Re: debian emacs policy and configuring mutt

[Robert.Land@t-online.de (Robert Wilhelm Land)]

Jack O'Quin wrote:
> Carel Fellinger  writes:
>
> > There is a space in the command, so you need quotes, try :
> > 
> >   set editor="emacs -nw"
Sorry, this doesn't seem to work - even <set editor=emacs> wouldn't do.
In both cases, mutt overrides these settings in .muttrc and uses vi for
composing mail.
Irritating enough - man mutt reports about a system wide configuration
file /etc/Muttrc which I thought would contain anything causing mutt
to use vi - but this file does not exist and I can't imagine mutt has
the editor=vi compiled into the binary code!
> I would normally put "export EDITOR=emacsclient" in my .bash_profile
>
> for stuff like this.  Many programs will use $EDITOR, if defined.  If
>
> you're using csh, put something like "setenv EDITOR emacsclient" in
>
> your .cshrc.
>
>
>
> If mutt doesn't honor this convention, you may need to separately
>
> define set editor="emacsclient" somewhere.  I don't know.
I tried this entry in ~/.muttrc too - just on the fly - it didn't work 
either.
For more please see below.
> This is the "client interface" for emacs, specifically designed for
>
> this purpose.  It will attach to a running emacs, if possible, or
>
> create a new one, if necessary.  See man emacsclient(1).
info emacsclient talks about a previously running emacs + server. this is
part of the documentary:
"       You typically does not call emacsclient directly. Instead,
      you set the environment variable EDITOR to emacsclient and
      let programs like 'vipw' or 'bug' or anything run  it  for
      you, which will use an existing Emacs to visit the file.

      For emacsclient to work, you need an already running Emacs
      with a server.  Within Emacs, call the  function  &pi0;server-
      start'.   (Your &pi0;.emacs' file can do this automatically if
      you add the expression &pi0;(server-start)' to it.)

      When you've finished editing  the  buffer,  type  &pi0;C-x  #'
      (&pi0;server-edit').   This saves the file and sends a message
      back to the &pi0;emacsclient' program telling it to exit.  The
      programs  that  use  &pi0;EDITOR' wait for the "editor" (actu­
      ally, &pi0;emacsclient') to exit.  &pi0;C-x  #'  also  checks  for
      other pending external requests to edit various files, and
      selects the next such file.
"
This sounds pretty complicated.
Is this the way to configure mutt? I must admit I do not
quite understand why I need a server-start  w i t h i n  emacs!
The third part of this text additionaly is very confusing.

Robert