This file documents Message, the Emacs message composition mode.
-Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
+Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
* Key Index:: List of Message mode keys.
@end menu
-This manual corresponds to Message v5.10.1. Message is distributed
+This manual corresponds to Message v5.10.6. Message is distributed
with the Gnus distribution bearing the same version number as this
manual.
@node Interface
@chapter Interface
-When a program (or a person) wants to respond to a message -- reply,
-follow up, forward, cancel -- the program (or person) should just put
+When a program (or a person) wants to respond to a message---reply,
+follow up, forward, cancel---the program (or person) should just put
point in the buffer where the message is and call the required command.
@code{Message} will then pop up a new @code{message} mode buffer with
appropriate headers filled out, and the user can edit the message before
@end table
-It is considered good nettiquette to honor MFT, as it is assumed the
+It is considered good netiquette to honor MFT, as it is assumed the
fellow who posted a message knows where the followups need to go
better than you do.
@code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} headers.
The most typical thing users want to use the multipart things in
-@acronym{MIME} for is to add ``attachments'' to mail they send out. This can
-be done with the @kbd{C-c C-a} command, which will prompt for a file
-name and a @acronym{MIME} type.
+@acronym{MIME} for is to add ``attachments'' to mail they send out.
+This can be done with the @kbd{C-c C-a} command, which will prompt for
+a file name and a @acronym{MIME} type. If your Emacs supports drag
+and drop, you can also drop the file in the Message buffer.
-You can also create arbitrarily complex multiparts using the MML
+You can also create arbitrarily complex multiparts using the @acronym{MML}
language (@pxref{Composing, , Composing, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME
Manual}).
@cindex encrypt
@cindex secure
-Using the MML language, Message is able to create digitally signed and
-digitally encrypted messages. Message (or rather MML) currently
-support @acronym{PGP} (RFC 1991), @acronym{PGP/MIME} (RFC 2015/3156) and @acronym{S/MIME}.
-Instructing MML to perform security operations on a @acronym{MIME} part is
-done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c
-C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
+Using the @acronym{MML} language, Message is able to create digitally
+signed and digitally encrypted messages. Message (or rather
+@acronym{MML}) currently support @acronym{PGP} (RFC 1991),
+@acronym{PGP/MIME} (RFC 2015/3156) and @acronym{S/MIME}. Instructing
+@acronym{MML} to perform security operations on a @acronym{MIME} part is
+done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c C-m
+c} key map for encryption, as follows.
@table @kbd
@item C-c C-m C-n
@kindex C-c C-m C-n
@findex mml-unsecure-message
-Remove security related MML tags from message.
+Remove security related @acronym{MML} tags from message.
@end table
These commands do not immediately sign or encrypt the message, they
-merely insert the proper MML secure tag to instruct the MML engine to
-perform that operation when the message is actually sent. They may
-perform other operations too, such as locating and retrieving a
-@acronym{S/MIME} certificate of the person you wish to send encrypted mail
-to. When the mml parsing engine converts your MML into a properly
-encoded @acronym{MIME} message, the secure tag will be replaced with either
-a part or a multipart tag. If your message contains other mml parts,
-a multipart tag will be used; if no other parts are present in your
-message a single part tag will be used. This way, message mode will
-do the Right Thing (TM) with signed/encrypted multipart messages.
+merely insert the proper @acronym{MML} secure tag to instruct the
+@acronym{MML} engine to perform that operation when the message is
+actually sent. They may perform other operations too, such as locating
+and retrieving a @acronym{S/MIME} certificate of the person you wish to
+send encrypted mail to. When the mml parsing engine converts your
+@acronym{MML} into a properly encoded @acronym{MIME} message, the secure
+tag will be replaced with either a part or a multipart tag. If your
+message contains other mml parts, a multipart tag will be used; if no
+other parts are present in your message a single part tag will be used.
+This way, message mode will do the Right Thing (TM) with
+signed/encrypted multipart messages.
Since signing and especially encryption often is used when sensitive
information is sent, you may want to have some way to ensure that your
modern cryptography, @acronym{S/MIME}, various PKCS standards, OpenSSL and
so on.
-The @acronym{S/MIME} support in Message (and MML) require OpenSSL. OpenSSL
-performs the actual @acronym{S/MIME} sign/encrypt operations. OpenSSL can
-be found at @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL 0.9.6 and later
-should work. Version 0.9.5a cannot extract mail addresses from
-certificates, and it insert a spurious CR character into @acronym{MIME}
-separators so you may wish to avoid it if you would like to avoid
-being regarded as someone who send strange mail. (Although by sending
-@acronym{S/MIME} messages you've probably already lost that contest.)
+The @acronym{S/MIME} support in Message (and @acronym{MML}) require
+OpenSSL. OpenSSL performs the actual @acronym{S/MIME} sign/encrypt
+operations. OpenSSL can be found at @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}.
+OpenSSL 0.9.6 and later should work. Version 0.9.5a cannot extract mail
+addresses from certificates, and it insert a spurious CR character into
+@acronym{MIME} separators so you may wish to avoid it if you would like
+to avoid being regarded as someone who send strange mail. (Although by
+sending @acronym{S/MIME} messages you've probably already lost that
+contest.)
To be able to send encrypted mail, a personal certificate is not
-required. Message (MML) need a certificate for the person to whom you
+required. Message (@acronym{MML}) need a certificate for the person to whom you
wish to communicate with though. You're asked for this when you type
@kbd{C-c C-m c s}. Currently there are two ways to retrieve this
certificate, from a local file or from DNS. If you chose a local
file, it need to contain a X.509 certificate in @acronym{PEM} format.
If you chose DNS, you're asked for the domain name where the
certificate is stored, the default is a good guess. To my belief,
-Message (MML) is the first mail agent in the world to support
+Message (@acronym{MML}) is the first mail agent in the world to support
retrieving @acronym{S/MIME} certificates from DNS, so you're not
likely to find very many certificates out there. At least there
should be one, stored at the domain @code{simon.josefsson.org}. LDAP
As for signing messages, OpenSSL can't perform signing operations
without some kind of configuration. Especially, you need to tell it
-where your private key and your certificate is stored. MML uses an
-Emacs interface to OpenSSL, aptly named @code{smime.el}, and it
+where your private key and your certificate is stored. @acronym{MML}
+uses an Emacs interface to OpenSSL, aptly named @code{smime.el}, and it
contain a @code{custom} group used for this configuration. So, try
@kbd{M-x customize-group RET smime RET} and look around.
@code{message-elide-ellipsis}. The default value is to use an ellipsis
(@samp{[...]}).
+@item C-c M-k
+@kindex C-c M-k
+@findex message-kill-address
+Kill the address under point.
+
@item C-c C-z
@kindex C-c C-x
@findex message-kill-to-signature
@lisp
(setq ispell-message-dictionary-alist
'(("^Newsgroups:.*\\bde\\." . "deutsch8")
- (".*" . "default")))
+ (".*" . "default")))
@end lisp
@code{ispell} depends on having the external @samp{ispell} command
@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
+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 nil
-Just the address -- @samp{king@@grassland.com}.
+Just the address---@samp{king@@grassland.com}.
@item parens
@samp{king@@grassland.com (Elvis Parsley)}.
'(not "From" "Subject" "To" "Cc" "Newsgroups"))
@end lisp
+@item message-header-synonyms
+@vindex message-header-synonyms
+A list of lists of header synonyms. E.g., if this list contains a
+member list with elements @code{Cc} and @code{To}, then
+@code{message-carefully-insert-headers} will not insert a @code{To}
+header when the message is already @code{Cc}ed to the recipient.
+
@end table
@item function
A function to be called if @var{predicate} returns non-@code{nil}.
-@var{function} is called with one parameter -- the prefix.
+@var{function} is called with one parameter---the prefix.
@end table
@lisp