Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!YALE.EDU!ram-ashwin
From: ram-ashwin@YALE.EDU (Ashwin Ram)
Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.bug
Subject: Re: Unsent mail messages should be "protected"
Message-ID: <8905181416.AA14785@ATHENA.CS.YALE.EDU>
Date: 18 May 89 14:16:03 GMT
References: <8905181239.AA00255@talos.uucp>
Sender: daemon@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
Distribution: gnu
Organization: GNUs Not Usenet
Lines: 30

>    > 2. If you start composing a new message using M-x mail, and a
>    >    previous unsent message exists (as indicated by the presence of
>    >    the ~/#%*mail* file), Emacs should not clobber the old message.
>    >    Instead, it should either (a) prompt you with "unsent message
>    >    exists, erase it" or (b) use a different name for the checkpoint
>    >    file.
>   
>   Emacs already does that, at least here.  When I type M-x mail, then type
>   a few characters and then M-x mail again, I get the "Unsent message
>   exists..." query.  We're running 18.52.

[Since I've had a couple of people misunderstand what I meant here, I'm
CC'ing this clarification to bug-gnu-emacs.]

M-x mail looks at the *mail* buffer, not the ~/#%*mail*# file.  If the
checkpoint file exists but the *mail* buffer doesn't, M-x mail does not
realize that you might have an unsent message in the checkpoint file.

E.g., if you start composing a mail message and your Emacs dies, if you
start a fresh Emacs and type M-x mail, it will not offer to restore the
previous message.  You can also duplicate this by typing M-x mail,
typing a few characters, killing the *mail* buffer and then typing M-x
mail again (we're running 18.52).

I was suggesting that Emacs know about the *mail* checkpoint file (just
like it knows about other checkpoint files).

Thanks,

-- Ashwin.