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 (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
12 2005 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 This manual corresponds to Message v5.10.6. Message is distributed
71 with the Gnus distribution bearing the same version number as this
78 When a program (or a person) wants to respond to a message -- reply,
79 follow up, forward, cancel -- the program (or person) should just put
80 point in the buffer where the message is and call the required command.
81 @code{Message} will then pop up a new @code{message} mode buffer with
82 appropriate headers filled out, and the user can edit the message before
86 * New Mail Message:: Editing a brand new mail message.
87 * New News Message:: Editing a brand new news message.
88 * Reply:: Replying via mail.
89 * Wide Reply:: Responding to all people via mail.
90 * Followup:: Following up via news.
91 * Canceling News:: Canceling a news article.
92 * Superseding:: Superseding a message.
93 * Forwarding:: Forwarding a message via news or mail.
94 * Resending:: Resending a mail message.
95 * Bouncing:: Bouncing a mail message.
96 * Mailing Lists:: Send mail to mailing lists.
100 @node New Mail Message
101 @section New Mail Message
104 The @code{message-mail} command pops up a new message buffer.
106 Two optional parameters are accepted: The first will be used as the
107 @code{To} header and the second as the @code{Subject} header. If these
108 are @code{nil}, those two headers will be empty.
111 @node New News Message
112 @section New News Message
115 The @code{message-news} command pops up a new message buffer.
117 This function accepts two optional parameters. The first will be used
118 as the @code{Newsgroups} header and the second as the @code{Subject}
119 header. If these are @code{nil}, those two headers will be empty.
125 @findex message-reply
126 The @code{message-reply} function pops up a message buffer that's a
127 reply to the message in the current buffer.
129 @vindex message-reply-to-function
130 Message uses the normal methods to determine where replies are to go
131 (@pxref{Responses}), but you can change the behavior to suit your needs
132 by fiddling with the @code{message-reply-to-function} variable.
134 If you want the replies to go to the @code{Sender} instead of the
135 @code{From}, you could do something like this:
138 (setq message-reply-to-function
140 (cond ((equal (mail-fetch-field "from") "somebody")
141 (list (cons 'To (mail-fetch-field "sender"))))
146 This function will be called narrowed to the head of the article that is
149 As you can see, this function should return a list. In this case, it
150 returns @code{((To . "Whom"))} if it has an opinion as to what the To
151 header should be. If it does not, it should just return @code{nil}, and
152 the normal methods for determining the To header will be used.
154 Each list element should be a cons, where the @sc{car} should be the
155 name of a header (e.g. @code{Cc}) and the @sc{cdr} should be the header
156 value (e.g. @samp{larsi@@ifi.uio.no}). All these headers will be
157 inserted into the head of the outgoing mail.
163 @findex message-wide-reply
164 The @code{message-wide-reply} pops up a message buffer that's a wide
165 reply to the message in the current buffer. A @dfn{wide reply} is a
166 reply that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From}
167 (or @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
169 @vindex message-wide-reply-to-function
170 Message uses the normal methods to determine where wide replies are to go,
171 but you can change the behavior to suit your needs by fiddling with the
172 @code{message-wide-reply-to-function}. It is used in the same way as
173 @code{message-reply-to-function} (@pxref{Reply}).
175 @vindex message-dont-reply-to-names
176 Addresses that match the @code{message-dont-reply-to-names} regular
177 expression will be removed from the @code{Cc} header.
179 @vindex message-wide-reply-confirm-recipients
180 If @code{message-wide-reply-confirm-recipients} is non-@code{nil} you
181 will be asked to confirm that you want to reply to multiple
182 recipients. The default is @code{nil}.
187 @findex message-followup
188 The @code{message-followup} command pops up a message buffer that's a
189 followup to the message in the current buffer.
191 @vindex message-followup-to-function
192 Message uses the normal methods to determine where followups are to go,
193 but you can change the behavior to suit your needs by fiddling with the
194 @code{message-followup-to-function}. It is used in the same way as
195 @code{message-reply-to-function} (@pxref{Reply}).
197 @vindex message-use-followup-to
198 The @code{message-use-followup-to} variable says what to do about
199 @code{Followup-To} headers. If it is @code{use}, always use the value.
200 If it is @code{ask} (which is the default), ask whether to use the
201 value. If it is @code{t}, use the value unless it is @samp{poster}. If
202 it is @code{nil}, don't use the value.
206 @section Canceling News
208 @findex message-cancel-news
209 The @code{message-cancel-news} command cancels the article in the
212 @vindex message-cancel-message
213 The value of @code{message-cancel-message} is inserted in the body of
214 the cancel message. The default is @samp{I am canceling my own
218 @vindex message-insert-canlock
220 When Message posts news messages, it inserts @code{Cancel-Lock}
221 headers by default. This is a cryptographic header that ensures that
222 only you can cancel your own messages, which is nice. The downside
223 is that if you lose your @file{.emacs} file (which is where Gnus
224 stores the secret cancel lock password (which is generated
225 automatically the first time you use this feature)), you won't be
226 able to cancel your message. If you want to manage a password yourself,
227 you can put something like the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
230 (setq canlock-password "geheimnis"
231 canlock-password-for-verify canlock-password)
234 Whether to insert the header or not is controlled by the
235 @code{message-insert-canlock} variable.
237 Not many news servers respect the @code{Cancel-Lock} header yet, but
238 this is expected to change in the future.
244 @findex message-supersede
245 The @code{message-supersede} command pops up a message buffer that will
246 supersede the message in the current buffer.
248 @vindex message-ignored-supersedes-headers
249 Headers matching the @code{message-ignored-supersedes-headers} are
250 removed before popping up the new message buffer. The default is@*
251 @samp{^Path:\\|^Date\\|^NNTP-Posting-Host:\\|^Xref:\\|^Lines:\\|@*
252 ^Received:\\|^X-From-Line:\\|Return-Path:\\|^Supersedes:}.
259 @findex message-forward
260 The @code{message-forward} command pops up a message buffer to forward
261 the message in the current buffer. If given a prefix, forward using
265 @item message-forward-ignored-headers
266 @vindex message-forward-ignored-headers
267 All headers that match this regexp will be deleted when forwarding a message.
269 @item message-make-forward-subject-function
270 @vindex message-make-forward-subject-function
271 A list of functions that are called to generate a subject header for
272 forwarded messages. The subject generated by the previous function is
273 passed into each successive function.
275 The provided functions are:
278 @item message-forward-subject-author-subject
279 @findex message-forward-subject-author-subject
280 Source of article (author or newsgroup), in brackets followed by the
283 @item message-forward-subject-fwd
284 Subject of article with @samp{Fwd:} prepended to it.
287 @item message-wash-forwarded-subjects
288 @vindex message-wash-forwarded-subjects
289 If this variable is @code{t}, the subjects of forwarded messages have
290 the evidence of previous forwards (such as @samp{Fwd:}, @samp{Re:},
291 @samp{(fwd)}) removed before the new subject is
292 constructed. The default value is @code{nil}.
294 @item message-forward-as-mime
295 @vindex message-forward-as-mime
296 If this variable is @code{t} (the default), forwarded messages are
297 included as inline @acronym{MIME} RFC822 parts. If it's @code{nil}, forwarded
298 messages will just be copied inline to the new message, like previous,
299 non @acronym{MIME}-savvy versions of Gnus would do.
301 @item message-forward-before-signature
302 @vindex message-forward-before-signature
303 If non-@code{nil}, put forwarded message before signature, else after.
311 @findex message-resend
312 The @code{message-resend} command will prompt the user for an address
313 and resend the message in the current buffer to that address.
315 @vindex message-ignored-resent-headers
316 Headers that match the @code{message-ignored-resent-headers} regexp will
317 be removed before sending the message.
323 @findex message-bounce
324 The @code{message-bounce} command will, if the current buffer contains a
325 bounced mail message, pop up a message buffer stripped of the bounce
326 information. A @dfn{bounced message} is typically a mail you've sent
327 out that has been returned by some @code{mailer-daemon} as
330 @vindex message-ignored-bounced-headers
331 Headers that match the @code{message-ignored-bounced-headers} regexp
332 will be removed before popping up the buffer. The default is
333 @samp{^\\(Received\\|Return-Path\\):}.
337 @section Mailing Lists
339 @cindex Mail-Followup-To
340 Sometimes while posting to mailing lists, the poster needs to direct
341 followups to the post to specific places. The Mail-Followup-To (MFT)
342 was created to enable just this. Two example scenarios where this is
347 A mailing list poster can use MFT to express that responses should be
348 sent to just the list, and not the poster as well. This will happen
349 if the poster is already subscribed to the list.
352 A mailing list poster can use MFT to express that responses should be
353 sent to the list and the poster as well. This will happen if the poster
354 is not subscribed to the list.
357 If a message is posted to several mailing lists, MFT may also be used
358 to direct the following discussion to one list only, because
359 discussions that are spread over several lists tend to be fragmented
360 and very difficult to follow.
364 Gnus honors the MFT header in other's messages (i.e. while following
365 up to someone else's post) and also provides support for generating
366 sensible MFT headers for outgoing messages as well.
369 @c * Honoring an MFT post:: What to do when one already exists
370 @c * Composing with a MFT header:: Creating one from scratch.
373 @c @node Composing with a MFT header
374 @subsection Composing a correct MFT header automagically
376 The first step in getting Gnus to automagically generate a MFT header
377 in posts you make is to give Gnus a list of the mailing lists
378 addresses you are subscribed to. You can do this in more than one
379 way. The following variables would come in handy.
383 @vindex message-subscribed-addresses
384 @item message-subscribed-addresses
385 This should be a list of addresses the user is subscribed to. Its
386 default value is @code{nil}. Example:
388 (setq message-subscribed-addresses
389 '("ding@@gnus.org" "bing@@noose.org"))
392 @vindex message-subscribed-regexps
393 @item message-subscribed-regexps
394 This should be a list of regexps denoting the addresses of mailing
395 lists subscribed to. Default value is @code{nil}. Example: If you
396 want to achieve the same result as above:
398 (setq message-subscribed-regexps
399 '("\\(ding@@gnus\\)\\|\\(bing@@noose\\)\\.org")
402 @vindex message-subscribed-address-functions
403 @item message-subscribed-address-functions
404 This can be a list of functions to be called (one at a time!!) to
405 determine the value of MFT headers. It is advisable that these
406 functions not take any arguments. Default value is @code{nil}.
408 There is a pre-defined function in Gnus that is a good candidate for
409 this variable. @code{gnus-find-subscribed-addresses} is a function
410 that returns a list of addresses corresponding to the groups that have
411 the @code{subscribed} (@pxref{Group Parameters, ,Group Parameters,
412 gnus, The Gnus Manual}) group parameter set to a non-@code{nil} value.
413 This is how you would do it.
416 (setq message-subscribed-address-functions
417 '(gnus-find-subscribed-addresses))
420 @vindex message-subscribed-address-file
421 @item message-subscribed-address-file
422 You might be one organized human freak and have a list of addresses of
423 all subscribed mailing lists in a separate file! Then you can just
424 set this variable to the name of the file and life would be good.
428 You can use one or more of the above variables. All their values are
429 ``added'' in some way that works :-)
431 Now you are all set. Just start composing a message as you normally do.
432 And just send it; as always. Just before the message is sent out, Gnus'
433 MFT generation thingy kicks in and checks if the message already has a
434 MFT field. If there is one, it is left alone. (Except if it's empty -
435 in that case, the field is removed and is not replaced with an
436 automatically generated one. This lets you disable MFT generation on a
437 per-message basis.) If there is none, then the list of recipient
438 addresses (in the To: and Cc: headers) is checked to see if one of them
439 is a list address you are subscribed to. If none of them is a list
440 address, then no MFT is generated; otherwise, a MFT is added to the
441 other headers and set to the value of all addresses in To: and Cc:
444 @findex message-generate-unsubscribed-mail-followup-to
446 @findex message-goto-mail-followup-to
447 Hm. ``So'', you ask, ``what if I send an email to a list I am not
448 subscribed to? I want my MFT to say that I want an extra copy.'' (This
449 is supposed to be interpreted by others the same way as if there were no
450 MFT, but you can use an explicit MFT to override someone else's
451 to-address group parameter.) The function
452 @code{message-generate-unsubscribed-mail-followup-to} might come in
453 handy. It is bound to @kbd{C-c C-f C-a} by default. In any case, you
454 can insert a MFT of your own choice; @kbd{C-c C-f C-m}
455 (@code{message-goto-mail-followup-to}) will help you get started.
457 @c @node Honoring an MFT post
458 @subsection Honoring an MFT post
460 @vindex message-use-mail-followup-to
461 When you followup to a post on a mailing list, and the post has a MFT
462 header, Gnus' action will depend on the value of the variable
463 @code{message-use-mail-followup-to}. This variable can be one of:
467 Always honor MFTs. The To: and Cc: headers in your followup will be
468 derived from the MFT header of the original post. This is the default.
471 Always dishonor MFTs (just ignore the darned thing)
474 Gnus will prompt you for an action.
478 It is considered good netiquette to honor MFT, as it is assumed the
479 fellow who posted a message knows where the followups need to go
486 * Buffer Entry:: Commands after entering a Message buffer.
487 * Header Commands:: Commands for moving headers or changing headers.
488 * Movement:: Moving around in message buffers.
489 * Insertion:: Inserting things into message buffers.
490 * MIME:: @acronym{MIME} considerations.
491 * IDNA:: Non-@acronym{ASCII} domain name considerations.
492 * Security:: Signing and encrypting messages.
493 * Various Commands:: Various things.
494 * Sending:: Actually sending the message.
495 * Mail Aliases:: How to use mail aliases.
496 * Spelling:: Having Emacs check your spelling.
501 @section Buffer Entry
505 You most often end up in a Message buffer when responding to some other
506 message of some sort. Message does lots of handling of quoted text, and
507 may remove signatures, reformat the text, or the like---depending on
508 which used settings you're using. Message usually gets things right,
509 but sometimes it stumbles. To help the user unwind these stumblings,
510 Message sets the undo boundary before each major automatic action it
511 takes. If you press the undo key (usually located at @kbd{C-_}) a few
512 times, you will get back the un-edited message you're responding to.
515 @node Header Commands
516 @section Header Commands
518 @subsection Commands for moving to headers
520 These following commands move to the header in question. If it doesn't
521 exist, it will be inserted.
527 @findex describe-mode
528 Describe the message mode.
532 @findex message-goto-to
533 Go to the @code{To} header (@code{message-goto-to}).
537 @findex message-goto-from
538 Go to the @code{From} header (@code{message-goto-from}). (The ``o''
539 in the key binding is for Originator.)
543 @findex message-goto-bcc
544 Go to the @code{Bcc} header (@code{message-goto-bcc}).
548 @findex message-goto-fcc
549 Go to the @code{Fcc} header (@code{message-goto-fcc}).
553 @findex message-goto-cc
554 Go to the @code{Cc} header (@code{message-goto-cc}).
558 @findex message-goto-subject
559 Go to the @code{Subject} header (@code{message-goto-subject}).
563 @findex message-goto-reply-to
564 Go to the @code{Reply-To} header (@code{message-goto-reply-to}).
568 @findex message-goto-newsgroups
569 Go to the @code{Newsgroups} header (@code{message-goto-newsgroups}).
573 @findex message-goto-distribution
574 Go to the @code{Distribution} header (@code{message-goto-distribution}).
578 @findex message-goto-followup-to
579 Go to the @code{Followup-To} header (@code{message-goto-followup-to}).
583 @findex message-goto-keywords
584 Go to the @code{Keywords} header (@code{message-goto-keywords}).
588 @findex message-goto-summary
589 Go to the @code{Summary} header (@code{message-goto-summary}).
593 @findex message-insert-or-toggle-importance
594 This inserts the @samp{Importance:} header with a value of
595 @samp{high}. This header is used to signal the importance of the
596 message to the receiver. If the header is already present in the
597 buffer, it cycles between the three valid values according to RFC
598 1376: @samp{low}, @samp{normal} and @samp{high}.
602 @findex message-generate-unsubscribed-mail-followup-to
603 Insert a reasonable @samp{Mail-Followup-To:} header
604 (@pxref{Mailing Lists}) in a post to an
605 unsubscribed list. When making original posts to a mailing list you are
606 not subscribed to, you have to type in a @samp{Mail-Followup-To:} header
607 by hand. The contents, usually, are the addresses of the list and your
608 own address. This function inserts such a header automatically. It
609 fetches the contents of the @samp{To:} header in the current mail
610 buffer, and appends the current @code{user-mail-address}.
612 If the optional argument @code{include-cc} is non-@code{nil}, the
613 addresses in the @samp{Cc:} header are also put into the
614 @samp{Mail-Followup-To:} header.
618 @subsection Commands to change headers
624 @findex message-sort-headers
625 @vindex message-header-format-alist
626 Sort headers according to @code{message-header-format-alist}
627 (@code{message-sort-headers}).
631 @findex message-insert-to
632 Insert a @code{To} header that contains the @code{Reply-To} or
633 @code{From} header of the message you're following up
634 (@code{message-insert-to}).
638 @findex message-insert-newsgroups
639 Insert a @code{Newsgroups} header that reflects the @code{Followup-To}
640 or @code{Newsgroups} header of the article you're replying to
641 (@code{message-insert-newsgroups}).
645 @findex message-to-list-only
646 Send a message to the list only. Remove all addresses but the list
647 address from @code{To:} and @code{Cc:} headers.
651 @findex message-insert-disposition-notification-to
652 Insert a request for a disposition
653 notification. (@code{message-insert-disposition-notification-to}).
654 This means that if the recipient support RFC 2298 she might send you a
655 notification that she received the message.
657 @item M-x message-insert-importance-high
658 @kindex M-x message-insert-importance-high
659 @findex message-insert-importance-high
661 Insert an @samp{Importance} header with a value of @samp{high},
662 deleting headers if necessary.
664 @item M-x message-insert-importance-low
665 @kindex M-x message-insert-importance-low
666 @findex message-insert-importance-low
668 Insert an @samp{Importance} header with a value of @samp{low}, deleting
669 headers if necessary.
673 @findex message-change-subject
675 Change the current @samp{Subject} header. Ask for new @samp{Subject}
676 header and append @samp{(was: <Old Subject>)}. The old subject can be
677 stripped on replying, see @code{message-subject-trailing-was-query}
678 (@pxref{Message Headers}).
682 @findex message-cross-post-followup-to
683 @vindex message-cross-post-default
686 Ask for an additional @samp{Newsgroups} and @samp{FollowUp-To} for a
687 cross-post. @code{message-cross-post-followup-to} mangles
688 @samp{FollowUp-To} and @samp{Newsgroups} header to point to group.
689 If @code{message-cross-post-default} is @code{nil} or if called with a
690 prefix-argument @samp{Follow-Up} is set, but the message is not
695 @findex message-reduce-to-to-cc
696 Replace contents of @samp{To} header with contents of @samp{Cc} or
701 @findex message-insert-wide-reply
702 Insert @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers as if you were doing a wide
707 @findex message-add-archive-header
708 @vindex message-archive-header
709 @vindex message-archive-note
711 Insert @samp{X-No-Archive: Yes} in the header and a note in the body.
712 The header and the note can be customized using
713 @code{message-archive-header} and @code{message-archive-note}. When
714 called with a prefix argument, ask for a text to insert. If you don't
715 want the note in the body, set @code{message-archive-note} to
727 @findex message-goto-body
728 Move to the beginning of the body of the message
729 (@code{message-goto-body}).
733 @findex message-goto-signature
734 Move to the signature of the message (@code{message-goto-signature}).
738 @findex message-beginning-of-line
739 @vindex message-beginning-of-line
740 If at beginning of header value, go to beginning of line, else go to
741 beginning of header value. (The header value comes after the header
742 name and the colon.) This behavior can be disabled by toggling
743 the variable @code{message-beginning-of-line}.
755 @findex message-yank-original
756 Yank the message that's being replied to into the message buffer
757 (@code{message-yank-original}).
761 @findex message-yank-buffer
762 Prompt for a buffer name and yank the contents of that buffer into the
763 message buffer (@code{message-yank-buffer}).
767 @findex message-fill-yanked-message
768 Fill the yanked message (@code{message-fill-yanked-message}). Warning:
769 Can severely mess up the yanked text if its quoting conventions are
770 strange. You'll quickly get a feel for when it's safe, though. Anyway,
771 just remember that @kbd{C-x u} (@code{undo}) is available and you'll be
776 @findex message-insert-signature
777 Insert a signature at the end of the buffer
778 (@code{message-insert-signature}).
782 @findex message-insert-headers
783 Insert the message headers (@code{message-insert-headers}).
787 @findex message-mark-inserted-region
788 Mark some region in the current article with enclosing tags.
789 See @code{message-mark-insert-begin} and @code{message-mark-insert-end}.
793 @findex message-mark-insert-file
794 Insert a file in the current article with enclosing tags.
795 See @code{message-mark-insert-begin} and @code{message-mark-insert-end}.
807 Message is a @acronym{MIME}-compliant posting agent. The user generally
808 doesn't have to do anything to make the @acronym{MIME} happen---Message will
809 automatically add the @code{Content-Type} and
810 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} headers.
812 The most typical thing users want to use the multipart things in
813 @acronym{MIME} for is to add ``attachments'' to mail they send out. This can
814 be done with the @kbd{C-c C-a} command, which will prompt for a file
815 name and a @acronym{MIME} type.
817 You can also create arbitrarily complex multiparts using the @acronym{MML}
818 language (@pxref{Composing, , Composing, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME
824 @cindex internationalized domain names
825 @cindex non-ascii domain names
827 Message is a @acronym{IDNA}-compliant posting agent. The user
828 generally doesn't have to do anything to make the @acronym{IDNA}
829 happen---Message will encode non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in @code{From},
830 @code{To}, and @code{Cc} headers automatically.
832 Until @acronym{IDNA} becomes more well known, Message queries you
833 whether @acronym{IDNA} encoding of the domain name really should
834 occur. Some users might not be aware that domain names can contain
835 non-@acronym{ASCII} now, so this gives them a safety net if they accidently
836 typed a non-@acronym{ASCII} domain name.
838 @vindex message-use-idna
839 The @code{message-use-idna} variable control whether @acronym{IDNA} is
840 used. If the variable is @code{nil} no @acronym{IDNA} encoding will
841 ever happen, if it is set to the symbol @code{ask} the user will be
842 queried (the default), and if set to @code{t} @acronym{IDNA} encoding
843 happens automatically.
845 @findex message-idna-to-ascii-rhs
846 If you want to experiment with the @acronym{IDNA} encoding, you can
847 invoke @kbd{M-x message-idna-to-ascii-rhs RET} in the message buffer
848 to have the non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names encoded while you edit the message.
850 Note that you must have @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/, GNU
851 Libidn} installed in order to use this functionality.
863 Using the @acronym{MML} language, Message is able to create digitally
864 signed and digitally encrypted messages. Message (or rather
865 @acronym{MML}) currently support @acronym{PGP} (RFC 1991),
866 @acronym{PGP/MIME} (RFC 2015/3156) and @acronym{S/MIME}. Instructing
867 @acronym{MML} to perform security operations on a @acronym{MIME} part is
868 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c C-m
869 c} key map for encryption, as follows.
875 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
877 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
881 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
883 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP}.
887 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgpmime
889 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
893 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
895 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
899 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
901 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP}.
905 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
907 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
911 @findex mml-unsecure-message
912 Remove security related @acronym{MML} tags from message.
916 These commands do not immediately sign or encrypt the message, they
917 merely insert the proper @acronym{MML} secure tag to instruct the
918 @acronym{MML} engine to perform that operation when the message is
919 actually sent. They may perform other operations too, such as locating
920 and retrieving a @acronym{S/MIME} certificate of the person you wish to
921 send encrypted mail to. When the mml parsing engine converts your
922 @acronym{MML} into a properly encoded @acronym{MIME} message, the secure
923 tag will be replaced with either a part or a multipart tag. If your
924 message contains other mml parts, a multipart tag will be used; if no
925 other parts are present in your message a single part tag will be used.
926 This way, message mode will do the Right Thing (TM) with
927 signed/encrypted multipart messages.
929 Since signing and especially encryption often is used when sensitive
930 information is sent, you may want to have some way to ensure that your
931 mail is actually signed or encrypted. After invoking the above
932 sign/encrypt commands, it is possible to preview the raw article by
933 using @kbd{C-u C-c RET P} (@code{mml-preview}). Then you can
934 verify that your long rant about what your ex-significant other or
935 whomever actually did with that funny looking person at that strange
936 party the other night, actually will be sent encrypted.
938 @emph{Note!} Neither @acronym{PGP/MIME} nor @acronym{S/MIME} encrypt/signs
939 RFC822 headers. They only operate on the @acronym{MIME} object. Keep this
940 in mind before sending mail with a sensitive Subject line.
942 By default, when encrypting a message, Gnus will use the
943 ``signencrypt'' mode, which means the message is both signed and
944 encrypted. If you would like to disable this for a particular
945 message, give the @code{mml-secure-message-encrypt-*} command a prefix
946 argument, e.g., @kbd{C-u C-c C-m c p}.
948 Actually using the security commands above is not very difficult. At
949 least not compared with making sure all involved programs talk with each
950 other properly. Thus, we now describe what external libraries or
951 programs are required to make things work, and some small general hints.
953 @subsection Using S/MIME
955 @emph{Note!} This section assume you have a basic familiarity with
956 modern cryptography, @acronym{S/MIME}, various PKCS standards, OpenSSL and
959 The @acronym{S/MIME} support in Message (and @acronym{MML}) require
960 OpenSSL. OpenSSL performs the actual @acronym{S/MIME} sign/encrypt
961 operations. OpenSSL can be found at @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}.
962 OpenSSL 0.9.6 and later should work. Version 0.9.5a cannot extract mail
963 addresses from certificates, and it insert a spurious CR character into
964 @acronym{MIME} separators so you may wish to avoid it if you would like
965 to avoid being regarded as someone who send strange mail. (Although by
966 sending @acronym{S/MIME} messages you've probably already lost that
969 To be able to send encrypted mail, a personal certificate is not
970 required. Message (@acronym{MML}) need a certificate for the person to whom you
971 wish to communicate with though. You're asked for this when you type
972 @kbd{C-c C-m c s}. Currently there are two ways to retrieve this
973 certificate, from a local file or from DNS. If you chose a local
974 file, it need to contain a X.509 certificate in @acronym{PEM} format.
975 If you chose DNS, you're asked for the domain name where the
976 certificate is stored, the default is a good guess. To my belief,
977 Message (@acronym{MML}) is the first mail agent in the world to support
978 retrieving @acronym{S/MIME} certificates from DNS, so you're not
979 likely to find very many certificates out there. At least there
980 should be one, stored at the domain @code{simon.josefsson.org}. LDAP
981 is a more popular method of distributing certificates, support for it
982 is planned. (Meanwhile, you can use @code{ldapsearch} from the
983 command line to retrieve a certificate into a file and use it.)
985 As for signing messages, OpenSSL can't perform signing operations
986 without some kind of configuration. Especially, you need to tell it
987 where your private key and your certificate is stored. @acronym{MML}
988 uses an Emacs interface to OpenSSL, aptly named @code{smime.el}, and it
989 contain a @code{custom} group used for this configuration. So, try
990 @kbd{M-x customize-group RET smime RET} and look around.
992 Currently there is no support for talking to a CA (or RA) to create
993 your own certificate. None is planned either. You need to do this
994 manually with OpenSSL or using some other program. I used Netscape
995 and got a free @acronym{S/MIME} certificate from one of the big CA's on the
996 net. Netscape is able to export your private key and certificate in
997 PKCS #12 format. Use OpenSSL to convert this into a plain X.509
998 certificate in PEM format as follows.
1001 $ openssl pkcs12 -in ns.p12 -clcerts -nodes > key+cert.pem
1004 The @file{key+cert.pem} file should be pointed to from the
1005 @code{smime-keys} variable. You should now be able to send signed mail.
1007 @emph{Note!} Your private key is now stored unencrypted in the file,
1008 so take care in handling it. Storing encrypted keys on the disk are
1009 supported, and Gnus will ask you for a passphrase before invoking
1010 OpenSSL. Read the OpenSSL documentation for how to achieve this. If
1011 you use unencrypted keys (e.g., if they are on a secure storage, or if
1012 you are on a secure single user machine) simply press @code{RET} at
1013 the passphrase prompt.
1015 @subsection Using PGP/MIME
1017 @acronym{PGP/MIME} requires an external OpenPGP implementation, such
1018 as @uref{http://www.gnupg.org/, GNU Privacy Guard}. Pre-OpenPGP
1019 implementations such as PGP 2.x and PGP 5.x are also supported. One
1020 Emacs interface to the PGP implementations, PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG,
1021 pgg, PGG Manual}), is included, but Mailcrypt and Florian Weimer's
1022 @code{gpg.el} are also supported.
1024 @vindex gpg-temp-directory
1025 Note, if you are using the @code{gpg.el} you must make sure that the
1026 directory specified by @code{gpg-temp-directory} have permissions
1029 Creating your own key is described in detail in the documentation of
1030 your PGP implementation, so we refer to it.
1032 If you have imported your old PGP 2.x key into GnuPG, and want to send
1033 signed and encrypted messages to your fellow PGP 2.x users, you'll
1034 discover that the receiver cannot understand what you send. One
1035 solution is to use PGP 2.x instead (i.e., if you use @code{pgg}, set
1036 @code{pgg-default-scheme} to @code{pgp}). If you do want to use
1037 GnuPG, you can use a compatibility script called @code{gpg-2comp}
1039 @uref{http://muppet.faveve.uni-stuttgart.de/~gero/gpg-2comp/}. You
1040 could also convince your fellow PGP 2.x users to convert to GnuPG.
1041 @vindex mml-signencrypt-style-alist
1042 As a final workaround, you can make the sign and encryption work in
1043 two steps; separately sign, then encrypt a message. If you would like
1044 to change this behavior you can customize the
1045 @code{mml-signencrypt-style-alist} variable. For example:
1048 (setq mml-signencrypt-style-alist '(("smime" separate)
1050 ("pgpauto" separate)
1051 ("pgpmime" separate)))
1054 This causes to sign and encrypt in two passes, thus generating a
1055 message that can be understood by PGP version 2.
1057 (Refer to @uref{http://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/pgp2x.html} for more
1058 information about the problem.)
1060 @node Various Commands
1061 @section Various Commands
1067 @findex message-caesar-buffer-body
1068 Caesar rotate (aka. rot13) the current message
1069 (@code{message-caesar-buffer-body}). If narrowing is in effect, just
1070 rotate the visible portion of the buffer. A numerical prefix says how
1071 many places to rotate the text. The default is 13.
1075 @findex message-elide-region
1076 @vindex message-elide-ellipsis
1077 Elide the text between point and mark (@code{message-elide-region}).
1078 The text is killed and replaced with the contents of the variable
1079 @code{message-elide-ellipsis}. The default value is to use an ellipsis
1084 @findex message-kill-to-signature
1085 Kill all the text up to the signature, or if that's missing, up to the
1086 end of the message (@code{message-kill-to-signature}).
1090 @findex message-delete-not-region
1091 Delete all text in the body of the message that is outside the region
1092 (@code{message-delete-not-region}).
1096 @findex message-newline-and-reformat
1097 Insert four newlines, and then reformat if inside quoted text.
1102 > This is some quoted text. And here's more quoted text.
1105 If point is before @samp{And} and you press @kbd{M-RET}, you'll get:
1108 > This is some quoted text.
1112 > And here's more quoted text.
1115 @samp{*} says where point will be placed.
1119 @findex message-rename-buffer
1120 Rename the buffer (@code{message-rename-buffer}). If given a prefix,
1121 prompt for a new buffer name.
1126 @vindex message-tab-body-function
1127 If non-@code{nil} execute the function specified in
1128 @code{message-tab-body-function}. Otherwise use the function bound to
1129 @kbd{TAB} in @code{text-mode-map} or @code{global-map}.
1140 @findex message-send-and-exit
1141 Send the message and bury the current buffer
1142 (@code{message-send-and-exit}).
1146 @findex message-send
1147 Send the message (@code{message-send}).
1151 @findex message-dont-send
1152 Bury the message buffer and exit (@code{message-dont-send}).
1156 @findex message-kill-buffer
1157 Kill the message buffer and exit (@code{message-kill-buffer}).
1164 @section Mail Aliases
1165 @cindex mail aliases
1168 @vindex message-mail-alias-type
1169 The @code{message-mail-alias-type} variable controls what type of mail
1170 alias expansion to use. Currently only one form is supported---Message
1171 uses @code{mailabbrev} to handle mail aliases. If this variable is
1172 @code{nil}, no mail alias expansion will be performed.
1174 @code{mailabbrev} works by parsing the @file{/etc/mailrc} and
1175 @file{~/.mailrc} files. These files look like:
1178 alias lmi "Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@ifi.uio.no>"
1179 alias ding "ding@@ifi.uio.no (ding mailing list)"
1182 After adding lines like this to your @file{~/.mailrc} file, you should
1183 be able to just write @samp{lmi} in the @code{To} or @code{Cc} (and so
1184 on) headers and press @kbd{SPC} to expand the alias.
1186 No expansion will be performed upon sending of the message---all
1187 expansions have to be done explicitly.
1193 @findex ispell-message
1195 There are two popular ways to have Emacs spell-check your messages:
1196 @code{ispell} and @code{flyspell}. @code{ispell} is the older and
1197 probably more popular package. You typically first write the message,
1198 and then run the entire thing through @code{ispell} and fix all the
1199 typos. To have this happen automatically when you send a message, put
1200 something like the following in your @file{.emacs} file:
1203 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
1206 @vindex ispell-message-dictionary-alist
1207 If you're in the habit of writing in different languages, this can be
1208 controlled by the @code{ispell-message-dictionary-alist} variable:
1211 (setq ispell-message-dictionary-alist
1212 '(("^Newsgroups:.*\\bde\\." . "deutsch8")
1213 (".*" . "default")))
1216 @code{ispell} depends on having the external @samp{ispell} command
1219 The other popular method is using @code{flyspell}. This package checks
1220 your spelling while you're writing, and marks any mis-spelled words in
1223 To use @code{flyspell}, put something like the following in your
1227 (defun my-message-setup-routine ()
1229 (add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'my-message-setup-routine)
1232 @code{flyspell} depends on having the external @samp{ispell} command
1240 * Message Headers:: General message header stuff.
1241 * Mail Headers:: Customizing mail headers.
1242 * Mail Variables:: Other mail variables.
1243 * News Headers:: Customizing news headers.
1244 * News Variables:: Other news variables.
1245 * Insertion Variables:: Customizing how things are inserted.
1246 * Various Message Variables:: Other message variables.
1247 * Sending Variables:: Variables for sending.
1248 * Message Buffers:: How Message names its buffers.
1249 * Message Actions:: Actions to be performed when exiting.
1253 @node Message Headers
1254 @section Message Headers
1256 Message is quite aggressive on the message generation front. It has to
1257 be -- it's a combined news and mail agent. To be able to send combined
1258 messages, it has to generate all headers itself (instead of letting the
1259 mail/news system do it) to ensure that mail and news copies of messages
1260 look sufficiently similar.
1264 @item message-generate-headers-first
1265 @vindex message-generate-headers-first
1266 If @code{t}, generate all required headers before starting to
1267 compose the message. This can also be a list of headers to generate:
1270 (setq message-generate-headers-first
1274 @vindex message-required-headers
1275 The variables @code{message-required-headers},
1276 @code{message-required-mail-headers} and
1277 @code{message-required-news-headers} specify which headers are
1280 Note that some headers will be removed and re-generated before posting,
1281 because of the variable @code{message-deletable-headers} (see below).
1283 @item message-draft-headers
1284 @vindex message-draft-headers
1285 When running Message from Gnus, the message buffers are associated
1286 with a draft group. @code{message-draft-headers} says which headers
1287 should be generated when a draft is written to the draft group.
1289 @item message-from-style
1290 @vindex message-from-style
1291 Specifies how @code{From} headers should look. There are four valid
1296 Just the address -- @samp{king@@grassland.com}.
1299 @samp{king@@grassland.com (Elvis Parsley)}.
1302 @samp{Elvis Parsley <king@@grassland.com>}.
1305 Look like @code{angles} if that doesn't require quoting, and
1306 @code{parens} if it does. If even @code{parens} requires quoting, use
1307 @code{angles} anyway.
1311 @item message-deletable-headers
1312 @vindex message-deletable-headers
1313 Headers in this list that were previously generated by Message will be
1314 deleted before posting. Let's say you post an article. Then you decide
1315 to post it again to some other group, you naughty boy, so you jump back
1316 to the @code{*post-buf*} buffer, edit the @code{Newsgroups} line, and
1317 ship it off again. By default, this variable makes sure that the old
1318 generated @code{Message-ID} is deleted, and a new one generated. If
1319 this isn't done, the entire empire would probably crumble, anarchy would
1320 prevail, and cats would start walking on two legs and rule the world.
1323 @item message-default-headers
1324 @vindex message-default-headers
1325 This string is inserted at the end of the headers in all message
1328 @item message-subject-re-regexp
1329 @vindex message-subject-re-regexp
1333 Responses to messages have subjects that start with @samp{Re: }. This
1334 is @emph{not} an abbreviation of the English word ``response'', but is
1335 Latin, and means ``in response to''. Some illiterate nincompoops have
1336 failed to grasp this fact, and have ``internationalized'' their software
1337 to use abominations like @samp{Aw: } (``antwort'') or @samp{Sv: }
1338 (``svar'') instead, which is meaningless and evil. However, you may
1339 have to deal with users that use these evil tools, in which case you may
1340 set this variable to a regexp that matches these prefixes. Myself, I
1341 just throw away non-compliant mail.
1343 Here's an example of a value to deal with these headers when
1344 responding to a message:
1347 (setq message-subject-re-regexp
1352 "[Aa][Nn][Tt][Ww]\\.?\\|" ; antw
1354 "[Ff][Ww][Dd]?\\|" ; fwd
1355 "[Oo][Dd][Pp]\\|" ; odp
1357 "[Rr][\311\351][Ff]\\.?\\|" ; ref
1360 "\\(\\[[0-9]*\\]\\)"
1367 @item message-subject-trailing-was-query
1368 @vindex message-subject-trailing-was-query
1369 @vindex message-subject-trailing-was-ask-regexp
1370 @vindex message-subject-trailing-was-regexp
1371 Controls what to do with trailing @samp{(was: <old subject>)} in subject
1372 lines. If @code{nil}, leave the subject unchanged. If it is the symbol
1373 @code{ask}, query the user what do do. In this case, the subject is
1374 matched against @code{message-subject-trailing-was-ask-regexp}. If
1375 @code{message-subject-trailing-was-query} is @code{t}, always strip the
1376 trailing old subject. In this case,
1377 @code{message-subject-trailing-was-regexp} is used.
1379 @item message-alternative-emails
1380 @vindex message-alternative-emails
1381 A regexp to match the alternative email addresses. The first matched
1382 address (not primary one) is used in the @code{From} field.
1384 @item message-allow-no-recipients
1385 @vindex message-allow-no-recipients
1386 Specifies what to do when there are no recipients other than
1387 @code{Gcc} or @code{Fcc}. If it is @code{always}, the posting is
1388 allowed. If it is @code{never}, the posting is not allowed. If it is
1389 @code{ask} (the default), you are prompted.
1391 @item message-hidden-headers
1392 @vindex message-hidden-headers
1393 A regexp, a list of regexps, or a list where the first element is
1394 @code{not} and the rest are regexps. It says which headers to keep
1395 hidden when composing a message.
1398 (setq message-hidden-headers
1399 '(not "From" "Subject" "To" "Cc" "Newsgroups"))
1402 @item message-header-synonyms
1403 @vindex message-header-synonyms
1404 A list of lists of header synonyms. E.g., if this list contains a
1405 member list with elements @code{Cc} and @code{To}, then
1406 @code{message-carefully-insert-headers} will not insert a @code{To}
1407 header when the message is already @code{Cc}ed to the recipient.
1413 @section Mail Headers
1416 @item message-required-mail-headers
1417 @vindex message-required-mail-headers
1418 @xref{News Headers}, for the syntax of this variable. It is
1419 @code{(From Date Subject (optional . In-Reply-To) Message-ID Lines
1420 (optional . User-Agent))} by default.
1422 @item message-ignored-mail-headers
1423 @vindex message-ignored-mail-headers
1424 Regexp of headers to be removed before mailing. The default is
1425 @samp{^[GF]cc:\\|^Resent-Fcc:\\|^Xref:\\|^X-Draft-From:}.
1427 @item message-default-mail-headers
1428 @vindex message-default-mail-headers
1429 This string is inserted at the end of the headers in all message
1430 buffers that are initialized as mail.
1435 @node Mail Variables
1436 @section Mail Variables
1439 @item message-send-mail-function
1440 @vindex message-send-mail-function
1441 @findex message-send-mail-with-sendmail
1442 @findex message-send-mail-with-mh
1443 @findex message-send-mail-with-qmail
1444 @findex message-smtpmail-send-it
1445 @findex smtpmail-send-it
1446 @findex feedmail-send-it
1447 Function used to send the current buffer as mail. The default is
1448 @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}. Other valid values include
1449 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
1450 @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}, @code{smtpmail-send-it} and
1451 @code{feedmail-send-it}.
1453 @item message-mh-deletable-headers
1454 @vindex message-mh-deletable-headers
1455 Most versions of MH doesn't like being fed messages that contain the
1456 headers in this variable. If this variable is non-@code{nil} (which is
1457 the default), these headers will be removed before mailing when sending
1458 messages via MH. Set it to @code{nil} if your MH can handle these
1461 @item message-qmail-inject-program
1462 @vindex message-qmail-inject-program
1464 Location of the qmail-inject program.
1466 @item message-qmail-inject-args
1467 @vindex message-qmail-inject-args
1468 Arguments passed to qmail-inject programs.
1469 This should be a list of strings, one string for each argument. It
1470 may also be a function.
1472 For e.g., if you wish to set the envelope sender address so that bounces
1473 go to the right place or to deal with listserv's usage of that address, you
1474 might set this variable to @code{'("-f" "you@@some.where")}.
1476 @item message-sendmail-f-is-evil
1477 @vindex message-sendmail-f-is-evil
1479 Non-@code{nil} means don't add @samp{-f username} to the sendmail
1480 command line. Doing so would be even more evil than leaving it out.
1482 @item message-sendmail-envelope-from
1483 @vindex message-sendmail-envelope-from
1484 When @code{message-sendmail-f-is-evil} is @code{nil}, this specifies
1485 the address to use in the @acronym{SMTP} envelope. If it is
1486 @code{nil}, use @code{user-mail-address}. If it is the symbol
1487 @code{header}, use the @samp{From} header of the message.
1489 @item message-mailer-swallows-blank-line
1490 @vindex message-mailer-swallows-blank-line
1491 Set this to non-@code{nil} if the system's mailer runs the header and
1492 body together. (This problem exists on SunOS 4 when sendmail is run
1493 in remote mode.) The value should be an expression to test whether
1494 the problem will actually occur.
1496 @item message-send-mail-partially-limit
1497 @vindex message-send-mail-partially-limit
1498 @cindex split large message
1499 The limitation of messages sent as message/partial. The lower bound
1500 of message size in characters, beyond which the message should be sent
1501 in several parts. If it is @code{nil}, the size is unlimited.
1507 @section News Headers
1509 @vindex message-required-news-headers
1510 @code{message-required-news-headers} a list of header symbols. These
1511 headers will either be automatically generated, or, if that's
1512 impossible, they will be prompted for. The following symbols are valid:
1518 @findex user-full-name
1519 @findex user-mail-address
1520 This required header will be filled out with the result of the
1521 @code{message-make-from} function, which depends on the
1522 @code{message-from-style}, @code{user-full-name},
1523 @code{user-mail-address} variables.
1527 This required header will be prompted for if not present already.
1531 This required header says which newsgroups the article is to be posted
1532 to. If it isn't present already, it will be prompted for.
1535 @cindex organization
1536 @vindex message-user-organization
1537 @vindex message-user-organization-file
1538 This optional header will be filled out depending on the
1539 @code{message-user-organization} variable.
1540 @code{message-user-organization-file} will be used if this variable is
1541 @code{t}. This variable can also be a string (in which case this string
1542 will be used), or it can be a function (which will be called with no
1543 parameters and should return a string to be used).
1547 This optional header will be computed by Message.
1551 @vindex message-user-fqdn
1552 @vindex mail-host-address
1553 @vindex user-mail-address
1556 @cindex i-did-not-set--mail-host-address--so-tickle-me
1557 This required header will be generated by Message. A unique ID will be
1558 created based on the date, time, user name (for the local part) and the
1559 domain part. For the domain part, message will look (in this order) at
1560 @code{message-user-fqdn}, @code{system-name}, @code{mail-host-address}
1561 and @code{message-user-mail-address} (i.e. @code{user-mail-address})
1562 until a probably valid fully qualified domain name (FQDN) was found.
1566 This optional header will be filled out according to the
1567 @code{message-newsreader} local variable.
1570 This optional header is filled out using the @code{Date} and @code{From}
1571 header of the article being replied to.
1575 @vindex message-expires
1576 This extremely optional header will be inserted according to the
1577 @code{message-expires} variable. It is highly deprecated and shouldn't
1578 be used unless you know what you're doing.
1581 @cindex Distribution
1582 @vindex message-distribution-function
1583 This optional header is filled out according to the
1584 @code{message-distribution-function} variable. It is a deprecated and
1585 much misunderstood header.
1589 @vindex message-user-path
1590 This extremely optional header should probably never be used.
1591 However, some @emph{very} old servers require that this header is
1592 present. @code{message-user-path} further controls how this
1593 @code{Path} header is to look. If it is @code{nil}, use the server name
1594 as the leaf node. If it is a string, use the string. If it is neither
1595 a string nor @code{nil}, use the user name only. However, it is highly
1596 unlikely that you should need to fiddle with this variable at all.
1600 @cindex Mime-Version
1601 In addition, you can enter conses into this list. The @sc{car} of this cons
1602 should be a symbol. This symbol's name is the name of the header, and
1603 the @sc{cdr} can either be a string to be entered verbatim as the value of
1604 this header, or it can be a function to be called. This function should
1605 return a string to be inserted. For instance, if you want to insert
1606 @code{Mime-Version: 1.0}, you should enter @code{(Mime-Version . "1.0")}
1607 into the list. If you want to insert a funny quote, you could enter
1608 something like @code{(X-Yow . yow)} into the list. The function
1609 @code{yow} will then be called without any arguments.
1611 If the list contains a cons where the @sc{car} of the cons is
1612 @code{optional}, the @sc{cdr} of this cons will only be inserted if it is
1615 If you want to delete an entry from this list, the following Lisp
1616 snippet might be useful. Adjust accordingly if you want to remove
1620 (setq message-required-news-headers
1621 (delq 'Message-ID message-required-news-headers))
1624 Other variables for customizing outgoing news articles:
1628 @item message-syntax-checks
1629 @vindex message-syntax-checks
1630 Controls what syntax checks should not be performed on outgoing posts.
1631 To disable checking of long signatures, for instance, add
1634 (signature . disabled)
1643 Check the subject for commands.
1646 Insert a new @code{Sender} header if the @code{From} header looks odd.
1647 @item multiple-headers
1648 Check for the existence of multiple equal headers.
1651 Check for the existence of version and sendsys commands.
1653 Check whether the @code{Message-ID} looks ok.
1655 Check whether the @code{From} header seems nice.
1658 Check for too long lines.
1660 Check for invalid characters.
1662 Check for excessive size.
1664 Check whether there is any new text in the messages.
1666 Check the length of the signature.
1669 Check whether the article has an @code{Approved} header, which is
1670 something only moderators should include.
1672 Check whether the article is empty.
1673 @item invisible-text
1674 Check whether there is any invisible text in the buffer.
1676 Check whether any of the headers are empty.
1677 @item existing-newsgroups
1678 Check whether the newsgroups mentioned in the @code{Newsgroups} and
1679 @code{Followup-To} headers exist.
1680 @item valid-newsgroups
1681 Check whether the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-to} headers
1682 are valid syntactically.
1683 @item repeated-newsgroups
1684 Check whether the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-to} headers
1685 contains repeated group names.
1686 @item shorten-followup-to
1687 Check whether to add a @code{Followup-to} header to shorten the number
1688 of groups to post to.
1691 All these conditions are checked by default.
1693 @item message-ignored-news-headers
1694 @vindex message-ignored-news-headers
1695 Regexp of headers to be removed before posting. The default is@*
1696 @samp{^NNTP-Posting-Host:\\|^Xref:\\|^[BGF]cc:\\|^Resent-Fcc:\\|^X-Draft-From:}.
1698 @item message-default-news-headers
1699 @vindex message-default-news-headers
1700 This string is inserted at the end of the headers in all message
1701 buffers that are initialized as news.
1706 @node News Variables
1707 @section News Variables
1710 @item message-send-news-function
1711 @vindex message-send-news-function
1712 Function used to send the current buffer as news. The default is
1713 @code{message-send-news}.
1715 @item message-post-method
1716 @vindex message-post-method
1717 Gnusish @dfn{select method} (see the Gnus manual for details) used for
1718 posting a prepared news message.
1723 @node Insertion Variables
1724 @section Insertion Variables
1727 @item message-ignored-cited-headers
1728 @vindex message-ignored-cited-headers
1729 All headers that match this regexp will be removed from yanked
1730 messages. The default is @samp{.}, which means that all headers will be
1733 @item message-cite-prefix-regexp
1734 @vindex message-cite-prefix-regexp
1735 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
1737 @item message-citation-line-function
1738 @vindex message-citation-line-function
1739 @cindex attribution line
1740 Function called to insert the citation line. The default is
1741 @code{message-insert-citation-line}, which will lead to citation lines
1745 Hallvard B Furuseth <h.b.furuseth@@usit.uio.no> writes:
1748 Point will be at the beginning of the body of the message when this
1751 Note that Gnus provides a feature where clicking on `writes:' hides the
1752 cited text. If you change the citation line too much, readers of your
1753 messages will have to adjust their Gnus, too. See the variable
1754 @code{gnus-cite-attribution-suffix}. @xref{Article Highlighting, ,
1755 Article Highlighting, gnus, The Gnus Manual}, for details.
1757 @item message-yank-prefix
1758 @vindex message-yank-prefix
1761 When you are replying to or following up an article, you normally want
1762 to quote the person you are answering. Inserting quoted text is done
1763 by @dfn{yanking}, and each line you yank will have
1764 @code{message-yank-prefix} prepended to it (except for quoted and
1765 empty lines which uses @code{message-yank-cited-prefix}). The default
1768 @item message-yank-cited-prefix
1769 @vindex message-yank-cited-prefix
1773 When yanking text from an article which contains no text or already
1774 cited text, each line will be prefixed with the contents of this
1775 variable. The default is @samp{>}. See also
1776 @code{message-yank-prefix}.
1778 @item message-indentation-spaces
1779 @vindex message-indentation-spaces
1780 Number of spaces to indent yanked messages.
1782 @item message-cite-function
1783 @vindex message-cite-function
1784 @findex message-cite-original
1785 @findex sc-cite-original
1786 @findex message-cite-original-without-signature
1788 Function for citing an original message. The default is
1789 @code{message-cite-original}, which simply inserts the original message
1790 and prepends @samp{> } to each line.
1791 @code{message-cite-original-without-signature} does the same, but elides
1792 the signature. You can also set it to @code{sc-cite-original} to use
1795 @item message-indent-citation-function
1796 @vindex message-indent-citation-function
1797 Function for modifying a citation just inserted in the mail buffer.
1798 This can also be a list of functions. Each function can find the
1799 citation between @code{(point)} and @code{(mark t)}. And each function
1800 should leave point and mark around the citation text as modified.
1802 @item message-mark-insert-begin
1803 @vindex message-mark-insert-begin
1804 String to mark the beginning of some inserted text.
1806 @item message-mark-insert-end
1807 @vindex message-mark-insert-end
1808 String to mark the end of some inserted text.
1810 @item message-signature
1811 @vindex message-signature
1812 String to be inserted at the end of the message buffer. If @code{t}
1813 (which is the default), the @code{message-signature-file} file will be
1814 inserted instead. If a function, the result from the function will be
1815 used instead. If a form, the result from the form will be used instead.
1816 If this variable is @code{nil}, no signature will be inserted at all.
1818 @item message-signature-file
1819 @vindex message-signature-file
1820 File containing the signature to be inserted at the end of the buffer.
1821 The default is @file{~/.signature}.
1823 @item message-signature-insert-empty-line
1824 @vindex message-signature-insert-empty-line
1825 If @code{t} (the default value) an empty line is inserted before the
1826 signature separator.
1830 Note that RFC1036bis says that a signature should be preceded by the three
1831 characters @samp{-- } on a line by themselves. This is to make it
1832 easier for the recipient to automatically recognize and process the
1833 signature. So don't remove those characters, even though you might feel
1834 that they ruin your beautiful design, like, totally.
1836 Also note that no signature should be more than four lines long.
1837 Including @acronym{ASCII} graphics is an efficient way to get
1838 everybody to believe that you are silly and have nothing important to
1842 @node Various Message Variables
1843 @section Various Message Variables
1846 @item message-default-charset
1847 @vindex message-default-charset
1849 Symbol naming a @acronym{MIME} charset. Non-@acronym{ASCII}
1850 characters in messages are assumed to be encoded using this charset.
1851 The default is @code{nil}, which means ask the user. (This variable
1852 is used only on non-@sc{mule} Emacsen. @xref{Charset Translation, ,
1853 Charset Translation, emacs-mime, Emacs MIME Manual}, for details on
1854 the @sc{mule}-to-@acronym{MIME} translation process.
1856 @item message-signature-separator
1857 @vindex message-signature-separator
1858 Regexp matching the signature separator. It is @samp{^-- *$} by
1861 @item mail-header-separator
1862 @vindex mail-header-separator
1863 String used to separate the headers from the body. It is @samp{--text
1864 follows this line--} by default.
1866 @item message-directory
1867 @vindex message-directory
1868 Directory used by many mailey things. The default is @file{~/Mail/}.
1869 All other mail file variables are derived from @code{message-directory}.
1871 @item message-auto-save-directory
1872 @vindex message-auto-save-directory
1873 Directory where Message auto-saves buffers if Gnus isn't running. If
1874 @code{nil}, Message won't auto-save. The default is @file{~/Mail/drafts/}.
1876 @item message-signature-setup-hook
1877 @vindex message-signature-setup-hook
1878 Hook run when initializing the message buffer. It is run after the
1879 headers have been inserted but before the signature has been inserted.
1881 @item message-setup-hook
1882 @vindex message-setup-hook
1883 Hook run as the last thing when the message buffer has been initialized,
1884 but before yanked text is inserted.
1886 @item message-header-setup-hook
1887 @vindex message-header-setup-hook
1888 Hook called narrowed to the headers after initializing the headers.
1890 For instance, if you're running Gnus and wish to insert a
1891 @samp{Mail-Copies-To} header in all your news articles and all messages
1892 you send to mailing lists, you could do something like the following:
1895 (defun my-message-header-setup-hook ()
1896 (let ((group (or gnus-newsgroup-name "")))
1897 (when (or (message-fetch-field "newsgroups")
1898 (gnus-group-find-parameter group 'to-address)
1899 (gnus-group-find-parameter group 'to-list))
1900 (insert "Mail-Copies-To: never\n"))))
1902 (add-hook 'message-header-setup-hook
1903 'my-message-header-setup-hook)
1906 @item message-send-hook
1907 @vindex message-send-hook
1908 Hook run before sending messages.
1910 If you want to add certain headers before sending, you can use the
1911 @code{message-add-header} function in this hook. For instance:
1912 @findex message-add-header
1915 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'my-message-add-content)
1916 (defun my-message-add-content ()
1917 (message-add-header "X-In-No-Sense: Nonsense")
1918 (message-add-header "X-Whatever: no"))
1921 This function won't add the header if the header is already present.
1923 @item message-send-mail-hook
1924 @vindex message-send-mail-hook
1925 Hook run before sending mail messages. This hook is run very late --
1926 just before the message is actually sent as mail.
1928 @item message-send-news-hook
1929 @vindex message-send-news-hook
1930 Hook run before sending news messages. This hook is run very late --
1931 just before the message is actually sent as news.
1933 @item message-sent-hook
1934 @vindex message-sent-hook
1935 Hook run after sending messages.
1937 @item message-cancel-hook
1938 @vindex message-cancel-hook
1939 Hook run when canceling news articles.
1941 @item message-mode-syntax-table
1942 @vindex message-mode-syntax-table
1943 Syntax table used in message mode buffers.
1945 @item message-strip-special-text-properties
1946 @vindex message-strip-special-text-properties
1947 Emacs has a number of special text properties which can break message
1948 composing in various ways. If this option is set, message will strip
1949 these properties from the message composition buffer. However, some
1950 packages requires these properties to be present in order to work. If
1951 you use one of these packages, turn this option off, and hope the
1952 message composition doesn't break too bad.
1954 @item message-send-method-alist
1955 @vindex message-send-method-alist
1957 Alist of ways to send outgoing messages. Each element has the form
1960 (@var{type} @var{predicate} @var{function})
1965 A symbol that names the method.
1968 A function called without any parameters to determine whether the
1969 message is a message of type @var{type}.
1972 A function to be called if @var{predicate} returns non-@code{nil}.
1973 @var{function} is called with one parameter -- the prefix.
1977 ((news message-news-p message-send-via-news)
1978 (mail message-mail-p message-send-via-mail))
1987 @node Sending Variables
1988 @section Sending Variables
1992 @item message-fcc-handler-function
1993 @vindex message-fcc-handler-function
1994 A function called to save outgoing articles. This function will be
1995 called with the name of the file to store the article in. The default
1996 function is @code{message-output} which saves in Unix mailbox format.
1998 @item message-courtesy-message
1999 @vindex message-courtesy-message
2000 When sending combined messages, this string is inserted at the start of
2001 the mailed copy. If the string contains the format spec @samp{%s}, the
2002 newsgroups the article has been posted to will be inserted there. If
2003 this variable is @code{nil}, no such courtesy message will be added.
2004 The default value is @samp{"The following message is a courtesy copy of
2005 an article\\nthat has been posted to %s as well.\\n\\n"}.
2007 @item message-fcc-externalize-attachments
2008 @vindex message-fcc-externalize-attachments
2009 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Fcc copies; if it is
2010 non-@code{nil}, attach local files as external parts.
2012 @item message-interactive
2013 @vindex message-interactive
2014 If non-@code{nil} wait for and display errors when sending a message;
2015 if @code{nil} let the mailer mail back a message to report errors.
2020 @node Message Buffers
2021 @section Message Buffers
2023 Message will generate new buffers with unique buffer names when you
2024 request a message buffer. When you send the message, the buffer isn't
2025 normally killed off. Its name is changed and a certain number of old
2026 message buffers are kept alive.
2029 @item message-generate-new-buffers
2030 @vindex message-generate-new-buffers
2031 If non-@code{nil}, generate new buffers. The default is @code{t}. If
2032 this is a function, call that function with three parameters: The type,
2033 the to address and the group name. (Any of these may be @code{nil}.)
2034 The function should return the new buffer name.
2036 @item message-max-buffers
2037 @vindex message-max-buffers
2038 This variable says how many old message buffers to keep. If there are
2039 more message buffers than this, the oldest buffer will be killed. The
2040 default is 10. If this variable is @code{nil}, no old message buffers
2041 will ever be killed.
2043 @item message-send-rename-function
2044 @vindex message-send-rename-function
2045 After sending a message, the buffer is renamed from, for instance,
2046 @samp{*reply to Lars*} to @samp{*sent reply to Lars*}. If you don't
2047 like this, set this variable to a function that renames the buffer in a
2048 manner you like. If you don't want to rename the buffer at all, you can
2052 (setq message-send-rename-function 'ignore)
2055 @item message-kill-buffer-on-exit
2056 @findex message-kill-buffer-on-exit
2057 If non-@code{nil}, kill the buffer immediately on exit.
2062 @node Message Actions
2063 @section Message Actions
2065 When Message is being used from a news/mail reader, the reader is likely
2066 to want to perform some task after the message has been sent. Perhaps
2067 return to the previous window configuration or mark an article as
2070 @vindex message-kill-actions
2071 @vindex message-postpone-actions
2072 @vindex message-exit-actions
2073 @vindex message-send-actions
2074 The user may exit from the message buffer in various ways. The most
2075 common is @kbd{C-c C-c}, which sends the message and exits. Other
2076 possibilities are @kbd{C-c C-s} which just sends the message, @kbd{C-c
2077 C-d} which postpones the message editing and buries the message buffer,
2078 and @kbd{C-c C-k} which kills the message buffer. Each of these actions
2079 have lists associated with them that contains actions to be executed:
2080 @code{message-send-actions}, @code{message-exit-actions},
2081 @code{message-postpone-actions}, and @code{message-kill-actions}.
2083 Message provides a function to interface with these lists:
2084 @code{message-add-action}. The first parameter is the action to be
2085 added, and the rest of the arguments are which lists to add this action
2086 to. Here's an example from Gnus:
2090 `(set-window-configuration ,(current-window-configuration))
2091 'exit 'postpone 'kill)
2094 This restores the Gnus window configuration when the message buffer is
2095 killed, postponed or exited.
2097 An @dfn{action} can be either: a normal function, or a list where the
2098 @sc{car} is a function and the @sc{cdr} is the list of arguments, or
2099 a form to be @code{eval}ed.
2103 @chapter Compatibility
2104 @cindex compatibility
2106 Message uses virtually only its own variables---older @code{mail-}
2107 variables aren't consulted. To force Message to take those variables
2108 into account, you can put the following in your @file{.emacs} file:
2111 (require 'messcompat)
2114 This will initialize many Message variables from the values in the
2115 corresponding mail variables.
2122 * Responses:: Standard rules for determining where responses go.
2129 To determine where a message is to go, the following algorithm is used
2134 A @dfn{reply} is when you want to respond @emph{just} to the person who
2135 sent the message via mail. There will only be one recipient. To
2136 determine who the recipient will be, the following headers are
2147 A @dfn{wide reply} is a mail response that includes @emph{all} entities
2148 mentioned in the message you are responded to. All mailboxes from the
2149 following headers will be concatenated to form the outgoing
2150 @code{To}/@code{Cc} headers:
2154 (unless there's a @code{Reply-To}, in which case that is used instead).
2161 If a @code{Mail-Copies-To} header is present, it will also be included
2162 in the list of mailboxes. If this header is @samp{never}, that means
2163 that the @code{From} (or @code{Reply-To}) mailbox will be suppressed.
2167 A @dfn{followup} is a response sent via news. The following headers
2168 (listed in order of precedence) determine where the response is to be
2179 If a @code{Mail-Copies-To} header is present, it will be used as the
2180 basis of the new @code{Cc} header, except if this header is
2202 arch-tag: 16ab76af-a281-4e34-aed6-5624569f7601