail-host-address
1578 @vindex user-mail-address
1581 @cindex i-did-not-set--mail-host-address--so-tickle-me
1582 This required header will be generated by Message. A unique ID will be
1583 created based on the date, time, user name (for the local part) and the
1584 domain part. For the domain part, message will look (in this order) at
1585 @code{message-user-fqdn}, @code{system-name}, @code{mail-host-address}
1586 and @code{message-user-mail-address} (i.e. @code{user-mail-address})
1587 until a probably valid fully qualified domain name (FQDN) was found.
1591 This optional header will be filled out according to the
1592 @code{message-newsreader} local variable.
1595 This optional header is filled out using the @code{Date} and @code{From}
1596 header of the article being replied to.
1600 @vindex message-expires
1601 This extremely optional header will be inserted according to the
1602 @code{message-expires} variable. It is highly deprecated and shouldn't
1603 be used unless you know what you're doing.
1606 @cindex Distribution
1607 @vindex message-distribution-function
1608 This optional header is filled out according to the
1609 @code{message-distribution-function} variable. It is a deprecated and
1610 much misunderstood header.
1614 @vindex message-user-path
1615 This extremely optional header should probably never be used.
1616 However, some @emph{very} old servers require that this header is
1617 present. @code{message-user-path} further controls how this
1618 @code{Path} header is to look. If it is @code{nil}, use the server name
1619 as the leaf node. If it is a string, use the string. If it is neither
1620 a string nor @code{nil}, use the user name only. However, it is highly
1621 unlikely that you should need to fiddle with this variable at all.
1625 @cindex Mime-Version
1626 In addition, you can enter conses into this list. The @sc{car} of this cons
1627 should be a symbol. This symbol's name is the name of the header, and
1628 the @sc{cdr} can either be a string to be entered verbatim as the value of
1629 this header, or it can be a function to be called. This function should
1630 return a string to be inserted. For instance, if you want to insert
1631 @code{Mime-Version: 1.0}, you should enter @code{(Mime-Version . "1.0")}
1632 into the list. If you want to insert a funny quote, you could enter
1633 something like @code{(X-Yow . yow)} into the list. The function
1634 @code{yow} will then be called without any arguments.
1636 If the list contains a cons where the @sc{car} of the cons is
1637 @code{optional}, the @sc{cdr} of this cons will only be inserted if it is
1640 If you want to delete an entry from this list, the following Lisp
1641 snippet might be useful. Adjust accordingly if you want to remove
1645 (setq message-required-news-headers
1646 (delq 'Message-ID message-required-news-headers))
1649 Other variables for customizing outgoing news articles:
1653 @item message-syntax-checks
1654 @vindex message-syntax-checks
1655 Controls what syntax checks should not be performed on outgoing posts.
1656 To disable checking of long signatures, for instance, add
1659 (signature . disabled)
1668 Check the subject for commands.
1671 Insert a new @code{Sender} header if the @code{From} header looks odd.
1672 @item multiple-headers
1673 Check for the existence of multiple equal headers.
1676 Check for the existence of version and sendsys commands.
1678 Check whether the @code{Message-ID} looks ok.
1680 Check whether the @code{From} header seems nice.
1683 Check for too long lines.
1685 Check for invalid characters.
1687 Check for excessive size.
1689 Check whether there is any new text in the messages.
1691 Check the length of the signature.
1694 Check whether the article has an @code{Approved} header, which is
1695 something only moderators should include.
1697 Check whether the article is empty.
1698 @item invisible-text
1699 Check whether there is any invisible text in the buffer.
1701 Check whether any of the headers are empty.
1702 @item existing-newsgroups
1703 Check whether the newsgroups mentioned in the @code{Newsgroups} and
1704 @code{Followup-To} headers exist.
1705 @item valid-newsgroups
1706 Check whether the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-to} headers
1707 are valid syntactically.
1708 @item repeated-newsgroups
1709 Check whether the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-to} headers
1710 contains repeated group names.
1711 @item shorten-followup-to
1712 Check whether to add a @code{Followup-to} header to shorten the number
1713 of groups to post to.
1716 All these conditions are checked by default.
1718 @item message-ignored-news-headers
1719 @vindex message-ignored-news-headers
1720 Regexp of headers to be removed before posting. The default is@*
1721 @samp{^NNTP-Posting-Host:\\|^Xref:\\|^[BGF]cc:\\|^Resent-Fcc:\\|@*
1722 ^X-Draft-From:\\|^X-Gnus-Agent-Meta-Information:}.
1724 @item message-default-news-headers
1725 @vindex message-default-news-headers
1726 This string is inserted at the end of the headers in all message
1727 buffers that are initialized as news.
1732 @node News Variables
1733 @section News Variables
1736 @item message-send-news-function
1737 @vindex message-send-news-function
1738 Function used to send the current buffer as news. The default is
1739 @code{message-send-news}.
1741 @item message-post-method
1742 @vindex message-post-method
1743 Gnusish @dfn{select method} (see the Gnus manual for details) used for
1744 posting a prepared news message.
1749 @node Insertion Variables
1750 @section Insertion Variables
1753 @item message-ignored-cited-headers
1754 @vindex message-ignored-cited-headers
1755 All headers that match this regexp will be removed from yanked
1756 messages. The default is @samp{.}, which means that all headers will be
1759 @item message-cite-prefix-regexp
1760 @vindex message-cite-prefix-regexp
1761 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
1763 @item message-citation-line-function
1764 @vindex message-citation-line-function
1765 @cindex attribution line
1766 Function called to insert the citation line. The default is
1767 @code{message-insert-citation-line}, which will lead to citation lines
1771 Hallvard B Furuseth <h.b.furuseth@@usit.uio.no> writes:
1774 Point will be at the beginning of the body of the message when this
1777 Note that Gnus provides a feature where clicking on `writes:' hides the
1778 cited text. If you change the citation line too much, readers of your
1779 messages will have to adjust their Gnus, too. See the variable
1780 @code{gnus-cite-attribution-suffix}. @xref{Article Highlighting, ,
1781 Article Highlighting, gnus, The Gnus Manual}, for details.
1783 @item message-yank-prefix
1784 @vindex message-yank-prefix
1787 When you are replying to or following up an article, you normally want
1788 to quote the person you are answering. Inserting quoted text is done
1789 by @dfn{yanking}, and each line you yank will have
1790 @code{message-yank-prefix} prepended to it (except for quoted and
1791 empty lines which uses @code{message-yank-cited-prefix}). The default
1794 @item message-yank-cited-prefix
1795 @vindex message-yank-cited-prefix
1799 When yanking text from an article which contains no text or already
1800 cited text, each line will be prefixed with the contents of this
1801 variable. The default is @samp{>}. See also
1802 @code{message-yank-prefix}.
1804 @item message-indentation-spaces
1805 @vindex message-indentation-spaces
1806 Number of spaces to indent yanked messages.
1808 @item message-cite-function
1809 @vindex message-cite-function
1810 @findex message-cite-original
1811 @findex sc-cite-original
1812 @findex message-cite-original-without-signature
1814 Function for citing an original message. The default is
1815 @code{message-cite-original}, which simply inserts the original message
1816 and prepends @samp{> } to each line.
1817 @code{message-cite-original-without-signature} does the same, but elides
1818 the signature. You can also set it to @code{sc-cite-original} to use
1821 @item message-indent-citation-function
1822 @vindex message-indent-citation-function
1823 Function for modifying a citation just inserted in the mail buffer.
1824 This can also be a list of functions. Each function can find the
1825 citation between @code{(point)} and @code{(mark t)}. And each function
1826 should leave point and mark around the citation text as modified.
1828 @item message-mark-insert-begin
1829 @vindex message-mark-insert-begin
1830 String to mark the beginning of some inserted text.
1832 @item message-mark-insert-end
1833 @vindex message-mark-insert-end
1834 String to mark the end of some inserted text.
1836 @item message-signature
1837 @vindex message-signature
1838 String to be inserted at the end of the message buffer. If @code{t}
1839 (which is the default), the @code{message-signature-file} file will be
1840 inserted instead. If a function, the result from the function will be
1841 used instead. If a form, the result from the form will be used instead.
1842 If this variable is @code{nil}, no signature will be inserted at all.
1844 @item message-signature-file
1845 @vindex message-signature-file
1846 File containing the signature to be inserted at the end of the buffer.
1847 The default is @file{~/.signature}.
1849 @item message-signature-insert-empty-line
1850 @vindex message-signature-insert-empty-line
1851 If @code{t} (the default value) an empty line is inserted before the
1852 signature separator.
1856 Note that RFC1036bis says that a signature should be preceded by the three
1857 characters @samp{-- } on a line by themselves. This is to make it
1858 easier for the recipient to automatically recognize and process the
1859 signature. So don't remove those characters, even though you might feel
1860 that they ruin your beautiful design, like, totally.
1862 Also note that no signature should be more than four lines long.
1863 Including @acronym{ASCII} graphics is an efficient way to get
1864 everybody to believe that you are silly and have nothing important to
1868 @node Various Message Variables
1869 @section Various Message Variables
1872 @item message-default-charset
1873 @vindex message-default-charset
1875 Symbol naming a @acronym{MIME} charset. Non-@acronym{ASCII} characters
1876 in messages are assumed to be encoded using this charset. The default
1877 is @code{iso-8859-1} on non-@sc{mule} Emacsen; otherwise @code{nil},
1878 which means ask the user. (This variable is used only on non-@sc{mule}
1879 Emacsen.) @xref{Charset Translation, , Charset Translation, emacs-mime,
1880 Emacs MIME Manual}, for details on the @sc{mule}-to-@acronym{MIME}
1881 translation process.
1883 @item message-signature-separator
1884 @vindex message-signature-separator
1885 Regexp matching the signature separator. It is @samp{^-- *$} by
1888 @item mail-header-separator
1889 @vindex mail-header-separator
1890 String used to separate the headers from the body. It is @samp{--text
1891 follows this line--} by default.
1893 @item message-directory
1894 @vindex message-directory
1895 Directory used by many mailey things. The default is @file{~/Mail/}.
1896 All other mail file variables are derived from @code{message-directory}.
1898 @item message-auto-save-directory
1899 @vindex message-auto-save-directory
1900 Directory where Message auto-saves buffers if Gnus isn't running. If
1901 @code{nil}, Message won't auto-save. The default is @file{~/Mail/drafts/}.
1903 @item message-signature-setup-hook
1904 @vindex message-signature-setup-hook
1905 Hook run when initializing the message buffer. It is run after the
1906 headers have been inserted but before the signature has been inserted.
1908 @item message-setup-hook
1909 @vindex message-setup-hook
1910 Hook run as the last thing when the message buffer has been initialized,
1911 but before yanked text is inserted.
1913 @item message-header-setup-hook
1914 @vindex message-header-setup-hook
1915 Hook called narrowed to the headers after initializing the headers.
1917 For instance, if you're running Gnus and wish to insert a
1918 @samp{Mail-Copies-To} header in all your news articles and all messages
1919 you send to mailing lists, you could do something like the following:
1922 (defun my-message-header-setup-hook ()
1923 (let ((group (or gnus-newsgroup-name "")))
1924 (when (or (message-fetch-field "newsgroups")
1925 (gnus-group-find-parameter group 'to-address)
1926 (gnus-group-find-parameter group 'to-list))
1927 (insert "Mail-Copies-To: never\n"))))
1929 (add-hook 'message-header-setup-hook
1930 'my-message-header-setup-hook)
1933 @item message-send-hook
1934 @vindex message-send-hook
1935 Hook run before sending messages.
1937 If you want to add certain headers before sending, you can use the
1938 @code{message-add-header} function in this hook. For instance:
1939 @findex message-add-header
1942 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'my-message-add-content)
1943 (defun my-message-add-content ()
1944 (message-add-header "X-In-No-Sense: Nonsense")
1945 (message-add-header "X-Whatever: no"))
1948 This function won't add the header if the header is already present.
1950 @item message-send-mail-hook
1951 @vindex message-send-mail-hook
1952 Hook run before sending mail messages. This hook is run very late --
1953 just before the message is actually sent as mail.
1955 @item message-send-news-hook
1956 @vindex message-send-news-hook
1957 Hook run before sending news messages. This hook is run very late --
1958 just before the message is actually sent as news.
1960 @item message-sent-hook
1961 @vindex message-sent-hook
1962 Hook run after sending messages.
1964 @item message-cancel-hook
1965 @vindex message-cancel-hook
1966 Hook run when canceling news articles.
1968 @item message-mode-syntax-table
1969 @vindex message-mode-syntax-table
1970 Syntax table used in message mode buffers.
1972 @item message-strip-special-text-properties
1973 @vindex message-strip-special-text-properties
1974 Emacs has a number of special text properties which can break message
1975 composing in various ways. If this option is set, message will strip
1976 these properties from the message composition buffer. However, some
1977 packages requires these properties to be present in order to work. If
1978 you use one of these packages, turn this option off, and hope the
1979 message composition doesn't break too bad.
1981 @item message-send-method-alist
1982 @vindex message-send-method-alist
1983 @findex message-mail-p
1984 @findex message-news-p
1985 @findex message-send-via-mail
1986 @findex message-send-via-news
1987 Alist of ways to send outgoing messages. Each element has the form:
1990 (@var{type} @var{predicate} @var{function})
1995 A symbol that names the method.
1998 A function called without any parameters to determine whether the
1999 message is a message of type @var{type}. The function will be called in
2000 the buffer where the message is.
2003 A function to be called if @var{predicate} returns non-@code{nil}.
2004 @var{function} is called with one parameter -- the prefix.
2010 ((news message-news-p message-send-via-news)
2011 (mail message-mail-p message-send-via-mail))
2014 The @code{message-news-p} function returns non-@code{nil} if the message
2015 looks like news, and the @code{message-send-via-news} function sends the
2016 message according to the @code{message-send-news-function} variable
2017 (@pxref{News Variables}). The @code{message-mail-p} function returns
2018 non-@code{nil} if the message looks like mail, and the
2019 @code{message-send-via-mail} function sends the message according to the
2020 @code{message-send-mail-function} variable (@pxref{Mail Variables}).
2022 All the elements in this alist will be tried in order, so a message
2023 containing both a valid @samp{Newsgroups} header and a valid @samp{To}
2024 header, for example, will be sent as news, and then as mail.
2029 @node Sending Variables
2030 @section Sending Variables
2034 @item message-fcc-handler-function
2035 @vindex message-fcc-handler-function
2036 A function called to save outgoing articles. This function will be
2037 called with the name of the file to store the article in. The default
2038 function is @code{message-output} which saves in Unix mailbox format.
2040 @item message-courtesy-message
2041 @vindex message-courtesy-message
2042 When sending combined messages, this string is inserted at the start of
2043 the mailed copy. If the string contains the format spec @samp{%s}, the
2044 newsgroups the article has been posted to will be inserted there. If
2045 this variable is @code{nil}, no such courtesy message will be added.
2046 The default value is @samp{"The following message is a courtesy copy of
2047 an article\\nthat has been posted to %s as well.\\n\\n"}.
2049 @item message-fcc-externalize-attachments
2050 @vindex message-fcc-externalize-attachments
2051 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Fcc copies; if it is
2052 non-@code{nil}, attach local files as external parts.
2054 @item message-interactive
2055 @vindex message-interactive
2056 If non-@code{nil} wait for and display errors when sending a message;
2057 if @code{nil} let the mailer mail back a message to report errors.
2062 @node Message Buffers
2063 @section Message Buffers
2065 Message will generate new buffers with unique buffer names when you
2066 request a message buffer. When you send the message, the buffer isn't
2067 normally killed off. Its name is changed and a certain number of old
2068 message buffers are kept alive.
2071 @item message-generate-new-buffers
2072 @vindex message-generate-new-buffers
2073 If non-@code{nil}, generate new buffers. The default is @code{t}. If
2074 this is a function, call that function with three parameters: The type,
2075 the to address and the group name. (Any of these may be @code{nil}.)
2076 The function should return the new buffer name.
2078 @item message-max-buffers
2079 @vindex message-max-buffers
2080 This variable says how many old message buffers to keep. If there are
2081 more message buffers than this, the oldest buffer will be killed. The
2082 default is 10. If this variable is @code{nil}, no old message buffers
2083 will ever be killed.
2085 @item message-send-rename-function
2086 @vindex message-send-rename-function
2087 After sending a message, the buffer is renamed from, for instance,
2088 @samp{*reply to Lars*} to @samp{*sent reply to Lars*}. If you don't
2089 like this, set this variable to a function that renames the buffer in a
2090 manner you like. If you don't want to rename the buffer at all, you can
2094 (setq message-send-rename-function 'ignore)
2097 @item message-kill-buffer-on-exit
2098 @findex message-kill-buffer-on-exit
2099 If non-@code{nil}, kill the buffer immediately on exit.
2104 @node Message Actions
2105 @section Message Actions
2107 When Message is being used from a news/mail reader, the reader is likely
2108 to want to perform some task after the message has been sent. Perhaps
2109 return to the previous window configuration or mark an article as
2112 @vindex message-kill-actions
2113 @vindex message-postpone-actions
2114 @vindex message-exit-actions
2115 @vindex message-send-actions
2116 The user may exit from the message buffer in various ways. The most
2117 common is @kbd{C-c C-c}, which sends the message and exits. Other
2118 possibilities are @kbd{C-c C-s} which just sends the message, @kbd{C-c
2119 C-d} which postpones the message editing and buries the message buffer,
2120 and @kbd{C-c C-k} which kills the message buffer. Each of these actions
2121 have lists associated with them that contains actions to be executed:
2122 @code{message-send-actions}, @code{message-exit-actions},
2123 @code{message-postpone-actions}, and @code{message-kill-actions}.
2125 Message provides a function to interface with these lists:
2126 @code{message-add-action}. The first parameter is the action to be
2127 added, and the rest of the arguments are which lists to add this action
2128 to. Here's an example from Gnus:
2132 `(set-window-configuration ,(current-window-configuration))
2133 'exit 'postpone 'kill)
2136 This restores the Gnus window configuration when the message buffer is
2137 killed, postponed or exited.
2139 An @dfn{action} can be either: a normal function, or a list where the
2140 @sc{car} is a function and the @sc{cdr} is the list of arguments, or
2141 a form to be @code{eval}ed.
2145 @chapter Compatibility
2146 @cindex compatibility
2148 Message uses virtually only its own variables---older @code{mail-}
2149 variables aren't consulted. To force Message to take those variables
2150 into account, you can put the following in your @file{.emacs} file:
2153 (require 'messcompat)
2156 This will initialize many Message variables from the values in the
2157 corresponding mail variables.
2164 * Responses:: Standard rules for determining where responses go.
2171 To determine where a message is to go, the following algorithm is used
2176 A @dfn{reply} is when you want to respond @emph{just} to the person who
2177 sent the message via mail. There will only be one recipient. To
2178 determine who the recipient will be, the following headers are
2189 A @dfn{wide reply} is a mail response that includes @emph{all} entities
2190 mentioned in the message you are responded to. All mailboxes from the
2191 following headers will be concatenated to form the outgoing
2192 @code{To}/@code{Cc} headers:
2196 (unless there's a @code{Reply-To}, in which case that is used instead).
2203 If a @code{Mail-Copies-To} header is present, it will also be included
2204 in the list of mailboxes. If this header is @samp{never}, that means
2205 that the @code{From} (or @code{Reply-To}) mailbox will be suppressed.
2209 A @dfn{followup} is a response sent via news. The following headers
2210 (listed in order of precedence) determine where the response is to be
2221 If a @code{Mail-Copies-To} header is present, it will be used as the
2222 basis of the new @code{Cc} header, except if this header is
2244 arch-tag: 16ab76af-a281-4e34-aed6-5624569f7601