bug#46029: 27.1; mail-archive-file-name cannot be changed once it is set.

bug#46029: 27.1; mail-archive-file-name cannot be changed once it is set.

[Muto]

This bug occurs even if I disable my configuration. The variable
'mail-archive-file-name' can be set, but never re-set afterwards
(setting it to nil before providing a new value does not work, either).

I use rmail and Mailutils to check my email, and I switch back and forth
between two accounts by using the following functions:

;; My first account
(defun mail-muto ()
  (interactive)
  (setq
   rmail-primary-inbox-list
   (list (concat "imaps://shack%40muto.ca"
		 "@mail.gandi.net"))
   rmail-file-name "~/.emacs.d/mymail/muto/muto"
   rmail-default-file "~/.emacs.d/mymail/muto/muto"
   mail-archive-file-name "~/.emacs.d/mymail/muto/sent"
   user-mail-address "shack@muto.ca"
   user-full-name "Muto"
   smtpmail-default-smtp-server "mail.gandi.net"
   message-signature "Rock on! -Muto\nhttps://muto.ca")
   (message "%s"(propertize "Email account: Muto")))

;; A second account that is uses all the same variables.
(defun mail-muto2 ()
  (interactive)
  (setq
   rmail-primary-inbox-list
   (list (concat "imaps://muto2%40example.com"
		 "@mail.example.com"))
   rmail-file-name "~/.emacs.d/mymail/muto2/muto2"
   rmail-default-file "~/.emacs.d/mymail/muto2/muto2"
   mail-archive-file-name "~/.emacs.d/mymail/muto2/sent"
   user-mail-address "muto2@example.com"
   user-full-name "Muto2"
   smtpmail-default-smtp-server "mail.example.com"
   message-signature "Regards, -Muto2. ")
  (message "%s"(propertize "Email account: Muto2")))

;; End of code snippit

If I activate my first account with:
  M-x mail-muto
and start a new email with
  C-x m
The Fcc line will look correct.

But after that, if I use
  M-x mail-muto2
And start writing a new email, my signature, return address, and full
name are updated, but my Fcc still has the old value of:
  "~/.emacs.d/mymail/muto/sent"
instead of the desired value:
  "~/.emacs.d/mymail/muto2/sent"

This bug works the other way around (loading account 2 first), and it
also occurs when I use 'mail-default-headers' instead of
'mail-archive-file-name'. 




In GNU Emacs 27.1 (build 1, x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.24.23, cairo version 1.16.0)
Windowing system distributor 'The X.Org Foundation', version 11.0.12009000
System Description: Linux Mint 20.1

Recent messages:
Loading /home/melon/.emacs.d/custom.el (source)...
Loading paren...done
Loading /home/melon/.emacs.d/custom.el (source)...done
Starting Emacs daemon.
When done with this frame, type C-x 5 0
Email account: Muto
Making completion list...

Configured using:
 'configure
 CONFIG_SHELL=/gnu/store/pwcp239kjf7lnj5i4lkdzcfcxwcfyk72-bash-minimal-5.0.16/bin/bash
 SHELL=/gnu/store/pwcp239kjf7lnj5i4lkdzcfcxwcfyk72-bash-minimal-5.0.16/bin/bash
 --prefix=/gnu/store/8s3kp73c9qds8ychbhnk2h9b30aa84aa-emacs-27.1
 --enable-fast-install --with-modules --with-cairo
 --disable-build-details'

Configured features:
XPM JPEG TIFF GIF PNG RSVG CAIRO SOUND DBUS GSETTINGS GLIB NOTIFY
INOTIFY ACL LIBSELINUX GNUTLS LIBXML2 FREETYPE HARFBUZZ M17N_FLT LIBOTF
ZLIB TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS GTK3 X11 XDBE XIM MODULES THREADS JSON PDUMPER
GMP

Important settings:
  value of $EMACSLOADPATH: /gnu/store/m5g5fzfbf25nc158swka8y6fw0nh1mgp-profile/share/emacs/site-lisp:/gnu/store/m5g5fzfbf25nc158swka8y6fw0nh1mgp-profile/share/emacs/27.1/lisp
  value of $LC_MONETARY: en_US.UTF-8
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: en_US.UTF-8
  value of $LC_TIME: en_US.UTF-8
  value of $LANG: en_US.UTF-8
  locale-coding-system: utf-8-unix

Major mode: Lisp Interaction

Minor modes in effect:
  show-paren-mode: t
  global-eldoc-mode: t
  eldoc-mode: t
  electric-indent-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  column-number-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t

Load-path shadows:
~/.emacs.d/lisp/jsonrpc hides /gnu/store/m5g5fzfbf25nc158swka8y6fw0nh1mgp-profile/share/emacs/27.1/lisp/jsonrpc

Features:
(shadow sort mail-extr warnings emacsbug message rmc puny format-spec
rfc822 mml mml-sec epa derived epg epg-config gnus-util rmail
rmail-loaddefs text-property-search time-date mm-decode mm-bodies
mm-encode mail-parse rfc2231 mailabbrev gmm-utils mailheader sendmail
rfc2047 rfc2045 ietf-drums mm-util mail-prsvr mail-utils server
pnk-theme paren cus-start cus-load dired-x dired dired-loaddefs
moe-theme multiple-cursors mc-hide-unmatched-lines-mode
mc-separate-operations rectangular-region-mode mc-mark-pop mc-mark-more
thingatpt mc-cycle-cursors mc-edit-lines multiple-cursors-core advice
rect finder-inf guix-emacs info slime-autoloads package easymenu
browse-url url-handlers url-parse auth-source cl-seq eieio eieio-core
cl-macs eieio-loaddefs password-cache json subr-x map url-vars seq
byte-opt gv bytecomp byte-compile cconv cl-loaddefs cl-lib tooltip eldoc
electric uniquify ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type mwheel term/x-win
x-win term/common-win x-dnd tool-bar dnd fontset image regexp-opt fringe
tabulated-list replace newcomment text-mode elisp-mode lisp-mode
prog-mode register page tab-bar menu-bar rfn-eshadow isearch timer
select scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax facemenu font-core
term/tty-colors frame minibuffer cl-generic cham georgian utf-8-lang
misc-lang vietnamese tibetan thai tai-viet lao korean japanese eucjp-ms
cp51932 hebrew greek romanian slovak czech european ethiopic indian
cyrillic chinese composite charscript charprop case-table epa-hook
jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev obarray cl-preloaded nadvice loaddefs
button faces cus-face macroexp files text-properties overlay sha1 md5
base64 format env code-pages mule custom widget hashtable-print-readable
backquote threads dbusbind inotify dynamic-setting system-font-setting
font-render-setting cairo move-toolbar gtk x-toolkit x multi-tty
make-network-process emacs)

Memory information:
((conses 16 84307 9536)
 (symbols 48 9933 1)
 (strings 32 29749 2491)
 (string-bytes 1 895302)
 (vectors 16 14514)
 (vector-slots 8 181363 10154)
 (floats 8 36 182)
 (intervals 56 266 0)
 (buffers 1000 14))

-- 
Rock on! -Muto
https://muto.ca

bug#46029: 27.1; mail-archive-file-name cannot be changed once it is set.

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Muto <shack@muto.ca>
> Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2021 22:19:31 -0700
> 
> If I activate my first account with:
>   M-x mail-muto
> and start a new email with
>   C-x m
> The Fcc line will look correct.
> 
> But after that, if I use
>   M-x mail-muto2
> And start writing a new email, my signature, return address, and full
> name are updated, but my Fcc still has the old value of:
>   "~/.emacs.d/mymail/muto/sent"
> instead of the desired value:
>   "~/.emacs.d/mymail/muto2/sent"
> 
> This bug works the other way around (loading account 2 first), and it
> also occurs when I use 'mail-default-headers' instead of
> 'mail-archive-file-name'. 

Are you using message-mode (as opposed to mail-mode) to compose your
email messages?  If so, I think you need to change the value of
message-default-mail-headers when you switch accounts.  message-mode
picks up the values of mail-archive-file-name and mail-default-headers
when it starts up, and computes from them the value of
message-default-mail-headers, which it uses thereafter.

bug#46029: 27.1; mail-archive-file-name cannot be changed once it is set.

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2021 09:42:25 +0200
> From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>
> Cc: 46029@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> Are you using message-mode (as opposed to mail-mode) to compose your
> email messages?  If so, I think you need to change the value of
> message-default-mail-headers when you switch accounts.  message-mode
> picks up the values of mail-archive-file-name and mail-default-headers
> when it starts up, and computes from them the value of
> message-default-mail-headers, which it uses thereafter.

I've now added this nit to the respective doc strings.

bug#46029: 27.1; mail-archive-file-name cannot be changed once it is set.

[Stefan Kangas]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2021 09:42:25 +0200
>> From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>
>> Cc: 46029@debbugs.gnu.org
>>
>> Are you using message-mode (as opposed to mail-mode) to compose your
>> email messages?  If so, I think you need to change the value of
>> message-default-mail-headers when you switch accounts.  message-mode
>> picks up the values of mail-archive-file-name and mail-default-headers
>> when it starts up, and computes from them the value of
>> message-default-mail-headers, which it uses thereafter.
>
> I've now added this nit to the respective doc strings.

There has been no followups within 12 weeks.  I'm therefore assuming
that the above resolved the issue, and I'm therefore closing this bug
report.

If this conclusion is incorrect and this is still an issue, please reply
to this email (use "Reply to all" in your email client) and we can
reopen the bug report.