1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
4 @settitle Message 5.4.36 Manual
11 @setchapternewpage odd
15 This file documents Message, the Emacs message composition mode.
17 Copyright (C) 1996 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
19 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
20 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
21 are preserved on all copies.
24 Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
25 results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
26 notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
27 (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
30 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
31 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the
32 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
33 permission notice identical to this one.
35 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
36 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
42 @title Message 5.4.36 Manual
44 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
47 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
48 Copyright @copyright{} 1996 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
50 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
51 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
52 are preserved on all copies.
54 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
55 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
56 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
57 permission notice identical to this one.
59 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
60 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
70 All message composition (both mail and news) takes place in Message mode
74 * Interface:: Setting up message buffers.
75 * Commands:: Commands you can execute in message mode buffers.
76 * Variables:: Customizing the message buffers.
77 * Compatibility:: Making Message backwards compatible.
78 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
79 * Key Index:: List of Message mode keys.
82 This manual corresponds to Message 5.4.36. Message is distributed with
83 the Gnus distribution bearing the same version number as this manual
90 When a program (or a person) wants to respond to a message -- reply,
91 follow up, forward, cancel -- the program (or person) should just put
92 point in the buffer where the message is and call the required command.
93 @code{Message} will then pop up a new @code{message} mode buffer with
94 appropriate headers filled out, and the user can edit the message before
98 * New Mail Message:: Editing a brand new mail message.
99 * New News Message:: Editing a brand new news message.
100 * Reply:: Replying via mail.
101 * Wide Reply:: Responding to all people via mail.
102 * Followup:: Following up via news.
103 * Canceling News:: Canceling a news article.
104 * Superseding:: Superseding a message.
105 * Forwarding:: Forwarding a message via news or mail.
106 * Resending:: Resending a mail message.
107 * Bouncing:: Bouncing a mail message.
111 @node New Mail Message
112 @section New Mail Message
115 The @code{message-mail} command pops up a new message buffer.
117 Two optional parameters are accepted: The first will be used as the
118 @code{To} header and the second as the @code{Subject} header. If these
119 aren't present, those two headers will be empty.
122 @node New News Message
123 @section New News Message
126 The @code{message-news} command pops up a new message buffer.
128 This function accepts two optional parameters. The first will be used
129 as the @code{Newsgroups} header and the second as the @code{Subject}
130 header. If these aren't present, those two headers will be empty.
136 @findex message-reply
137 The @code{message-reply} function pops up a message buffer that's a
138 reply to the message in the current buffer.
140 @vindex message-reply-to-function
141 Message uses the normal methods to determine where replies are to go,
142 but you can change the behavior to suit your needs by fiddling with the
143 @code{message-reply-to-function} variable.
145 If you want the replies to go to the @code{Sender} instead of the
146 @code{From}, you could do something like this:
149 (setq message-reply-to-function
151 (cond ((equal (mail-fetch-field "from") "somebody")
152 (mail-fetch-field "sender"))
157 This function will be called narrowed to the head of the article that is
160 As you can see, this function should return a string if it has an
161 opinion as to what the To header should be. If it does not, it should
162 just return @code{nil}, and the normal methods for determining the To
165 This function can also return a list. In that case, each list element
166 should be a cons, where the car should be the name of an header
167 (eg. @code{Cc}) and the cdr should be the header value
168 (eg. @samp{larsi@@ifi.uio.no}). All these headers will be inserted into
169 the head of the outgoing mail.
175 @findex message-wide-reply
176 The @code{message-wide-reply} pops up a message buffer that's a wide
177 reply to the message in the current buffer. A @dfn{wide reply} is a
178 reply that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From}
179 and @code{Cc} headers.
181 @vindex message-wide-reply-to-function
182 Message uses the normal methods to determine where wide replies are to go,
183 but you can change the behavior to suit your needs by fiddling with the
184 @code{message-wide-reply-to-function}. It is used in the same way as
185 @code{message-reply-to-function} (@pxref{Reply}).
187 @findex rmail-dont-reply-to-names
188 Addresses that match the @code{rmail-dont-reply-to-names} regular
189 expression will be removed from the @code{Cc} header.
195 @findex message-followup
196 The @code{message-followup} command pops up a message buffer that's a
197 followup to the message in the current buffer.
199 @vindex message-followup-to-function
200 Message uses the normal methods to determine where followups are to go,
201 but you can change the behavior to suit your needs by fiddling with the
202 @code{message-followup-to-function}. It is used in the same way as
203 @code{message-reply-to-function} (@pxref{Reply}).
205 @vindex message-use-followup-to
206 The @code{message-use-followup-to} variable says what to do about
207 @code{Followup-To} headers. If it is @code{use}, always use the value.
208 If it is @code{ask} (which is the default), ask whether to use the
209 value. If it is @code{t}, use the value unless it is @samp{poster}. If
210 it is @code{nil}, don't use the value.
214 @section Canceling News
216 @findex message-cancel-news
217 The @code{message-cancel-news} command cancels the article in the
224 @findex message-supersede
225 The @code{message-supersede} command pops up a message buffer that will
226 supersede the message in the current buffer.
228 @vindex message-ignored-supersedes-headers
229 Headers matching the @code{message-ignored-supersedes-headers} are
230 removed before popping up the new message buffer. The default is@*
231 @samp{^Path:\\|^Date\\|^NNTP-Posting-Host:\\|^Xref:\\|^Lines:\\|@*
232 ^Received:\\|^X-From-Line:\\|Return-Path:}.
239 @findex message-forward
240 The @code{message-forward} command pops up a message buffer to forward
241 the message in the current buffer. If given a prefix, forward using
245 @item message-forward-start-separator
246 @vindex message-forward-start-separator
247 Delimiter inserted before forwarded messages. The default is@*
248 @samp{------- Start of forwarded message -------\n}.
250 @vindex message-forward-end-separator
251 @item message-forward-end-separator
252 @vindex message-forward-end-separator
253 Delimiter inserted after forwarded messages. The default is@*
254 @samp{------- End of forwarded message -------\n}.
256 @item message-signature-before-forwarded-message
257 @vindex message-signature-before-forwarded-message
258 If this variable is @code{t}, which it is by default, your personal
259 signature will be inserted before the forwarded message. If not, the
260 forwarded message will be inserted first in the new mail.
262 @item message-included-forward-headers
263 @vindex message-included-forward-headers
264 Regexp matching header lines to be included in forwarded messages.
272 @findex message-resend
273 The @code{message-resend} command will prompt the user for an address
274 and resend the message in the current buffer to that address.
276 @vindex message-ignored-resent-headers
277 Headers that match the @code{message-ignored-resent-headers} regexp will
278 be removed before sending the message. The default is
279 @samp{^Return-receipt}.
285 @findex message-bounce
286 The @code{message-bounce} command will, if the current buffer contains a
287 bounced mail message, pop up a message buffer stripped of the bounce
288 information. A @dfn{bounced message} is typically a mail you've sent
289 out that has been returned by some @code{mailer-daemon} as
292 @vindex message-ignored-bounced-headers
293 Headers that match the @code{message-ignored-bounced-headers} regexp
294 will be removed before popping up the buffer. The default is
302 * Header Commands:: Commands for moving to headers.
303 * Movement:: Moving around in message buffers.
304 * Insertion:: Inserting things into message buffers.
305 * Various Commands:: Various things.
306 * Sending:: Actually sending the message.
307 * Mail Aliases:: How to use mail aliases.
311 @node Header Commands
312 @section Header Commands
314 All these commands move to the header in question. If it doesn't exist,
321 @findex message-goto-to
322 Describe the message mode.
326 @findex message-goto-to
327 Go to the @code{To} header (@code{message-goto-to}).
331 @findex message-goto-bcc
332 Go to the @code{Bcc} header (@code{message-goto-bcc}).
336 @findex message-goto-fcc
337 Go to the @code{Fcc} header (@code{message-goto-fcc}).
341 @findex message-goto-cc
342 Go to the @code{Cc} header (@code{message-goto-cc}).
346 @findex message-goto-subject
347 Go to the @code{Subject} header (@code{message-goto-subject}).
351 @findex message-goto-reply-to
352 Go to the @code{Reply-To} header (@code{message-goto-reply-to}).
356 @findex message-goto-newsgroups
357 Go to the @code{Newsgroups} header (@code{message-goto-newsgroups}).
361 @findex message-goto-distribution
362 Go to the @code{Distribution} header (@code{message-goto-distribution}).
366 @findex message-goto-followup-to
367 Go to the @code{Followup-To} header (@code{message-goto-followup-to}).
371 @findex message-goto-keywords
372 Go to the @code{Keywords} header (@code{message-goto-keywords}).
376 @findex message-goto-summary
377 Go to the @code{Summary} header (@code{message-goto-summary}).
388 @findex message-goto-body
389 Move to the beginning of the body of the message
390 (@code{message-goto-body}).
394 @findex message-goto-signature
395 Move to the signature of the message (@code{message-goto-signature}).
407 @findex message-yank-original
408 Yank the message that's being replied to into the message buffer
409 (@code{message-yank-original}).
413 @findex message-fill-yanked-message
414 Fill the yanked message (@code{message-fill-yanked-message}).
418 @findex message-insert-signature
419 Insert a signature at the end of the buffer
420 (@code{message-insert-signature}).
425 @item message-ignored-cited-headers
426 @vindex message-ignored-cited-headers
427 All headers that match this regexp will be removed from yanked
428 messages. The default is @samp{.}, which means that all headers will be
431 @item message-citation-line-function
432 @vindex message-citation-line-function
433 Function called to insert the citation line. The default is
434 @code{message-insert-citation-line}.
436 @item message-yank-prefix
437 @vindex message-yank-prefix
440 When you are replying to or following up an article, you normally want
441 to quote the person you are answering. Inserting quoted text is done by
442 @dfn{yanking}, and each quoted line you yank will have
443 @code{message-yank-prefix} prepended to it. The default is @samp{> }.
444 If it is @code{nil}, just indent the message.
446 @item message-indentation-spaces
447 @vindex message-indentation-spaces
448 Number of spaces to indent yanked messages.
450 @item message-cite-function
451 @vindex message-cite-function
452 @findex message-cite-original
453 @findex sc-cite-original
455 Function for citing an original message. The default is
456 @code{message-cite-original}. You can also set it to
457 @code{sc-cite-original} to use Supercite.
459 @item message-indent-citation-function
460 @vindex message-indent-citation-function
461 Function for modifying a citation just inserted in the mail buffer.
462 This can also be a list of functions. Each function can find the
463 citation between @code{(point)} and @code{(mark t)}. And each function
464 should leave point and mark around the citation text as modified.
466 @item message-signature
467 @vindex message-signature
468 String to be inserted at the end of the message buffer. If @code{t}
469 (which is the default), the @code{message-signature-file} file will be
470 inserted instead. If a function, the result from the function will be
471 used instead. If a form, the result from the form will be used instead.
472 If this variable is @code{nil}, no signature will be inserted at all.
474 @item message-signature-file
475 @vindex message-signature-file
476 File containing the signature to be inserted at the end of the buffer.
477 The default is @samp{~/.signature}.
481 Note that RFC1036 says that a signature should be preceded by the three
482 characters @samp{-- } on a line by themselves. This is to make it
483 easier for the recipient to automatically recognize and process the
484 signature. So don't remove those characters, even though you might feel
485 that they ruin your beautiful design, like, totally.
487 Also note that no signature should be more than four lines long.
488 Including ASCII graphics is an efficient way to get everybody to believe
489 that you are silly and have nothing important to say.
493 @node Various Commands
494 @section Various Commands
500 @findex message-caesar-buffer-body
501 Caesar rotate (aka. rot13) the current message
502 (@code{message-caesar-buffer-body}). If narrowing is in effect, just
503 rotate the visible portion of the buffer. A numerical prefix says how
504 many places to rotate the text. The default is 13.
508 @findex message-elide-region
509 Elide the text between point and mark (@code{message-elide-region}).
510 The text is killed and an ellipsis (@samp{[...]}) will be inserted in
515 @findex message-insert-to
516 Insert a @code{To} header that contains the @code{Reply-To} or
517 @code{From} header of the message you're following up
518 (@code{message-insert-to}).
522 @findex message-insert-newsgroups
523 Insert a @code{Newsgroups} header that reflects the @code{Followup-To}
524 or @code{Newsgroups} header of the article you're replying to
525 (@code{message-insert-newsgroups}).
529 @findex message-rename-buffer
530 Rename the buffer (@code{message-rename-buffer}). If given a prefix,
531 prompt for a new buffer name.
542 @findex message-send-and-exit
543 Send the message and bury the current buffer
544 (@code{message-send-and-exit}).
549 Send the message (@code{message-send}).
553 @findex message-dont-send
554 Bury the message buffer and exit (@code{message-dont-send}).
558 @findex message-kill-buffer
559 Kill the message buffer and exit (@code{message-kill-buffer}).
566 @section Mail Aliases
570 Message uses @code{mailabbrev} to handle mail aliases.
571 @code{mailabbrev} works by parsing the @file{/etc/mailrc} and
572 @file{~/.mailrc} files. These files look like:
575 alias lmi "Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@ifi.uio.no>"
576 alias ding "ding@@ifi.uio.no (ding mailing list)"
579 After adding lines like this to your @file{~/.mailrc} file, you should
580 be able to just write @samp{lmi} in the @code{To} or @code{Cc} (and so
581 on) headers and press @kbd{SPC} to expand the alias.
583 No expansion will be performed upon sending of the message---all
584 expansions have to be done explicitly.
592 * Message Headers:: General message header stuff.
593 * Mail Headers:: Customizing mail headers.
594 * Mail Variables:: Other mail variables.
595 * News Headers:: Customizing news headers.
596 * News Variables:: Other news variables.
597 * Various Message Variables:: Other message variables.
598 * Sending Variables:: Variables for sending.
599 * Message Buffers:: How Message names its buffers.
600 * Message Actions:: Actions to be performed when exiting.
604 @node Message Headers
605 @section Message Headers
607 Message is quite aggressive on the message generation front. It has
608 to be -- it's a combined news and mail agent. To be able to send
609 combined messages, it has to generate all headers itself to ensure that
610 mail and news copies of messages look sufficiently similar.
614 @item message-generate-headers-first
615 @vindex message-generate-headers-first
616 If non-@code{nil}, generate all headers before starting to compose the
619 @item message-from-style
620 @vindex message-from-style
621 Specifies how @code{From} headers should look. There are four legal
626 Just the address -- @samp{king@@grassland.com}.
629 @samp{king@@grassland.com (Elvis Parsley)}.
632 @samp{Elvis Parsley <king@@grassland.com>}.
635 Look like @code{angles} if that doesn't require quoting, and
636 @code{parens} if it does. If even @code{parens} requires quoting, use
637 @code{angles} anyway.
641 @item message-deletable-headers
642 @vindex message-deletable-headers
643 Headers in this list that were previously generated by Message will be
644 deleted before posting. Let's say you post an article. Then you decide
645 to post it again to some other group, you naughty boy, so you jump back
646 to the @code{*post-buf*} buffer, edit the @code{Newsgroups} line, and
647 ship it off again. By default, this variable makes sure that the old
648 generated @code{Message-ID} is deleted, and a new one generated. If
649 this isn't done, the entire empire would probably crumble, anarchy would
650 prevail, and cats would start walking on two legs and rule the world.
653 @item message-default-headers
654 @vindex message-default-headers
655 This string is inserted at the end of the headers in all message
662 @section Mail Headers
665 @item message-required-mail-headers
666 @vindex message-required-mail-headers
667 @xref{News Headers}, for the syntax of this variable. It is
668 @code{(From Date Subject (optional . In-Reply-To) Message-ID Lines
669 (optional . X-Mailer))} by default.
671 @item message-ignored-mail-headers
672 @vindex message-ignored-mail-headers
673 Regexp of headers to be removed before mailing. The default is
674 @samp{^Gcc:\\|^Fcc:}.
676 @item message-default-mail-headers
677 @vindex message-default-mail-headers
678 This string is inserted at the end of the headers in all message
679 buffers that are initialized as mail.
685 @section Mail Variables
688 @item message-send-mail-function
689 @vindex message-send-mail-function
690 Function used to send the current buffer as mail. The default is
691 @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}. If you prefer using MH
692 instead, set this variable to @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}.
694 @item message-mh-deletable-headers
695 @vindex message-mh-deletable-headers
696 Most versions of MH doesn't like being fed messages that contain the
697 headers in this variable. If this variable is non-@code{nil} (which is
698 the default), these headers will be removed before mailing. Set it to
699 @code{nil} if your MH can handle these headers.
705 @section News Headers
707 @vindex message-required-news-headers
708 @code{message-required-news-headers} a list of header symbols. These
709 headers will either be automatically generated, or, if that's
710 impossible, they will be prompted for. The following symbols are legal:
716 @findex user-full-name
717 @findex user-mail-address
718 This required header will be filled out with the result of the
719 @code{message-make-from} function, which depends on the
720 @code{message-from-style}, @code{user-full-name},
721 @code{user-mail-address} variables.
725 This required header will be prompted for if not present already.
729 This required header says which newsgroups the article is to be posted
730 to. If it isn't present already, it will be prompted for.
734 This optional header will be filled out depending on the
735 @code{message-user-organization} variable.
736 @code{message-user-organization-file} will be used if this variable is
737 @code{t}. This variable can also be a string (in which case this string
738 will be used), or it can be a function (which will be called with no
739 parameters and should return a string to be used).
743 This optional header will be computed by Message.
747 @vindex mail-host-address
750 This required header will be generated by Message. A unique ID will be
751 created based on the date, time, user name and system name. Message will
752 use @code{mail-host-address} as the fully qualified domain name (FQDN)
753 of the machine if that variable is defined. If not, it will use
754 @code{system-name}, which doesn't report a FQDN on some machines --
759 This optional header will be filled out according to the
760 @code{message-newsreader} local variable.
763 This optional header will be filled out according to the
764 @code{message-mailer} local variable, unless there already is an
765 @code{X-Newsreader} header present.
768 This optional header is filled out using the @code{Date} and @code{From}
769 header of the article being replied to.
773 This extremely optional header will be inserted according to the
774 @code{message-expires} variable. It is highly deprecated and shouldn't
775 be used unless you know what you're doing.
779 This optional header is filled out according to the
780 @code{message-distribution-function} variable. It is a deprecated and
781 much misunderstood header.
785 This extremely optional header should probably never be used.
786 However, some @emph{very} old servers require that this header is
787 present. @code{message-user-path} further controls how this
788 @code{Path} header is to look. If it is @code{nil}, use the server name
789 as the leaf node. If it is a string, use the string. If it is neither
790 a string nor @code{nil}, use the user name only. However, it is highly
791 unlikely that you should need to fiddle with this variable at all.
796 In addition, you can enter conses into this list. The car of this cons
797 should be a symbol. This symbol's name is the name of the header, and
798 the cdr can either be a string to be entered verbatim as the value of
799 this header, or it can be a function to be called. This function should
800 return a string to be inserted. For instance, if you want to insert
801 @code{Mime-Version: 1.0}, you should enter @code{(Mime-Version . "1.0")}
802 into the list. If you want to insert a funny quote, you could enter
803 something like @code{(X-Yow . yow)} into the list. The function
804 @code{yow} will then be called without any arguments.
806 If the list contains a cons where the car of the cons is
807 @code{optional}, the cdr of this cons will only be inserted if it is
810 Other variables for customizing outgoing news articles:
814 @item message-syntax-checks
815 @vindex message-syntax-checks
816 If non-@code{nil}, Message will attempt to check the legality of the
817 headers, as well as some other stuff, before posting. You can control
818 the granularity of the check by adding or removing elements from this
819 list. Legal elements are:
823 Check the subject for commands.
826 Insert a new @code{Sender} header if the @code{From} header looks odd.
827 @item multiple-headers
828 Check for the existence of multiple equal headers.
831 Check for the existence of version and sendsys commands.
833 Check whether the @code{Message-ID} looks ok.
835 Check whether the @code{From} header seems nice.
838 Check for too long lines.
840 Check for illegal characters.
842 Check for excessive size.
844 Check whether there is any new text in the messages.
846 Check the length of the signature.
849 Check whether the article has an @code{Approved} header, which is
850 something only moderators should include.
852 Check whether the article is empty.
854 Check whether any of the headers are empty.
855 @item existing-newsgroups
856 Check whether the newsgroups mentioned in the @code{Newsgroups} and
857 @code{Followup-To} headers exist.
858 @item valid-newsgroups
859 Check whether the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-to} headers
860 are valid syntactically.
861 @item shorten-followup-to
862 Check whether to add a @code{Followup-to} header to shorten the number
863 of groups to post to.
866 All these conditions are checked by default.
868 @item message-ignored-news-headers
869 @vindex message-ignored-news-headers
870 Regexp of headers to be removed before posting. The default is@*
871 @samp{^NNTP-Posting-Host:\\|^Xref:\\|^Bcc:\\|^Gcc:\\|^Fcc:}.
873 @item message-default-news-headers
874 @vindex message-default-news-headers
875 This string is inserted at the end of the headers in all message
876 buffers that are initialized as news.
882 @section News Variables
885 @item message-send-news-function
886 @vindex message-send-news-function
887 Function used to send the current buffer as news. The default is
888 @code{message-send-news}.
890 @item message-post-method
891 @vindex message-post-method
892 Method used for posting a prepared news message.
897 @node Various Message Variables
898 @section Various Message Variables
901 @item message-signature-separator
902 @vindex message-signature-separator
903 Regexp matching the signature separator. It is @samp{^-- *$} by
906 @item mail-header-separator
907 @vindex mail-header-separator
908 String used to separate the headers from the body. It is @samp{--text
909 follows this line--} by default.
911 @item message-directory
912 @vindex message-directory
913 Directory used by many mailey things. The default is @file{~/Mail/}.
915 @item message-autosave-directory
916 @vindex message-autosave-directory
917 Directory where message buffers will be autosaved to.
919 @item message-signature-setup-hook
920 @vindex message-signature-setup-hook
921 Hook run when initializing the message buffer. It is run after the
922 headers have been inserted but before the signature has been inserted.
924 @item message-setup-hook
925 @vindex message-setup-hook
926 Hook run as the last thing when the message buffer has been initialized.
928 @item message-header-setup-hook
929 @vindex message-header-setup-hook
930 Hook called narrowed to the headers after initializing the headers.
932 For instance, if you're running Gnus and wish to insert a
933 @samp{Mail-Copies-To} header in all your news articles and all messages
934 you send to mailing lists, you could do something like the following:
937 (defun my-message-header-setup-hook ()
938 (let ((group (or gnus-newsgroup-name "")))
939 (when (or (message-fetch-field "newsgroups")
940 (gnus-group-find-parameter group 'to-address)
941 (gnus-group-find-parameter group 'to-list))
942 (insert "Mail-Copies-To: never\n"))))
944 (add-hook 'message-header-setup-hook 'my-message-header-setup-hook)
947 @item message-send-hook
948 @vindex message-send-hook
949 Hook run before sending messages.
951 @item message-send-mail-hook
952 @vindex message-send-mail-hook
953 Hook run before sending mail messages.
955 @item message-send-news-hook
956 @vindex message-send-news-hook
957 Hook run before sending news messages.
959 @item message-sent-hook
960 @vindex message-sent-hook
961 Hook run after sending messages.
963 @item message-mode-syntax-table
964 @vindex message-mode-syntax-table
965 Syntax table used in message mode buffers.
971 @node Sending Variables
972 @section Sending Variables
976 @item message-fcc-handler-function
977 @vindex message-fcc-handler-function
978 A function called to save outgoing articles. This function will be
979 called with the name of the file to store the article in. The default
980 function is @code{rmail-output} which saves in Unix mailbox format.
982 @item message-courtesy-message
983 @vindex message-courtesy-message
984 When sending combined messages, this string is inserted at the start of
985 the mailed copy. If the string contains the format spec @samp{%s}, the
986 newsgroups the article has been posted to will be inserted there. If
987 this variable is @code{nil}, no such courtesy message will be added.
988 The default value is @samp{"The following message is a courtesy copy of
989 an article\nthat has been posted to %s as well.\n\n"}.
994 @node Message Buffers
995 @section Message Buffers
997 Message will generate new buffers with unique buffer names when you
998 request a message buffer. When you send the message, the buffer isn't
999 normally killed off. Its name is changed and a certain number of old
1000 message buffers are kept alive.
1003 @item message-generate-new-buffers
1004 @vindex message-generate-new-buffers
1005 If non-@code{nil}, generate new buffers. The default is @code{t}. If
1006 this is a function, call that function with three parameters: The type,
1007 the to address and the group name. (Any of these may be @code{nil}.)
1008 The function should return the new buffer name.
1010 @item message-max-buffers
1011 @vindex message-max-buffers
1012 This variable says how many old message buffers to keep. If there are
1013 more message buffers than this, the oldest buffer will be killed. The
1014 default is 10. If this variable is @code{nil}, no old message buffers
1015 will ever be killed.
1017 @item message-send-rename-function
1018 @vindex message-send-rename-function
1019 After sending a message, the buffer is renamed from, for instance,
1020 @samp{*reply to Lars*} to @samp{*sent reply to Lars*}. If you don't
1021 like this, set this variable to a function that renames the buffer in a
1022 manner you like. If you don't want to rename the buffer at all, you can
1026 (setq message-send-rename-function 'ignore)
1029 @item message-kill-buffer-on-exit
1030 @findex message-kill-buffer-on-exit
1031 If non-@code{nil}, kill the buffer immediately on exit.
1036 @node Message Actions
1037 @section Message Actions
1039 When Message is being used from a news/mail reader, the reader is likely
1040 to want to perform some task after the message has been sent. Perhaps
1041 return to the previous window configuration or mark an article as
1044 @vindex message-kill-actions
1045 @vindex message-postpone-actions
1046 @vindex message-exit-actions
1047 @vindex message-send-actions
1048 The user may exit from the message buffer in various ways. The most
1049 common is @kbd{C-c C-c}, which sends the message and exits. Other
1050 possibilities are @kbd{C-c C-s} which just sends the message, @kbd{C-c
1051 C-d} which postpones the message editing and buries the message buffer,
1052 and @kbd{C-c C-k} which kills the message buffer. Each of these actions
1053 have lists associated with them that contains actions to be executed:
1054 @code{message-send-actions}, @code{message-exit-actions},
1055 @code{message-postpone-actions}, and @code{message-kill-actions}.
1057 Message provides a function to interface with these lists:
1058 @code{message-add-action}. The first parameter is the action to be
1059 added, and the rest of the arguments are which lists to add this action
1060 to. Here's an example from Gnus:
1064 `(set-window-configuration ,(current-window-configuration))
1065 'exit 'postpone 'kill)
1068 This restores the Gnus window configuration when the message buffer is
1069 killed, postponed or exited.
1071 An @dfn{action} can be either: a normal function, or a list where the
1072 @code{car} is a function and the @code{cdr} is the list of arguments, or
1073 a form to be @code{eval}ed.
1077 @chapter Compatibility
1078 @cindex compatibility
1080 Message uses virtually only its own variables---older @code{mail-}
1081 variables aren't consulted. To force Message to take those variables
1082 into account, you can put the following in your @code{.emacs} file:
1085 (require 'messcompat)
1088 This will initialize many Message variables from the values in the
1089 corresponding mail variables.