\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
@setfilename message
-@settitle Message 0.15 Manual
+@settitle Message 5.6.30 Manual
@synindex fn cp
@synindex vr cp
@synindex pg cp
+@c @direntry
+@c * Message: (message). Mail and news composition mode that goes with Gnus.
+@c @end direntry
@iftex
@finalout
@end iftex
@tex
@titlepage
-@title Message 0.15 Manual
+@title Message 5.6.30 Manual
@author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
@page
@node Top
@top Message
-All message composition (both mail and news) takes place in Message mode
-buffers.
+All message composition from Gnus (both mail and news) takes place in
+Message mode buffers.
@menu
* Interface:: Setting up message buffers.
* Commands:: Commands you can execute in message mode buffers.
* Variables:: Customizing the message buffers.
* Compatibility:: Making Message backwards compatible.
+* Appendices:: More technical things.
* Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
* Key Index:: List of Message mode keys.
@end menu
-This manual corresponds to Message 0.15. Message is distributed with
+This manual corresponds to Message 5.6.30. Message is distributed with
the Gnus distribution bearing the same version number as this manual
has.
Two optional parameters are accepted: The first will be used as the
@code{To} header and the second as the @code{Subject} header. If these
-aren't present, those two headers will be empty.
+are @code{nil}, those two headers will be empty.
@node New News Message
This function accepts two optional parameters. The first will be used
as the @code{Newsgroups} header and the second as the @code{Subject}
-header. If these aren't present, those two headers will be empty.
+header. If these are @code{nil}, those two headers will be empty.
@node Reply
reply to the message in the current buffer.
@vindex message-reply-to-function
-Message uses the normal methods to determine where replies are to go,
-but you can change the behavior to suit your needs by fiddling with the
-@code{message-reply-to-function} variable.
+Message uses the normal methods to determine where replies are to go
+(@pxref{Responses}), but you can change the behavior to suit your needs
+by fiddling with the @code{message-reply-to-function} variable.
If you want the replies to go to the @code{Sender} instead of the
@code{From}, you could do something like this:
@item C-c C-q
@kindex C-c C-q
@findex message-fill-yanked-message
-Fill the yanked message (@code{message-fill-yanked-message}).
+Fill the yanked message (@code{message-fill-yanked-message}). Warning:
+Can severely mess up the yanked text if its quoting conventions are
+strange. You'll quickly get a feel for when it's safe, though. Anyway,
+just remember that @kbd{C-x u} (@code{undo}) is available and you'll be
+all right.
+
@item C-c C-w
@kindex C-c C-w
@item message-citation-line-function
@vindex message-citation-line-function
Function called to insert the citation line. The default is
-@code{message-insert-citation-line}.
+@code{message-insert-citation-line}, which will lead to citation lines
+that look like:
+
+@example
+Hallvard B Furuseth <h.b.furuseth@@usit.uio.no> writes:
+@end example
+
+Point will be at the beginning of the body of the message when this
+function is called.
@item message-yank-prefix
@vindex message-yank-prefix
@vindex message-cite-function
@findex message-cite-original
@findex sc-cite-original
+@findex message-cite-original-without-signature
@cindex Supercite
Function for citing an original message. The default is
-@code{message-cite-original}. You can also set it to
-@code{sc-cite-original} to use Supercite.
+@code{message-cite-original}, which simply inserts the original message
+and prepends @samp{> } to each line.
+@code{message-cite-original-without-signature} does the same, but elides
+the signature. You can also set it to @code{sc-cite-original} to use
+Supercite.
@item message-indent-citation-function
@vindex message-indent-citation-function
The text is killed and an ellipsis (@samp{[...]}) will be inserted in
its place.
+@item C-c C-z
+@kindex C-c C-x
+@findex message-kill-to-signature
+Kill all the text up to the signature, or if that's missing, up to the
+end of the message (@code{message-kill-to-signature}).
+
@item C-c C-v
@kindex C-c C-v
@findex message-delete-not-region
@node Message Headers
@section Message Headers
-Message is quite aggressive on the message generation front. It has
-to be -- it's a combined news and mail agent. To be able to send
-combined messages, it has to generate all headers itself to ensure that
-mail and news copies of messages look sufficiently similar.
+Message is quite aggressive on the message generation front. It has to
+be -- it's a combined news and mail agent. To be able to send combined
+messages, it has to generate all headers itself (instead of letting the
+mail/news system do it) to ensure that mail and news copies of messages
+look sufficiently similar.
@table @code
@item message-from-style
@vindex message-from-style
-Specifies how @code{From} headers should look. There are four legal
+Specifies how @code{From} headers should look. There are four valid
values:
@table @code
This string is inserted at the end of the headers in all message
buffers.
+@item message-subject-re-regexp
+@vindex message-subject-re-regexp
+Responses to messages have subjects that start with @samp{Re: }. This
+is @emph{not} an abbreviation of the English word ``response'', but in
+Latin, and means ``in response to''. Some illiterate nincompoops have
+failed to grasp this fact, and have ``internationalized'' their software
+to use abonimations like @samp{Aw: } (``antwort'') or @samp{Sv: }
+(``svar'') instead, which is meaningless and evil. However, you may
+have to deal with users that use these evil tools, in which case you may
+set this variable to a regexp that matches these prefixes. Myself, I
+just throw away non-compliant mail.
+
@end table
@vindex message-mh-deletable-headers
Most versions of MH doesn't like being fed messages that contain the
headers in this variable. If this variable is non-@code{nil} (which is
-the default), these headers will be removed before mailing. Set it to
-@code{nil} if your MH can handle these headers.
+the default), these headers will be removed before mailing when sending
+messages via MH. Set it to @code{nil} if your MH can handle these
+headers.
@end table
@vindex message-required-news-headers
@code{message-required-news-headers} a list of header symbols. These
headers will either be automatically generated, or, if that's
-impossible, they will be prompted for. The following symbols are legal:
+impossible, they will be prompted for. The following symbols are valid:
@table @code
@item message-syntax-checks
@vindex message-syntax-checks
-If non-@code{nil}, Message will attempt to check the legality of the
-headers, as well as some other stuff, before posting. You can control
-the granularity of the check by adding or removing elements from this
-list. Legal elements are:
+Controls what syntax checks should not be performed on outgoing posts.
+To disable checking of long signatures, for instance, add
+
+@lisp
+(signature . disabled)
+@end lisp
+
+to this list.
+
+Valid checks are:
@table @code
@item subject-cmsg
@cindex long lines
Check for too long lines.
@item control-chars
-Check for illegal characters.
+Check for invalid characters.
@item size
Check for excessive size.
@item new-text
@item message-post-method
@vindex message-post-method
-Method used for posting a prepared news message.
+Gnusish @dfn{select method} (see the Gnus manual for details) used for
+posting a prepared news message.
@end table
@vindex message-directory
Directory used by many mailey things. The default is @file{~/Mail/}.
-@item message-autosave-directory
-@vindex message-autosave-directory
-Directory where message buffers will be autosaved to.
-
@item message-signature-setup-hook
@vindex message-signature-setup-hook
Hook run when initializing the message buffer. It is run after the
corresponding mail variables.
+@node Appendices
+@chapter Appendices
+
+@menu
+* Responses:: Standard rules for determining where responses go.
+@end menu
+
+
+@node Responses
+@section Responses
+
+To determine where a message is to go, the following algorithm is used
+by default.
+
+@table @dfn
+@item reply
+A @dfn{reply} is when you want to respond @emph{just} to the person who
+sent the message via mail. There will only be one recipient. To
+determine who the recipient will be, the following headers are
+consulted, in turn:
+
+@table @code
+@item Reply-To
+
+@item From
+@end table
+
+
+@item wide reply
+A @dfn{wide reply} is a mail response that includes @emph{all} entities
+mentioned in the message you are responded to. All mailboxes from the
+following headers will be concatenated to form the outgoing
+@code{To}/@code{Cc} headers:
+
+@table @code
+@item From
+(unless there's a @code{Reply-To}, in which case that is used instead).
+
+@item Cc
+
+@item To
+@end table
+
+If a @code{Mail-Copies-To} header is present, it will also be included
+in the list of mailboxes. If this header is @samp{never}, that means
+that the @code{From} (or @code{Reply-To}) mailbox will be suppressed.
+
+
+@item followup
+A @dfn{followup} is a response sent via news. The following headers
+(listed in order of precedence) determine where the response is to be
+sent:
+
+@table @code
+
+@item Followup-To
+
+@item Newsgroups
+
+@end table
+
+If a @code{Mail-Copies-To} header is present, it will be used as the
+basis of the new @code{Cc} header, except if this header is
+@samp{never}.
+
+@end table
+
+
@node Index
@chapter Index