This is ../info/sc, produced by makeinfo version 4.0 from sc.texi.
INFO-DIR-SECTION Emacs
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* SC: (sc). Supercite lets you cite parts of messages you're
replying to, in flexible ways.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
This document describes the Supercite Version 3.1 package for citing
and attributing the replies for various GNU Emacs mail and news reading
subsystems.
Copyright (C) 1993, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being "A GNU Manual",
and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license
is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License" in
the Emacs manual.
(a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: "You have freedom to copy and
modify this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development."
This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
File: sc, Node: Top, Next: Introduction, Prev: (dir), Up: (dir)
This document describes the Supercite Version 3.1 package for citing
and attributing the replies for various GNU Emacs mail and news reading
subsystems. The manual is divided into the following chapters.
* Menu:
* Introduction::
* Citations::
* Getting Connected::
* Replying and Yanking::
* Selecting an Attribution::
* Configuring the Citation Engine::
* Post-yank Formatting Commands::
* Information Keys and the Info Alist::
* Reference Headers::
* Hints to MUA Authors::
* Version 3 Changes::
* Thanks and History::
* The Supercite Mailing List::
* Concept Index::
* Command Index::
* Key Index::
* Variable Index::
File: sc, Node: Introduction, Next: Usage Overview, Prev: Top, Up: Top
Introduction
************
Supercite version 3.1 is a GNU Emacs package written entirely in
Emacs Lisp. It interfaces to most of the commonly used Emacs mail user
agents ("MUAs") and news user agents ("NUAs"), and provides
sophisticated facilities for the citing and attributing of message
replies. Supercite has a very specific and limited role in the process
of composing replies to both USENET network news and electronic mail.
The preferred way to spell Supercite is with a capital `S',
lowercase `upercite'. There are a few alternate spellings out there
and I won't be terribly offended if you use them. People often ask
though...
* Menu:
* Usage Overview::
* What Supercite Does Not Do::
* What Supercite Does::
Supercite is only useful in conjunction with MUAs and NUAs such as
VM, GNUS, RMAIL, etc. (hereafter referred to collectively as MUAs).
Supercite is typically called by the MUA after a reply buffer has been
setup. Thereafter, Supercite's many commands and formatting styles are
available in that reply buffer until the reply is sent. Supercite is
re-initialized in each new reply buffer.
Supercite is currently at major revision 3.1, and is known to work
in the following environments:
Emacs versions:
GNU Emacs 18.57 through 18.59, all Emacs 19, all current Lucid
Emacs, and Epoch 4.
MUAs:
VM 4.37 and beyond (including VM version 5), RMAIL, MH-E 3.7 and
beyond, PCMAIL.
NUAs:
RNEWS, GNUS 3.12 and beyond, GNEWS.
For systems with version numbers, all known subsequent versions also
work with Supercite. For those systems without version numbers,
Supercite probably works with any recently released version. Note that
only some of these systems will work with Supercite "out of the box."
All others must overload interfacing routines to supply the necessary
glue. *Note Getting Connected::, for more details.
File: sc, Node: Usage Overview, Next: What Supercite Does Not Do, Prev: Introduction, Up: Introduction
Usage Overview
==============
Typical usage is as follows. You want to reply or followup to a
message in your MUA. You will probably hit `r' (i.e., "reply") or `f'
(i.e., "forward") to begin composing the reply. In response, the MUA
will create a reply buffer and initialize the outgoing mail headers
appropriately. The body of the reply will usually be empty at this
point. You now decide that you would like to include part of the
original message in your reply. To do this, you "yank" the original
message into the reply buffer, typically with a key stroke such as `C-c
C-y'. This sequence will invoke an MUA-specific function which fills
the body of the reply with the original message and then "attributes"
this text to its author. This is called "citing" and its effect is to
prefix every line from the original message with a special text tag.
Most MUAs provide some default style of citing; by using Supercite you
gain a wider flexibility in the look and style of citations.
Supercite's only job is to cite the original message.
File: sc, Node: What Supercite Does Not Do, Next: What Supercite Does, Prev: Usage Overview, Up: Introduction
What Supercite Doesn't Do
=========================
Because of this clear division of labor, there are useful features
which are the sole responsibility of the MUA, even though it might seem
that Supercite should provide them. For example, many people would
like to be able to yank (and cite) only a portion of the original
message. Since Supercite only modifies the text it finds in the reply
buffer as set up by the MUA, it is the MUA's responsibility to do
partial yanking. *Note Reply Buffer Initialization::.
Another potentially useful thing would be for Supercite to set up the
outgoing mail headers with information it gleans from the reply buffer.
But by previously agreed upon convention, any text above the
`mail-header-separator' which separates mail headers from message
bodies cannot be modified by Supercite. Supercite, in fact, doesn't
know anything about the meaning of these headers, and never ventures
outside the designated region. *Note Hints to MUA Authors::, for more
details.
File: sc, Node: What Supercite Does, Next: Citations, Prev: What Supercite Does Not Do, Up: Introduction
What Supercite Does
===================
Supercite is invoked for the first time on a reply buffer via your
MUA's reply or forward command. This command will actually perform
citations by calling a hook variable to which Supercite's top-level
function `sc-cite-original' has been added. When `sc-cite-original' is
executed, the original message must be set up in a very specific way,
but this is handled automatically by the MUA. *Note Hints to MUA
Authors::.
The first thing Supercite does, via `sc-cite-original', is to parse
through the original message's mail headers. It saves this data in an
"information association list", or "info alist". The information in
this list is used in a number of places throughout Supercite. *Note
Information Keys and the Info Alist::.
After the mail header info is extracted, the headers are optionally
removed ("nuked") from the reply. Supercite then writes a "reference
header" into the buffer. This reference header is a string carrying
details about the citation it is about to perform.
Next, Supercite visits each line in the reply, transforming the line
according to a customizable "script." Lines which were not previously
cited in the original message are given a citation, while already cited
lines remain untouched, or are coerced to your preferred style.
Finally, Supercite installs a keymap into the reply buffer so that you
have access to Supercite's post-yank formatting and reciting commands as
you subsequently edit your reply. You can tell that Supercite has been
installed into the reply buffer because that buffer's modeline will
display the minor mode string `SC'.
When the original message is cited by `sc-cite-original', it will
(optionally) be filled by Supercite. However, if you manually edit the
cited text and want to re-fill it, you must use an add-on package such
as `filladapt' or `gin-mode'. These packages can recognize Supercited
text and will fill them appropriately. Emacs' built-in filling
routines, e.g. `fill-paragraph', do not recognize cited text and will
not re-fill them properly because it cannot guess the `fill-prefix'
being used. *Note Post-yank Formatting Commands::, for details.
As mentioned above, Supercite provides commands to recite or uncite
regions of text in the reply buffer, and commands to perform other
beautifications on the cited original text, maintaining consistent and
informative citations throughout. Supercite tries to be as configurable
as possible to allow for a wide range of personalized citation styles,
but it is also immediately useful with the default configuration, once
it has been properly connected to your MUA. *Note Getting Connected::,
for more details.
File: sc, Node: Citations, Next: Citation Elements, Prev: What Supercite Does, Up: Top
Citations
*********
A "citation" is the acknowledgement of the original author of a mail
message in the body of the reply. There are two basic citation styles
which Supercite supports. The first, called "nested citations" is an
anonymous form of citation; in other words, an indication is made that
the cited line was written by someone _other_ that the current message
author (i.e., other than you, the person composing the reply), but no
reference is made as to the identity of the original author. This
style should look familiar since its use on the net is widespread.
Here's an example of what a message buffer would look like using nested
citations after multiple replies:
>> John originally wrote this
>> and this as well
> Jane said that John didn't know
> what he was talking about
And that's what I think too.
* Menu:
* Citation Elements::
* Recognizing Citations::
Note that multiple inclusions of the original messages result in a
nesting of the ``>'' characters. This can sometimes be quite confusing
when many levels of citations are included since it may be difficult or
impossible to figure out who actually participated in the thread, and
multiple nesting of ``>'' characters can sometimes make the message
very difficult for the eye to scan.
In "non-nested citations", each cited line begins with an
informative string attributing that line to the original author. Only
the first level of attribution will be shown; subsequent citations don't
nest the citation strings. The above dialog might look like this when
non-nested citations are used:
John> John originally wrote this
John> and this as well
Jane> Jane said that John didn't know
Jane> what he was talking about
And that's what I think too.
Notice here that my inclusion of Jane's inclusion of John's original
message did not result in a line cited with `Jane>John>'.
Supercite supports both styles of citation, and the variable
`sc-nested-citation-p' controls which style it will use when citing
previously uncited text. When this variable is `nil' (the default),
non-nested citations are used. When non-`nil', nested citations are
used.
File: sc, Node: Citation Elements, Next: Recognizing Citations, Prev: Citations, Up: Citations
Citation Elements
=================
"Citation strings" are composed of one or more elements. Non-nested
citations are composed of four elements, three of which are directly
user definable. The elements are concatenated together, in this order:
1. The "citation leader". The citation leader is contained in the
variable `sc-citation-leader', and has the default value of a
string containing four spaces.
2. The "attribution string". This element is supplied automatically
by Supercite, based on your preferences and the original message's
mail headers, though you may be asked to confirm Supercite's
choice. *Note Selecting an Attribution::, for more details.
3. The "citation delimiter". This string, contained in the variable
`sc-citation-delimiter' visually separates the citation from the
text of the line. This variable has a default value of `">"' and
for best results, the string should consist of only a single
character.
4. The "citation separator". The citation separator is contained in
the variable `sc-citation-separator', and has the default value of
a string containing a single space.
For example, suppose you were using the default values for the above
variables, and Supercite provided the attribution string `Jane'. In
this case, the composed, non-nested citation string used might be
something like `" Jane> "'. This citation string will be inserted
in front of every line in the original message that is not already
cited.
Nested citations, being simpler than non-nested citations, are
composed of the same elements, sans the attribution string. Supercite
is smart enough to not put additional spaces between citation
delimiters for multi-level nested citations.
File: sc, Node: Recognizing Citations, Next: Getting Connected, Prev: Citation Elements, Up: Citations
Recognizing Citations
=====================
Supercite also recognizes citations in the original article, and can
transform these already cited lines in a number of ways. This is how
Supercite suppresses the multiple citing of non-nested citations.
Recognition of cited lines is controlled by variables analogous to those
that make up the citation string as mentioned previously.
The variable `sc-citation-leader-regexp' describes how citation
leaders can look, by default it matches any number of spaces or tabs.
Note that since the lisp function `looking-at' is used to do the
matching, if you change this variable it need not start with a leading
`"^"'.
Similarly, the variables `sc-citation-delimiter-regexp' and
`sc-citation-separator-regexp' respectively describe how citation
delimiters and separators can look. They follow the same rule as
`sc-citation-leader-regexp' above.
When Supercite composes a citation string, it provides the
attribution automatically. The analogous variable which handles
recognition of the attribution part of citation strings is
`sc-citation-root-regexp'. This variable describes the attribution
root for both nested and non-nested citations. By default it can match
zero-to-many alphanumeric characters (also ".", "-", and "_"). But in
some situations, Supercite has to determine whether it is looking at a
nested or non-nested citation. Thus the variable
`sc-citation-nonnested-root-regexp' is used to describe only non-nested
citation roots. It is important to remember that if you change
`sc-citation-root-regexp' you should always also change
`sc-citation-nonnested-root-regexp'.
File: sc, Node: Information Keys and the Info Alist, Next: Reference Headers, Prev: Miscellaneous Commands, Up: Top
Information Keys and the Info Alist
***********************************
"Mail header information keys" are nuggets of information that
Supercite extracts from the various mail headers of the original
message, placed in the reply buffer by the MUA. Information is kept in
the "Info Alist" as key-value pairs, and can be retrieved for use in
various places within Supercite, such as in header rewrite functions and
attribution selection. Other bits of data, composed and created by
Supercite, are also kept as key-value pairs in this alist. In the case
of mail fields, the key is the name of the field, omitting the trailing
colon. Info keys are always case insensitive (as are mail headers), and
the value for a corresponding key can be retrieved from the alist with
the `sc-mail-field' function. Thus, if the following fields were
present in the original article:
Date: 08 April 1991, 17:32:09 EST
Subject: Better get out your asbestos suit
then, the following lisp constructs return:
(sc-mail-field "date")
==> "08 April 1991, 17:32:09 EST"
(sc-mail-field "subject")
==> "Better get out your asbestos suit"
Since the argument to `sc-mail-field' can be any string, it is
possible that the mail field will not be present on the info alist
(possibly because the mail header was not present in the original
message). In this case, `sc-mail-field' will return the value of the
variable `sc-mumble'.
Supercite always places all mail fields found in the yanked original
article into the info alist. If possible, Supercite will also places
the following keys into the info alist:
`"sc-attribution"'
the selected attribution string.
`"sc-citation"'
the non-nested citation string.
`"sc-from-address"'
email address extracted from the `From:' field.
`"sc-reply-address"'
email address extracted from the `Reply-To:' field.
`"sc-sender-address"'
email address extracted from the `Sender:' field.
`"sc-emailname"'
email terminus extracted from the `From:' field.
`"sc-initials"'
the author's initials.
`"sc-author"'
the author's full name.
`"sc-firstname"'
the author's first name.
`"sc-lastname"'
the author's last name.
`"sc-middlename-1"'
the author's first middle name.
If the author's name has more than one middle name, they will appear
as info keys with the appropriate index (e.g., `"sc-middlename-2"',
...). *Note Selecting an Attribution::.
File: sc, Node: Reference Headers, Next: The Built-in Header Rewrite Functions, Prev: Information Keys and the Info Alist, Up: Top
Reference Headers
*****************
Supercite will insert an informative "reference header" at the
beginning of the cited body of text, which display more detail about the
original article and provides the mapping between the attribution and
the original author in non-nested citations. Whereas the citation
string usually only contains a portion of the original author's name,
the reference header can contain such information as the author's full
name, email address, the original article's subject, etc. In fact any
information contained in the info alist can be inserted into a reference
header.
* Menu:
* The Built-in Header Rewrite Functions::
* Electric References::
There are a number of built-in "header rewrite functions" supplied
by Supercite, but you can write your own custom header rewrite functions
(perhaps using the built-in ones as examples). The variable
`sc-rewrite-header-list' contains the list of such header rewrite
functions. This list is consulted both when inserting the initial
reference header, and when displaying "electric references". *Note
Electric References::.
When Supercite is initially run on a reply buffer (via
`sc-cite-original'), it will automatically call one of these functions.
The one it uses is defined in the variable `sc-preferred-header-style'.
The value of this variable is an integer which is an index into the
`sc-rewrite-header-list', beginning at zero.
File: sc, Node: The Built-in Header Rewrite Functions, Next: Electric References, Prev: Reference Headers, Up: Reference Headers
The Built-in Header Rewrite Functions
=====================================
Below are examples of the various built-in header rewrite functions.
Please note the following: first, the text which appears in the
examples below as INFOKEY indicates that the corresponding value of the
info key from the info alist will be inserted there. (*note
Information Keys and the Info Alist::). For example, in
`sc-header-on-said' below, DATE and FROM correspond to the values of the
`Date:' and `From:' mail headers respectively.
Also, the string `">>>>>"' below is really the value of the variable
`sc-reference-tag-string'. This variable is used in all built-in
header rewrite functions, and you can customize its value to change the
tag string globally.
Finally, the references headers actually written may omit certain
parts of the header if the info key associated with INFOKEY is not
present in the info alist. In fact, for all built-in headers, if the
`From:' field is not present in the mail headers, the entire reference
header will be omitted (but this usually signals a serious problem
either in your MUA or in Supercite's installation).
`sc-no-header'
This function produces no header. It should be used instead of
`nil' to produce a blank header. This header can possibly contain
a blank line after the `mail-header-separator' line.
`sc-no-blank-line-or-header'
This function is similar to `sc-no-header' except that any blank
line after the `mail-header-separator' line will be removed.
`sc-header-on-said'
`>>>>> On DATE, FROM said:'
`sc-header-inarticle-writes'
`>>>>> In article MESSAGE-ID, FROM writes:'
`sc-header-regarding-adds'
`>>>>> Regarding SUBJECT; FROM adds:'
`sc-header-attributed-writes'
`>>>>> "SC-ATTRIBUTION" == SC-AUTHOR <SC-REPLY-ADDRESS> writes:'
`sc-header-author-writes'
`>>>>> SC-AUTHOR writes:'
`sc-header-verbose'
`>>>>> On DATE,'
`>>>>> SC-AUTHOR'
`>>>>> from the organization of ORGANIZATION'
`>>>>> who can be reached at: SC-REPLY-ADDRESS'
`>>>>> (whose comments are cited below with: "SC-CITE")'
`>>>>> had this to say in article MESSAGE-ID'
`>>>>> in newsgroups NEWSGROUPS'
`>>>>> concerning the subject of SUBJECT'
`>>>>> see REFERENCES for more details'
File: sc, Node: Electric References, Next: Hints to MUA Authors, Prev: The Built-in Header Rewrite Functions, Up: Reference Headers
Electric References
===================
By default, when Supercite cites the original message for the first
time, it just goes ahead and inserts the reference header indexed by
`sc-preferred-header-style'. However, you may want to select different
reference headers based on the type of reply or forwarding you are
doing. You may also want to preview the reference header before
deciding whether to insert it into the reply buffer or not. Supercite
provides an optional "electric reference" mode which you can drop into
to give you this functionality.
If the variable `sc-electric-references-p' is non-`nil', Supercite
will bring up an electric reference mode buffer and place you into a
recursive edit. The electric reference buffer is read-only, so you
cannot directly modify the reference text until you exit electric
references and insert the text into the reply buffer. But you can cycle
through all the reference header rewrite functions in your
`sc-rewrite-header-list'.
You can also set a new preferred header style, jump to any header, or
jump to the preferred header. The header will be shown in the electric
reference buffer and the header index and function name will appear in
the echo area.
The following commands are available while in electric reference mode
(shown here with their default key bindings):
`sc-eref-next' (`n')
Displays the next reference header in the electric reference
buffer. If the variable `sc-electric-circular-p' is non-`nil',
invoking `sc-eref-next' while viewing the last reference header in
the list will wrap around to the first header.
`sc-eref-prev' (`p')
Displays the previous reference header in the electric reference
buffer. If the variable `sc-electric-circular-p' is non-`nil',
invoking `sc-eref-prev' will wrap around to the last header.
`sc-eref-goto' (`g')
Goes to a specified reference header. The index (into the
`sc-rewrite-header-list') can be specified as a numeric argument to
the command. Otherwise, Supercite will query you for the index in
the minibuffer.
`sc-eref-jump' (`j')
Display the preferred reference header, i.e., the one indexed by
the current value of `sc-preferred-header-style'.
`sc-eref-setn' (`s')
Set the preferred reference header (i.e.,
`sc-preferred-header-style') to the currently displayed header.
`sc-eref-exit' (`C-j', <RET>, and <ESC C-c>)
Exit from electric reference mode and insert the current header
into the reply buffer.
`sc-eref-abort' (`q', `x')
Exit from electric reference mode without inserting the current
header.
Supercite will execute the hook `sc-electric-mode-hook' before entering
electric reference mode.
File: sc, Node: Getting Connected, Next: Emacs 19 MUAs, Prev: Recognizing Citations, Up: Top
Getting Connected
*****************
Hitting `C-c C-y' in your MUA's reply buffer yanks and cites the
original message into the reply buffer. In reality, the citation of the
original message is performed via a call through a configurable hook
variable. The name of this variable has been agreed to in advance as
part of the "citation interface specification". By default this hook
variable has a `nil' value, which the MUA recognizes to mean, "use your
default citation function." When you add Supercite's citation function
to the hook, thereby giving the variable a non-`nil' value, it tells
the MUA to run the hook via `run-hooks' instead of using the default
citation.
* Menu:
* Emacs 19 MUAs::
* Emacs 18 MUAs::
* MH-E with any Emacsen::
* VM with any Emacsen::
* GNEWS with any Emacsen::
* Overloading for Non-conforming MUAs::
Early in Supercite's development, the Supercite author, a few MUA
authors, and some early Supercite users got together and agreed upon a
standard interface between MUAs and citation packages (of which
Supercite is currently the only known add-on :-). With the recent
release of the Free Software Foundation's GNU Emacs 19, the interface
has undergone some modification and it is possible that not all MUAs
support the new interface yet. Some support only the old interface and
some do not support the interface at all. Still, it is possible for all
known MUAs to use Supercite, and the following sections will outline the
procedures you need to follow.
To learn exactly how to connect Supercite to the software systems you
are using, read the appropriate following sections. For details on the
interface specifications, or if you are writing or maintaining an MUA,
*note Hints to MUA Authors::.
The first thing that everyone should do, regardless of the MUA you
are using is to set up Emacs so it will load Supercite at the
appropriate time. You can either dump Supercite into your Emacs binary
(ask your local Emacs guru how to do this if you don't know), or you
can set up an "autoload" for Supercite. To do the latter, put the
following in your `.emacs' file:
(autoload 'sc-cite-original "supercite" "Supercite 3.1" t)
(autoload 'sc-submit-bug-report "supercite" "Supercite 3.1" t)
The function `sc-cite-original' is the top-level Supercite function
designed to be run from the citation hook. It expects `point' and
`mark' to be set around the region to cite, and it expects the original
article's mail headers to be present within this region. Note that
Supercite _never_ touches any text outside this region. Note further
that for Emacs 19, the region need not be active for `sc-cite-original'
to do its job. *Note Hints to MUA Authors::.
The other step in the getting connected process is to make sure your
MUA calls `sc-cite-original' at the right time. As mentioned above,
some MUAs handle this differently. Read the sections that follow
pertaining to the MUAs you are using.
One final note. After Supercite is loaded into your Emacs session,
it runs the hook `sc-load-hook'. You can put any customizations into
this hook since it is only run once. This will not work, however, if
your Emacs maintainer has put Supercite into your dumped Emacs' image.
In that case, you can use the `sc-pre-hook' variable, but this will get
executed every time `sc-cite-original' is called. *Note Reply Buffer
Initialization::.
File: sc, Node: Emacs 19 MUAs, Next: Emacs 18 MUAs, Prev: Getting Connected, Up: Getting Connected
GNUS, RMAIL, or RNEWS with any Emacs 19
=======================================
These MUAs, distributed with Emacs and with Lucid Emacs, use Emacs's
built-in yanking facility, which provides the citing hook variable
`mail-citation-hook'. By default, this hook's value is `nil', but by
adding the following to your `.emacs' file, you can tell these MUAs to
use Supercite to perform the citing of the original message:
(add-hook 'mail-citation-hook 'sc-cite-original)
GNUS users may also want to add the following bit of lisp as well.
This prevents GNUS from inserting its default attribution header.
Otherwise, both GNUS and Supercite will insert an attribution header:
(setq news-reply-header-hook nil)
File: sc, Node: Emacs 18 MUAs, Next: MH-E with any Emacsen, Prev: Emacs 19 MUAs, Up: Getting Connected
GNUS, RMAIL, PCMAIL, RNEWS with Emacs 18 or Epoch 4
===================================================
These MUAs use Emacs' built-in yanking and citing routines,
contained in the `sendmail.el' file. `sendmail.el' for Emacs 18, and
its derivative Epoch 4, do not know anything about the citation
interface required by Supercite. To connect Supercite to any of these
MUAs under Emacs 18 or Epoch 4, you should first *note Overloading for
Non-conforming MUAs::. Then follow the directions for using these MUAs
under Emacs 19. *Note Emacs 19 MUAs::.
Note that those instructions will tell you to use the function
`add-hook'. This function is new with Emacs 19 and you will not have it
by default if you are running Emacs 18 or Epoch 4. You can either
substitute the appropriate call to `setq', or you can use the
`add-hook' function that is provided in the `sc-unsupp.el' file of
unsupported Supercite hacks and ideas. Or you can upgrade to some
Emacs 19 variant! :-)
To use `setq' instead of `add-hook', you would, for example, change
this:
(add-hook 'mail-citation-hook 'sc-cite-original)
to:
(setq mail-citation-hook 'sc-cite-original)
Note the lack of of a single quote on the first argument to `setq'.
File: sc, Node: MH-E with any Emacsen, Next: VM with any Emacsen, Prev: Emacs 18 MUAs, Up: Getting Connected
MH-E with any Emacsen
=====================
MH-E 4.x conforms to the `mail-citation-hook' interface supported by
other MUAs. At the time of this writing, MH-E 4.0 has not been
released, but if you have it, put this in your `.emacs' file to connect
Supercite and MH-E 4.x:
(add-hook 'mail-citation-hook 'sc-cite-original)
Note that if you are using Emacs 18 or Epoch 4, you will not have the
`add-hook' function. *Note Emacs 18 MUAs::, for details on how to
proceed without `add-hook'.
MH-E version 3.x uses a slightly different interface than other MUAs.
MH-E provides a hook variable `mh-yank-hooks', but it doesn't act like
a hook, and doing an `add-hook' will not work.
To connect Supercite to MH-E 3.x, you should instead add the
following to your `.emacs' file:
(add-hook 'mh-yank-hooks 'sc-cite-original)
You also need to make sure that MH-E includes all the original mail
headers in the yanked message. The variable that controls this is
`mh-yank-from-start-of-msg'. By default, this variable has the value
`t', which tells MH-E to include all the mail headers when yanking the
original message. Before you switched to using Supercite, you may have
set this variable to other values so as not to include the mail headers
in the yanked message. Since Supercite requires these headers (and
cleans them out for you), you need to make sure the value is `t'. This
lisp, in your `.emacs' file will do the trick:
(setq mh-yank-from-start-of-msg t)
Note that versions of MH-E before 3.7 did not provide the
`mh-yank-hooks' variable. Your only option is to upgrade to MH-E
version 3.7 or later.
File: sc, Node: VM with any Emacsen, Next: GNEWS with any Emacsen, Prev: MH-E with any Emacsen, Up: Getting Connected
VM with any Emacsen
===================
Since release 4.40, VM has supported the citation interface required
by Supercite. But since the interface has changed recently the details
of getting connected differ with the version of VM you are using.
If you are running any release of VM after 4.40, you can add the
following to your `.emacs' to connect Supercite with VM:
(add-hook 'mail-yank-hooks 'sc-cite-original)
Note that if you are using Emacs 18 or Epoch 4, you will not have the
`add-hook' function. *Note Emacs 18 MUAs::, for details on how to
proceed without `add-hook'.
Since version 5.34, VM has supported the newer `mail-citation-hook'
interface, but `mail-yank-hooks' is still being supported for backward
compatibility. If you are running a newer version of VM and you want
to maintain consistency with other MUAs, use this bit of code instead:
(add-hook 'mail-citation-hook 'sc-cite-original)
File: sc, Node: GNEWS with any Emacsen, Next: Overloading for Non-conforming MUAs, Prev: VM with any Emacsen, Up: Getting Connected
GNEWS with any Emacsen
======================
As far as I know, no version of GNEWS supports the citation interface
required by Supercite. To connect Supercite with GNEWS, please first
*note Overloading for Non-conforming MUAs::.
After you have followed the directions in that section. You should
add the following lisp code to your `.emacs' file:
(add-hook 'mail-citation-hook 'sc-cite-original)
Note that if you are using Emacs 18 or Epoch 4, you will not have the
`add-hook' function. *Note Emacs 18 MUAs::, for details on how to
proceed without `add-hook'.
File: sc, Node: Overloading for Non-conforming MUAs, Next: Replying and Yanking, Prev: GNEWS with any Emacsen, Up: Getting Connected
Overloading for Non-conforming MUAs
===================================
As mentioned elsewhere, some MUAs do not provide the necessary hooks
to connect with Supercite. Supercite version 3.1 provides an
unsupported mechanism, called "overloading" which redefines certain key
functions in the MUA, so that it will call the `mail-citation-hook'
variable instead of the MUA's default hard-coded citing routines. Since
most newer versions of the known MUAs support the `mail-citation-hook'
variable, it is recommended that you upgrade if at all possible. But
if you can't upgrade, at least you're not out of luck! Once you set up
overloading properly, you should follow the directions for connecting
Supercite to the Emacs 19 MUAs. *Note Emacs 19 MUAs::.
Users of Bob Weiner's Hyperbole package take note. Hyperbole
provides the necessary overloads (and a whole lot more!) and you can
potentially clobber it if you were to load Supercite's overloading after
Hyperbole's. For this reason, Supercite will _not_ perform any
overloading if it finds the variable `hyperb:version' is `boundp' (i.e.
it exists because Hyperbole has been loaded into your Emacs session).
If this is the case, Supercite will display a warning message in the
minibuffer. You should consult the Hyperbole manual for further
details.
Overloading involves the re-definition of the citing function with
the new, `mail-citation-hook' savvy version. The function in
`sc-oloads.el' that does this is `sc-perform-overloads'. This function
is smart enough to only overload the MUA functions when it is
absolutely necessary, based on the version numbers it can figure out.
Also, `sc-perform-overloads' will only install the new functions once.
It is also smart enough to do nothing if the MUA is not yet loaded.
The tricky part is finding the right time and place to perform the
overloading. It must be done after the MUA has been loaded into your
Emacs session, but before the first time you try to yank in a message.
Fortunately, this has been figured out for you.
If you must overload, you should put the following lisp code in your
`.emacs' file, to make sure the `sc-oloads.el' file gets loaded at the
right time:
(autoload 'sc-perform-overloads "sc-oloads" "Supercite 3.1" t)
Then you must make sure that the function `sc-perform-overloads'
gets run at the right time. For GNUS, put this in your `.emacs' file:
(setq news-reply-mode-hook 'sc-perform-overloads)
(setq mail-setup-hook 'sc-perform-overloads)
If you are using RNEWS, put this in your `.emacs' file:
(setq news-reply-mode-hook 'sc-perform-overloads)
If you are using RMAIL or PCMAIL, put this in your `.emacs' file:
(setq mail-setup-hook 'sc-perform-overloads)
If you are using GNEWS, put this in your `.emacs' file:
(setq news-reply-mode-hook 'sc-perform-overloads)
(setq gnews-ready-hook 'sc-perform-overloads)
Now go back and follow the directions for getting the Emacs 19 MUAs
connected to Supercite. Be sure to *note Emacs 18 MUAs:: on substitutes
for Emacs 19's `add-hook' function.
File: sc, Node: Replying and Yanking, Next: Reply Buffer Initialization, Prev: Overloading for Non-conforming MUAs, Up: Top
Replying and Yanking
********************
This chapter explains what happens when you reply and yank an
original message from an MUA.
* Menu:
* Reply Buffer Initialization::
* Filling Cited Text::
File: sc, Node: Reply Buffer Initialization, Next: Filling Cited Text, Prev: Replying and Yanking, Up: Replying and Yanking
Reply Buffer Initialization
===========================
Executing `sc-cite-original' performs the following steps as it
initializes the reply buffer:
1. _Runs `sc-pre-hook'._ This hook variable is run before
`sc-cite-original' does any other work. You could conceivably use
this hook to set certain Supercite variables based on the reply
buffer's mode or name (i.e., to do something different based on
whether you are replying or following up to an article).
2. _Inserts Supercite's keymap._ Supercite provides a number of
commands for performing post-yank modifications to the reply
buffer. These commands are installed on Supercite's top-level
keymap. Since Supercite has to interface with a wide variety of
MUAs, it does not install all of its commands directly into the
reply buffer's keymap. Instead, it puts its commands on a keymap
prefix, then installs this prefix onto the buffer's keymap. What
this means is that you typically have to type more characters to
invoke a Supercite command, but Supercite's key bindings can be
made much more consistent across MUAs.
You can control what key Supercite uses as its keymap prefix by
changing the variable `sc-mode-map-prefix'. By default, this
variable is set to `C-c C-p'; a finger twister perhaps, but
unfortunately the best default due to the scarcity of available
key bindings in many MUAs.
3. _Turns on Supercite minor mode._ The modeline of the reply buffer
should indicate that Supercite is active in that buffer by
displaying the string `SC'.
4. _Sets the "Undo Boundary."_ Supercite sets an undo boundary before
it begins to modify the original yanked text. This allows you to
easily undo Supercite's changes to affect alternative citing
styles.
5. _Processes the mail headers._ All previously retrieved info
key-value pairs are deleted from the info alist, then the mail
headers in the body of the yanked message are scanned. Info
key-value pairs are created for each header found. Also, such
useful information as the author's name and email address are
extracted. If the variable `sc-mail-warn-if-non-rfc822-p' is
non-`nil', then Supercite will warn you if it finds a mail header
that does not conform to RFC822. This is rare and indicates a
problem either with your MUA or the original author's MUA, or some
MTA (mail transport agent) along the way.
Once the info keys have been extracted from the mail headers, the
headers are nuked from the reply buffer. You can control exactly
which headers are removed or kept, but by default, all headers are
removed.
There are two variables which control mail header nuking. The
variable `sc-nuke-mail-headers' controls the overall behavior of
the header nuking routines. By setting this variable to `'all',
you automatically nuke all mail headers. Likewise, setting this
variable to `'none' inhibits nuking of any mail headers. In
between these extremes, you can tell Supercite to nuke only a
specified list of mail headers by setting this variable to
`'specified', or to keep only a specified list of headers by
setting it to `'keep'.
If `sc-nuke-mail-headers' is set to `'specified' or `'keep', then
the variable `sc-nuke-mail-header-list' is consulted for the list
of headers to nuke or keep. This variable contains a list of
regular expressions. If the mail header line matches a regular
expression in this list, the header will be nuked or kept. The
line is matched against the regexp using `looking-at' rooted at
the beginning of the line.
If the variable `sc-blank-lines-after-headers' is non-`nil', it
contains the number of blank lines remaining in the buffer after
mail headers are nuked. By default, only one blank line is left
in the buffer.
6. _Selects the attribution and citation strings._ Once the mail
headers have been processed, Supercite selects a attribution
string and a citation string which it will use to cite the
original message. *Note Selecting an Attribution::, for details.
7. _Cites the message body._ After the selection of the attribution
and citation strings, Supercite cites the original message by
inserting the citation string prefix in front of every uncited
line. You may not want Supercite to automatically cite very long
messages however. For example, some email could contain a smaller
header section followed by a huge uuencoded message. It wouldn't
make sense to cite the uuencoded message part when responding to
the original author's short preface. For this reason, Supercite
provides a variable which limits the automatic citation of long
messages to a certain maximum number of lines. The variable is
called `sc-cite-region-limit'. If this variable contains an
integer, messages with more lines that this will not be cited at
all, and a warning message will be displayed. Supercite has
performed everything necessary, though, for you to manually cite
only the small portion of the original message that you want to
use.
If `sc-cite-region-limit' contains a non-`nil' value, the original
message will always be cited, regardless of its size. If the
variable contains the value `nil', the region will never be cited
automatically. Use this if you always want to be able to edit and
cite the message manually.
The variable `sc-cite-blank-lines-p' controls whether blank lines
in the original message should be cited or not. If this variable
is non-`nil', blank lines will be cited just like non-blank lines.
Otherwise, blank lines will be treated as paragraph separators.
Citing of the original message is highly configurable. Supercite's
default setup does a pretty good job of citing many common forms of
previously cited messages. But there are as many citation styles
out there as people on the net, or just about! It would be
impossible for Supercite to anticipate every style in existence,
and you probably wouldn't encounter them all anyway. But you can
configure Supercite to recognize those styles you see often.
*Note Configuring the Citation Engine::, for details.
8. _Runs `sc-post-hook'._ This variable is very similar to
`sc-pre-hook', except that it runs after `sc-cite-original' is
finished. This hook is provided mostly for completeness and
backward compatibility. Perhaps it could be used to reset certain
variables set in `sc-pre-hook'.
File: sc, Node: Filling Cited Text, Next: Selecting an Attribution, Prev: Reply Buffer Initialization, Up: Replying and Yanking
Filling Cited Text
==================
Supercite will automatically fill newly cited text from the original
message unless the variable `sc-auto-fill-region-p' has a `nil' value.
Supercite will also re-fill paragraphs when you manually cite or
re-cite text.
However, during normal editing, Supercite itself cannot be used to
fill paragraphs. This is a change from version 2. There are other
add-on lisp packages which do filling much better than Supercite ever
did. The two best known are "filladapt" and "gin-mode". Both work well
with Supercite and both are available at the normal Emacs Lisp archive
sites. "gin-mode" works pretty well out of the box, but if you use
"filladapt", you may want to run the function `sc-setup-filladapt' from
your `sc-load-hook'. This simply makes "filladapt" a little more
Supercite savvy than its default setup.
Also, Supercite will collapse leading whitespace between the citation
string and the text on a line when the variable `sc-fixup-whitespace-p'
is non-`nil'. The default value for this variable is `nil'.
Its important to understand that Supercite's automatic filling
(during the initial citation of the reply) is very fragile. That is
because figuring out the `fill-prefix' for a particular paragraph is a
really hard thing to do automatically. This is especially the case when
the original message contains code or some other text where leading
whitespace is important to preserve. For this reason, many Supercite
users typically run with `sc-auto-fill-region-p' (and possibly also
`sc-fixup-whitespace-p') set to `nil'. They then manually fill each
cited paragraph in the reply buffer.
I usually run with both these variables containing their default
values. When Supercite's automatic filling breaks on a particular
message, I will use Emacs' undo feature to undo back before the
citation was applied to the original message. Then I'll toggle the
variables and manually cite those paragraphs that I don't want to fill
or collapse whitespace on. *Note Variable Toggling Shortcuts::.
If you find that Supercite's automatic filling is just too fragile
for your tastes, you might consider one of these alternate approaches.
Also, to make life easier, a shortcut function to toggle the state of
both of these variables is provided on the key binding `C-c C-p C-p'
(with the default value of `sc-mode-map-prefix'; *note Post-yank
Formatting Commands::).
You will noticed that the minor mode string will show the state of
these variables as qualifier characters. When both variables are `nil',
the Supercite minor mode string will display `SC'. When just
`sc-auto-fill-region-p' is non-`nil', the string will display `SC:f',
and when just `sc-fixup-whitespace-p' is non-`nil', the string will
display `SC:w'. When both variables are non-`nil', the string will
display `SC:fw'. Note that the qualifiers chosen are mnemonics for the
default bindings of the toggling function for each respective variable.
*Note Variable Toggling Shortcuts::.
Why are these variables not set to `nil' by default? It is because
many users won't manually fill paragraphs that are Supercited, and there
have been widespread complaints on the net about mail and news messages
containing lines greater than about 72 characters. So the default is to
fill cited text.
File: sc, Node: Selecting an Attribution, Next: Attribution Preferences, Prev: Filling Cited Text, Up: Top
Selecting an Attribution
************************
As you know, the attribution string is the part of the author's name
that will be used to composed a non-nested citation string. Supercite
scans the various mail headers present in the original article and uses
a number of heuristics to extract strings which it puts into the
"attribution association list" or "attribution alist". This is
analogous, but different than, the info alist previously mentioned. Each
element in the attribution alist is a key-value pair containing such
information as the author's first name, middle names, and last name, the
author's initials, and the author's email terminus.
* Menu:
* Attribution Preferences::
* Anonymous Attributions::
* Author Names::