Re: VM and subject lines (was: Re: [Q]VC mode)

[Brenda J. Butler]

Kai suggested:

> Hm.  Idea: you could put the header "Fcc: /tmp/bla" into a test
> message, then VM will write a copy of the outgoing message into the
> file /tmp/bla.  Have a close look at the file.  If that file looks
> okay, but the email itself is b0rken, then your MTA (sendmail,
> postfix, qmail, ...) must be hosing the message.

Ok, I tried this and the message looks normal in the FCC
file.

However, sending messages using the command-line /bin/mail utility
and the -s switch for the subject results in normal messages too.

I guess maybe the interface between emacs and the mailer is
messed up - perhaps my emacs variables are not set correctly?
What variables should I be looking for?  AFAICS, it is not
vm itself that hands off messages to the MTA but some pre-existing
mailing capability in emacs, and I don't know all those variables.
What lisp library should I look in?  Hmm, I see two functions
in my emacs (gnu, 20.5.1):

send-mail-using-mail
send-mail-using-sendmail

The C-h v page says each comes from the "sendmail-fix"
library, which I take to be the sendmail-fix.el or sendmail-fix.elc
file, but I don't see such a file in the /usr/share/emacs directory
(where the lisp files are).  There is a sendmail.el library.

My tags file does not exist - I may or may not be able to get
the sysadmin to make one.  Hmm, can I create a tags file that
exists in my account, but references files in /usr/share/emacs?

How can I tell which MTA my emacs is currently using?  I suppose
I should try sending mail with each one and see what happens.
exit vm
call send-mail-using-mail
re-invoke vm and send message

results in a message like this after being received:
----------------------------------
Subject:                            <- empty
Date: (looks normal)
From:  (looks normal)
To:  (looks normal)
                                    <- end hdrs/beg.body
MIME-Version:1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Message-ID:  (looks normal)
Date:  (looks normal)
~t
~s test #16 "send-mail-using-mail"  <- my subject
Reply-To: (looks normal)



Try sending a mail after exiting vm, calling
send-mail-using-mail, and re-invoking vm.

--
sig file
----------------------------------

exit vm again
call send-mail-using-sendmail
re-invoke vm again and send a message

results in a message like this after being received:
----------------------------------
woo-hooo!!!  A normal-looking message!
----------------------------------


What are the implications of using sendmail instead of mail?
Will this give me problems when I start using bbdb?

Funny that sending mail using "/bin/mail" on the command line
resulted in a normal message but sending it from vm using mail
resulted in a headers-screwed-up message.

Could someone comment?  I'd like to fix my installation
if it's broken (besides just switching to sendmail).

Thanks for your help so far, and TIA for any future help.

-- 
Brenda

Hmm, found feedmail.  Will look at it.
Anyone care to say anything about the history of the various
mail programs in emacs, to shed some light for us newbies?