Re: message preservation in composition buffer
* Kyle Wheeler <kyle-mutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> [061120 02:00]:
> On Sunday, November 19 at 12:57 AM, quoth Russell L. Harris:
> >Is there a way to prevent Mutt from deleting the message file which
> >it receives from the editor?
>
> Strictly speaking? No. But it may be easier to make your editor save a
> backup file automatically.
>
> The problem you're going to run into is that these files will
> accumulate. They may also be a security problem.
I'm using xemacs.
Take, for example, this reply. The filename is
"~/.mutt/tmp/mutt-cromwell-1000-10686-0". But though I use xemacs on a
daily basis, I am not aware of an easy way to make xemacs save a copy
of this file in another directory or under another name in the same
directory, without incurring all sort of complications. It appears
that Mutt assigns the filename to a message, and refuses to accept
from the editor a message with any other filename.
As things stand now, each time the file is saved, the previous version
of the file is saved as "~/.mutt/tmp/mutt-cromwell-1000-10686-0~".
But when I finish the reply and xemacs hands the file back to mutt,
both "~/.mutt/tmp/mutt-cromwell-1000-10686-0" and
"~/.mutt/tmp/mutt-cromwell-1000-10686-0~" are automatically deleted by
Mutt.
With "postpone" set to "yes", it is likely that I shall not again
experience loss of a message due to an erroneous key press.
But my concern is not for the run-of-mill short message. Rather, it
is for a message which, during composition, unexpectedly ends up being
quite lengthy (as a message sometimes is wont to do). After investing
an hour in the composition of such a message, it is quite frustrating
to have the message disappear simply because I pressed the wrong key.
I suppose that the best approach is to cut and paste the message into
a regular xemacs window, complete the message, and then cut and paste
the message back into a xemacs-called-by-mutt window. Another
approach would be to print a copy of the message every five minutes or
so, until composition is complete.
RLH