Re: Changing the default for `send-mail-function'

[Philipp Haselwarter]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <address@hidden> writes:

> Eli Zaretskii <address@hidden> writes:
>
>> Emacs until now didn't require the user to provide the server address.
>> At least on Windows, the system mailer (Outlook or whatever) is
>> normally already configured, and many times by a person other than the
>> one who invoked Emacs.  The latter might not know the address or the
>> credentials, or both.  We don't want that to get in the way of an
>> Emacs user who wants to report a bug, for example.
>
> It's the same situation on Linux, really.  Today, if you want to send
> email on Linux, you will have configured exim to do the right thing.
> (Or it will be configured by somebody else for you.)
>
> So the situation is the same on Linux and Windows: People today
> necessarily have configured their mail setup, or had it configured for
> them.
>
fwiw, most people I know just use the web interface (gmail, their uni…)

> The problem that switching the default from `sendmail-send-it' (on
> Linux) and `mailclient-send-it' (on Windows) is to make Emacs work as a
> mail client out of the box.
>
> If you install Ubuntu on a new machine, it will install exim, but leave
> exim in local delivery mode only by default.  If you then send email
> from your brand new fresly installed Emacs, it will fail silently.  It
> will call `sendmail-send-it', and exim will take it, and deliver a
> bounce locally.  Which probably won't be seen by the user.
>
> I think that's pretty unacceptable behaviour.
>
Very much. And most people won't bother to interrogate how to make it
work if it fails them the first time.

> On a freshly installed Windows, the situation is similar, but at least
> it won't fail silently.  `mailclient-send-it' will send the message,
> which will then open Outlook (or something), which then won't be able to
> send the message.  But at least it'll tell you so.  I still think it's
> pretty yucky mail behaviour, and one that no other common mail clients
> will emulate.
>
> Defaulting to `smtpmail-send-it' will make Emacs behave exactly like all
> other mail clients: It'll ask you for the outgoing server name.  If you
> give it the wrong name, or you don't know it, you will get a proper
> error message saying what the problem is exactly.
>
> While this default change will annoy 95% of the current users (since
> they have to type the SMTP server name once (and possible credentials if
> the SMTP server requires them)), it'll make Emacs mail work for new
> users reliably.
>
> However, I think there's a third possibility here, beyond keeping the
> current defaults and "hard-swapping" them.  :-)
>
> What about if we default to `query-user', and then the first time you
> use it, it'll ask "Use the built-in SMTP support, or use {the Windows
> mailer,exim} to send the mail?", and then save the response.
>
> (It probably needs to top up a help buffer explaining the choices in
> more detail, though.)

This sounds like the right thing to do, leaving the decision between a
emacs built-in mailer and an external one to the user.

I guess offering to query the Mozilla database and/or suggesting
smtp.example.com for a address@hidden address with a few hints on how
to find the right server would be seen as convenient by most.


-- 
Philipp Haselwarter