Sent messages contain 'From nobody' header

Sent messages contain 'From nobody' header

[Ben Hancock]

Hi fellow Emacs users,

I compose mail in message-mode, and I set a default value for the FCC
header (to "~/mail/sent.rmail") to keep a copy of my sent messages.

On inspecting my sent messages -- either using rmail, or just viewing
the file as plain text -- I notice that each is prepended with a header
that looks like the following:

  From nobody Thu Feb  8 08:23:10 2024

The "From:" header (with a colon) is formed correctly; I have set the
variables user-full-name and user-mail-address. I am using the smtp
library to send mail, and as far as I can tell, this "From nobody"
header is not transmitted to the recipient. At least, it is not present
on inspecting messages I have sent myself.

This puzzles me. I have tried setting the EMAIL environment variable,
and setting the Emacs variable smtp-mail-address as well, with no
effect; the "From nobody" header still appears in my sent mail file.

What could be causing this?

Regards,

Ben

-- 
"In nature, we find no deficiency in respect of time,
nor any limitation with regard to power."
    --- James Hutton, Theory of the Earth

Re: Sent messages contain 'From nobody' header

[Abhiseck Paira]

Hi,

> On inspecting my sent messages -- either using rmail, or just 
> viewing
> the file as plain text -- I notice that each is prepended with a 
> header
> that looks like the following:

>   From nobody Thu Feb  8 08:23:10 2024

This looks like part of the Mbox format specification.  Email 
readers use this "From " line to determine the start of a new 
message.  See the Wikipedia article[1] for details.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbox

Now, about how to modify this, I don't know.

-- 
Abhiseck Paira (https://paira.in)
"Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is 
sovereign."

Re: Sent messages contain 'From nobody' header

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Abhiseck Paira <abhiseck@paira.in>
> Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2024 11:44:31 +0530
> 
> > On inspecting my sent messages -- either using rmail, or just 
> > viewing
> > the file as plain text -- I notice that each is prepended with a 
> > header
> > that looks like the following:
> 
> >   From nobody Thu Feb  8 08:23:10 2024
> 
> This looks like part of the Mbox format specification.  Email 
> readers use this "From " line to determine the start of a new 
> message.  See the Wikipedia article[1] for details.

The "From " part is the mbox format spec, but the "nobody" part isn't.
I use sendmail.el, not message.el, and it puts my address after
"From", not "nobody".  I guess message.el doesn't bother, or maybe
this is somehow triggered by the OP's email setup.