Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!imagen!atari!portal!cup.portal.com!itkin
From: itkin@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: comp.mail.elm
Subject: Re: Aaarrrggghh! Trouble with mail ? ELM ?
Message-ID: <8355@cup.portal.com>
Date: 21 Aug 88 16:31:38 GMT
References: <792@cheops.EECS.UNSW.OZ>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 14
XPortal-User-Id: 1.1001.3249

> On  some  occasions,  I  think,  some  of  my  changes  get
> included.  It's  a  bit  weird  because  I actually save the file
> before sending it ie write it somewhere, but still it  don't  get
> through.  From  seeing  some  of  the  mail  that gets through it
> appears that the mail may be getting sent prematurely,ie before I
> finish.
> 
This is not a problem with ELM but rather with VI and its quirks.  If you
are editing a file and then save it TO ANOTHER FILE with ":w", VI now regards
the file as saved (all changes recorded).  If you then exit with "ZZ" without
making any additional changes, VI will NOT WRITE YOUR CHANGES TO YOUR ORIGINAL
FILE!!!!!  Thus, all changes were indeed written to the backup/alternate, but
none to the original.  Make it a point to force-write your changes to both
files with ":w" and ":wq".