Re: [External] : Re: Package cl is deprecated

[Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de>]

Hongyi Zhao <hongyi.zhao@gmail.com> writes:

> But, BTW, I haven't done any configuration for gnus [1], but instead,
> I noticed the following `custom-set-variables' setting in my
> `~/.emacs.d/init.el':
>
> '(send-mail-function 'mailclient-send-it)
>
> If I want to use gnus to do the job through my Gmail account, what
> adjustments should I make?

If you don't get satisfying answers here, emacs.gnus.user and
emacs.gnus.general are Gnus specific groups to ask.

I am using Gnus.  M-x emacs-bug-report still doesn't start Gnus, I get a
buffer in message-mode instead.  You get the same when starting to
compose a new message from within Gnus.

You might want to start with one of the tasks (1) sending Email from
Emacs and (2) reading Email and News using Gnus.

For sending mail, AFAIR you need a sendmail program installed (or did
this change...? I don't reacall).  I installed esmtp since it's easy to
configure it.  I have a ~/.authinfo.gpg with servers, usernames and
passwords (including the smtp-Server I use for sending mails), and, I
guess, that's already all I config needed outside Emacs.

Then some basic setup like

(setq-default
 send-mail-function #'smtpmail-send-it
 mail-user-agent 'gnus-user-agent
 user-mail-address ... )

You will want to store Email addresses somewhere, there are multiple
solutions for that (EBDB, BBDB, Org, probably more).

For basic stuff, i.e. unless you want to use Gnus more or less as your
one and only mail reader, you can also choose a more lightweight
approach inside Emacs, instead of Gnus.

If you do want to use Gnus, there is some more setup involved, but it is
not harder to setup than other mail readers if you are used to Emacs.

There is a cool gnus-mock called package for testing purposes available
in Gnu Elpa that always starts with the same basic but functional setup,
if you just want to try out how it looks like, and try out first
settings.

Gnus then has its own `gnus-init-file', that's where your Gnus specific
settings would go.

Some variables you probably want to set:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
(setq-default
 mail-sources '((file :path "/var/mail/my-user-name")) ;"system" mail
 gnus-message-archive-method ;where stuff is saved
 '(nnml "archive"
	(nnml-directory "~/Mail/archive/")
	(nnml-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
	(nnml-newsgroups-file "~/Mail/archive/newsgroups"))
 gnus-message-archive-group "sent" ;your sent mails go there
 mail-archive-file-name nil ;have forgotten why I have this
 gnus-article-save-directory (expand-file-name "~/Mail/archive/read/")
 nntp-authinfo-file          (expand-file-name "~/.authinfo.gpg"); see above
 message-directory           (expand-file-name "~/Mail/")

 epa-file-cache-passphrase-for-symmetric-encryption t

 gnus-secondary-select-methods
 '((nnimap "Michael_Heerdegen@web.de"
	   (nnimap-address "imap.web.de"))
   (nntp "Gmane" (nntp-address "news.gmane.io"))
   (nntp "news.gnus.org"))
 gnus-select-method (car gnus-secondary-select-methods)

 gnus-default-article-saver #'gnus-summary-save-in-folder

 gnus-blocked-images #'gnus-block-private-groups)
#+end_src

Could be that there are some redundancies, and you want to use your own
Email addresses (I guess).

That's the answer to the question what you would have to do.  There are
probably lots of good "How to get started" manuals out there, and the
Gnus manual itself is written in a nice and funny way, don't hesitate to
read at length.


Michael.