Re: RMS Setup

[Robert Thorpe <rt@robertthorpeconsulting.com>]

> This guide is a bit opaque, calling outside scripts and assuming one
> has read the man page. It reminds me of the cross-reference-heavy Arch
> Wiki, as opposed to the self-contained FreeBSD Handbook.

I have no idea exactly what setup RMS used, but I know how to setup
Rmail.  It's not very difficult to setup these days.  Here is the way I
recommend:

* 1. Install GNU Mailutils.

This is because it's much better than the version that comes with
Emacs.  It handles IMAP and some other things.

Your distro will have it, so use your distro's package manager.

* 2. Setup Rmail details.

Add the following to your init.el file:
(setq rmail-primary-inbox-list
      (cons (concat "<PROTOCOL>"
		    "<LOGIN>"
		    "@<SERVER>")
	    nil))

<PROTOCOL> should be pop:// if you use POP or imap:// if you use IMAP>

<LOGIN> this is the username for your mail server.  If it contains the
symbol "@" you have to replace that with %40.

<SERVER> is your email server (e.g. mail.someisp.com).

Now you've setup Rmail which only *receives* mail.

* 3. Setup sending mail.

This really has nothing to do with Rmail.  You can send mail with Emacs
even if you don't receive mail with Emacs (and vice versa).

(setq send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)
(setq smtpmail-smtp-server "<SMTP SERVER>")

Here <STMP SERVER> will be something like smtp.someisp.com.

(setq user-mail-address "<EMAIL ADDRESS>")
(setq smtpmail-smtp-service <PORT>)

<PORT> is the port your ISP uses.  That used to always be 25, now it is
often something different like 587.

....

After all that you can tweak things.  You might want to add a
".authinfo" file to contain your SMTP server login details so you don't
have to enter them every time you send a mail.  You might also want to add a
".mu-tickets" file so you don't have to enter your POP server login
details every time you start Rmail.

The variables mail-default-headers, rmail-delete-after-output,
rmail-output-file-alist and rmail-automatic-folder-directives can be
useful for tweaking things.  The Rmail section of the Emacs manual
describes them all.  You also might want to customize send-mail-function
to something else.

BR,
Robert Thorpe