Emacs 21.2, smtpmail, and vm

[Chris Hall <hall.cj@verizon.net>]

I'm baaaack!

Well, after many more hours futzin' around with smtpmail and vm in my
beeeyoootiful new Emacs 21.2, I *still* can't get it work, but I do
have some feedback on the recent CVS version of smtpmail, if anyone is
interested.

BTW, 1) I am *not* what anyone would proficient in elisp, but I do
have a some degree of familiarity with it, 2) I'm a bit curious as to
why elisp CVS files don't contain their version - I got the most
recent version of sendmail and smtpmail 3 or 4 nights ago.

Situation : my ISP requires AUTH LOGIN PLAIN.  I use VM as my mail
reader.  I can read my mail no problem.  Sending it though . . .

If I set smtpmail-auth-credentials as specified in the smtpmail
preface comments, '("smtp hostname" 25 "username" "passord")'
smtpmail-try-auth-methods won't find *any* credentials, and
immediately sends 'MAIL FROM:' to my ISP, which then says
'authorization required', and closes the connection.

If I set credentials to a .netrc file (!) (after of course returning
to CVS, getting a copy of netrc.el and putting it in my load-path), I
get prompted for a password, even though it is already in .netrc, and
authentication proceeds - the smtp trace buffer shows the base64
exchange between vm and my ISP.

smtpmail then blows off with an argument mismatch somewhere in
smtpmail-try-auth-methods : 'smtpmail-try-auth-methods: Wrong type
argument : stringp, nil'.

So close!

FWIW, I commented out the last step in smtpmail-try-auth-methods (save
the password) and still got the same error.

My friends are irritated with me - I have spent so much time on this
(well, mail systems and RFCs in general too, to be honest), that I
have been neglecting our server, so I'll try again maybe in a week or
two.  (They don't seem to find mail systems nearly as interesting as I
have lately.)

Or not: I can successfully mail to our server using vm/smtpmail (over
port-forwarded ssh, of course!), and I think I'll set up our Postfix
to relay appropriate mail to my ISP. And maybe have my ISP forward my
mail to our server.

And Simon, if you read this, I tried the patched version from your
website: it didn't seem to support AUTH LOGIN, only AUTH CRAM-MD5,
though the CVS version I'm using now does.

-- 
"No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst of continual
warfare."  -- James Madison, Secretary of State to Mr. Jefferson, and
4th President "My confidence is that there will for a long time be
virtue and good sense enough in our countrymen to correct abuses."
--Thomas Jefferson to Edward Rutledge, 1788. ME 7:81