robertre@microsoft.UUCP (Robert Reichel ms2) (10/18/89)
I'm sure this has been discussed, since I can't be the only one who
has this problem, but I haven't seen it. The question: why does
rn on occasion decide to append multiple copies of my signature?
It seems to happen most often on private replies rather than postings.
I get the prompt "Append .signature [y]" (or something to that effect),
I hit return, and lo and behold, two copies of the .signature file,
appended one right after the other. An obvious workaround would be
to read in the file manually and decline the offer to append the
.signature, but I would hope that there's a better way. Is there
some weak link in the software chain that I should pester my sysadmin
to upgrade? Are the permissions on my .signature wrong? Is there
a DONTBESTUPID environment variable that I missed in the rn man page?
If I'm rehashing well travelled ground, please save the bandwidth and
reply by private mail. Thanks.
--
Robert Reichel
robertre%microsof@beaver.washington.edu or
{decvax,uunet,uw-beaver}!microsoft!robertretale@pawl.rpi.edu (David C Lawrence) (10/20/89)
In <8101@microsoft.UUCP> robertre@microsoft.UUCP (Robert Reichel ms2):
Robert> The question: why does rn on occasion decide to append
Robert> multiple copies of my signature? It seems to happen most
Robert> often on private replies rather than postings. I get the
Robert> prompt "Append .signature [y]" (or something to that effect),
Robert> I hit return, and lo and behold, two copies of the .signature
Robert> file, appended one right after the other. An obvious
Robert> workaround would be to read in the file manually and decline
Robert> the offer to append the .signature, but I would hope that
Robert> there's a better way.
First of all, rn is just one programme. It will call other programmes
to do jobs for it when it needs them. One of them is Pnews, which
ultimately calls inews. These are used to do posting. Your mail is
handled differently than the news. rn will set things up, but other
programmes will add to that data as they need to or otherwise see fit.
Okay, now let's look at this logically.
o You don't have a problem with the signature doubling when posting
and you answer the "Append .signature?" question affirmatively.
o You do have a problem with the signature doubling when using mail
and you answer the "Append .signature?" question affirmatively.
o Conclusion: don't answer the question affirmatively when using mail.
It seems as though your mail handling agent is appending the .signature
file in addition to rn doing it, while the posting agent is not.
Dave
--
(setq mail '("tale@pawl.rpi.edu" "tale@itsgw.rpi.edu" "tale@rpitsmts.bitnet"))