Re: RMAIL settings [was: Re: w32 does not have emacsclient/server]

[Robert J. Chassell]

   >  ;; Set this value so that the From field is correct
   >  (setq mail-host-address "address@hidden")

   Thanks for the code. Could you give me a hint why the first should be 
   set? 

Thank you for causing me to look into `mail-host-address' more
thoroughly.  Actually, I am not sure why that expression has the user
name in it.  It has been in my .emacs file for a long time.  It is a
mistake.

The reason I set the value was that From fields have been wrong and
that string, which is the email address, has not caused me trouble.
But the documentation points out that it is only the name of the
machine.

Looking at the code in emacs/lisp/startup.el, the reason it has not
caused me trouble is that I also set `user-mail-address'.  I am going
to change `mail-host-address' to get rid of the user name.

Indeed, if you let `user-mail-address' define itself using
`mail-host-address', that variable had better be only the part of the
address after the `@'.  Otherwise, you will get a second user name and
`@' in the `user-mail-address'.

The code for `user-mail-address' is to

    (concat (user-login-name) "@" (or mail-host-address (system-name)))

or else set the `user-mail-address' variable yourself.

On my system, `(system-name)' regularly gives a name I do not want;
and when I am running as `root' or some other user, (user-login-name)
also is undesired.  So I cannot let `user-mail-address' be set
automatically.

As far as I can see, `mail-host-address' is irrelevant when
`user-mail-address' is set.  Perhaps, I should just avoid setting it
at all.

Then the variables that that I think are salient to a .emacs file and
that should be the same regardless of operating system would be:

    user-mail-address
    mail-default-reply-to

    rmail-delete-after-output
    rmail-confirm-expunge
    rmail-display-summary

    rmail-pop-password-required
    rmail-pop-password
    rmail-preserve-inbox

-- 
    Robert J. Chassell                         
    address@hidden                         GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
    http://www.rattlesnake.com                  http://www.teak.cc