comparison man/sending.texi @ 49923:6977eaede7a8

Remove SMTP section. Document send-mail-function and refer to the Emacs SMTP Library manual.

49922:d278896aa13f

* Headers: Mail Headers.     Details of permitted mail header fields.
* Aliases: Mail Aliases.     Abbreviating and grouping mail addresses.
* Mode: Mail Mode.	     Special commands for editing mail being composed.
* Amuse: Mail Amusements.    Distracting the NSA; adding fortune messages.
* Methods: Mail Methods.     Using alternative mail-composition methods.
* SMTP: Sending via SMTP.    Sending mail via SMTP.
@end menu

@node Mail Format
@section The Format of the Mail Buffer

@code{sendmail-coding-system} (@pxref{Recognize Coding}).

  If the coding system thus determined does not handle the characters in
a particular message, Emacs asks you to select the coding system to use,
showing a list of possible coding systems.

@node Header Editing
@subsection Mail Header Editing

  Mail mode provides special commands to move to particular header

  If you select a different mail-composition method, the information
in this chapter about the @samp{*mail*} buffer and Mail mode does not
apply; the other methods use a different format of text in a different
buffer, and their commands are different as well.

@node Sending via SMTP
@section Sending via SMTP
@cindex SMTP

   On the Internet, mail is sent from host to host using the simple
mail transfer protocol (SMTP).  When you read and write mail you are
using a mail program that does not use SMTP -- it just reads mails
from files.  This is called a mail user agent (MUA).  The mail
transfer agent (MTA) is the program that accepts mails via SMTP and
stores them in files.  You also need a mail transfer agent when you
send mails.  Your mail program has to send its mail to a MTA that can
pass it on using SMTP.

   Emacs includes a package for sending your mail to a SMTP server and
have it take care of delivering it to the final destination, rather
than letting the MTA on your local system take care of it.  This can
be useful if you don't have a MTA set up on your host, or if your
machine is often disconnected from the Internet.

  Sending mail via SMTP requires configuring your mail user agent
(@pxref{Mail Methods}) to use the SMTP library.  How to do this should
be described for each mail user agent; for the Message and Gnus user
agents the variable @code{message-send-mail-function} (@pxref{Mail
Variables,,,message}) is used.

@vindex send-mail-function
  The variable @code{send-mail-function} controls how the default mail
user agent sends mail.  It should be set to a function.  The default
is @code{sendmail-send-it}, but must be set to @code{smtpmail-send-it}
in order to use the SMTP library.  @code{feedmail-send-it} is another
option.

  Before using SMTP you must find out the hostname of the SMTP server
to use.  Your system administrator should provide you with this
information, but often it is the same as the server you receive mail
from.

@vindex smtpmail-smtp-server
  The variable @code{smtpmail-smtp-server} controls the hostname of
the server to use.  It is a string with an IP address or hostname.  It
defaults to the contents of the @code{SMTPSERVER} environment
variable, or, if empty, the contents of
@code{smtpmail-default-smtp-server}.

@vindex smtpmail-default-smtp-server
  The variable @code{smtpmail-default-smtp-server} controls the
default hostname of the server to use.  It is a string with an IP
address or hostname.  It must be set before the SMTP library is
loaded.  It has no effect if set after the SMTP library has been
loaded, or if @code{smtpmail-smtp-server} is defined.  It is usually
set by system administrators in a site wide initialization file.

@cindex Mail Submission
SMTP is normally used on the registered ``smtp'' TCP service port 25.
Some environments use SMTP in ``Mail Submission'' mode, which uses
port 587.  Using other ports is not uncommon, either for security by
obscurity purposes, port forwarding, or otherwise.

@vindex smtpmail-smtp-service
  The variable @code{smtpmail-smtp-service} controls the port on the
server to contact.  It is either a string, in which case it will be
translated into an integer using system calls, or an integer.

Many environments require SMTP clients to authenticate themselves
before they are allowed to route mail via a server.  The two following
variables contains the authentication information needed for this.
The first variable, @code{smtpmail-auth-credentials}, instructs the
SMTP library to use a SASL authentication step, currently only the
CRAM-MD5, PLAIN and LOGIN-MD5 mechanisms are supported and will be
selected in that order if the server supports them.  The second
variable, @code{smtpmail-starttls-credentials}, instructs the SMTP
library to connect to the server using STARTTLS.  This means the
protocol exchange can be integrity protected and confidential by using
TLS, and optionally also authentication of the client.  It is common
to use both these mechanisms, e.g. to use STARTTLS to achieve
integrity and confidentiality and then use SASL for client
authentication.

@vindex smtpmail-auth-credentials
  The variable @code{smtpmail-auth-credentials} contains a list of
hostname, port, username and password tuples.  When the SMTP library
connects to a host on a certain port, this variable is searched to
find a matching entry for that hostname and port.  If an entry is
found, the authentication process is invoked and the credentials are
used.  The hostname field follows the same format as
@code{smtpmail-smtp-server} (i.e., a string) and the port field the
same format as @code{smtpmail-smtp-service} (i.e., a string or an
integer).  The username and password fields, which either can be
@samp{nil} to indicate that the user is queried for the value
interactively, should be strings with the username and password,
respectively, information that is normally provided by system
administrators.

@vindex smtpmail-starttls-credentials
  The variable @code{smtpmail-starttls-credentials} contains a list of
tuples with hostname, port, name of file containing client key, and
name of file containing client certificate.  The processing is similar
to the previous variable.  The client key and certificate may be
@samp{nil} if you do not wish to use client authentication.  The use
of this variable requires the @samp{starttls} external program to be
installed, you can get it from
@samp{ftp://ftp.opaopa.org/pub/elisp/starttls-*.tar.gz}.

The remaining variables are more esoteric and is normally not needed.

@vindex smtpmail-debug-info
  The variable @code{smtpmail-debug-info} controls whether to print
the SMTP protocol exchange in the minibuffer, and retain the entire
exchange in a buffer @samp{*trace of SMTP session to
mail.example.org*}.

@vindex smtpmail-debug-verb
  The variable @code{smtpmail-debug-verb} controls whether to send the
VERB token to the server.  The VERB server instructs the server to be
more verbose, and often also to attempt final delivery while your SMTP
session is still running.  It is usually only useful together with
@code{smtpmail-debug-info}.  Note that this may cause mail delivery to
take considerable time if the final destination cannot accept mail.

@vindex smtpmail-local-domain
  The variable @code{smtpmail-local-domain} controls the hostname sent
in the first EHLO or HELO command sent to the server.  It should only
be set if the @code{system-name} function returns a name that isn't
accepted by the server.  Do not set this variable unless your server
complains.

@vindex smtpmail-sendto-domain
  The variable @code{smtpmail-sendto-domain} makes the SMTP library
add @samp{@@} and the specified value to recipients specified in the
message when they are sent using the RCPT TO command.  Some
configurations of sendmail requires this behaviour.  Don't bother to
set this unless you have get an error like:

@example
	Sending failed; SMTP protocol error
@end example

when sending mail, and the *trace of SMTP session to <somewhere>*
buffer (enabled via @code{smtpmail-debug-info}) includes an exchange
like:

@example
	RCPT TO: <someone>
	501 <someone>: recipient address must contain a domain
@end example

@vindex smtpmail-queue-mail
  The variable @code{smtpmail-queue-mail} controls whether a simple
off line mail sender is active.  This variable is a boolean, and
defaults to @samp{nil} (disabled).  If this is non-nil, mail is not
sent immediately but rather queued in the directory
@code{smtpmail-queue-dir} and can be later sent manually by invoking
@code{smtpmail-send-queued-mail} (typically when you connect to the
Internet).

@vindex smtpmail-queue-dir
  The variable @code{smtpmail-queue-dir} specifies the name of the
directory to hold queued messages.  It defaults to
@samp{~/Mail/queued-mail/}.

@findex smtpmail-send-queued-mail
  The function @code{smtpmail-send-queued-mail} can be used to send
any queued mail when @code{smtpmail-queue-mail} is enabled.  It is
typically invoked interactively with @kbd{M-x RET
smtpmail-send-queued-mail RET} when you are connected to the Internet.

49923:6977eaede7a8

* Headers: Mail Headers.     Details of permitted mail header fields.
* Aliases: Mail Aliases.     Abbreviating and grouping mail addresses.
* Mode: Mail Mode.	     Special commands for editing mail being composed.
* Amuse: Mail Amusements.    Distracting the NSA; adding fortune messages.
* Methods: Mail Methods.     Using alternative mail-composition methods.
@end menu

@node Mail Format
@section The Format of the Mail Buffer

@code{sendmail-coding-system} (@pxref{Recognize Coding}).

  If the coding system thus determined does not handle the characters in
a particular message, Emacs asks you to select the coding system to use,
showing a list of possible coding systems.

@cindex SMTP
@cindex Feedmail
@cindex Sendmail
@vindex send-mail-function
  The variable @code{send-mail-function} controls how the default mail
user agent sends mail.  It should be set to a function.  The default
is @code{sendmail-send-it}, which delivers mail using the Sendmail
installation on the local host.  To send mail through a SMTP server,
set it to @code{smtpmail-send-it} and set up the Emacs SMTP library
(@pxref{Sending mail via SMTP,,,smtpmail}).  A third option is
@code{feedmail-send-it}, see the commentary section of the
@file{feedmail.el} package for more information.

@node Header Editing
@subsection Mail Header Editing

  Mail mode provides special commands to move to particular header

  If you select a different mail-composition method, the information
in this chapter about the @samp{*mail*} buffer and Mail mode does not
apply; the other methods use a different format of text in a different
buffer, and their commands are different as well.