-\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
+@c \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
@setfilename gnus
@settitle Semi-gnus 6.11 Manual
\newcommand{\gnussc}[1]{\textsc{#1}}
\newcommand{\gnustitle}[1]{{\huge\textbf{#1}}}
\newcommand{\gnusauthor}[1]{{\large\textbf{#1}}}
+\newcommand{\gnusresult}[1]{\gnustt{=> #1}}
\newcommand{\gnusbullet}{{${\bullet}$}}
\newcommand{\gnusdollar}{\$}
at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
+Some news servers (Leafnode and old versions of INN, for instance) do
+not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these servers, @code{nil}
+is probably the most effficient value for this variable.
+
If this variable is @code{nil}, gnus will ask for group info in total
lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
@sc{nntp} server, gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
@code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
+If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
+different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
+
In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
reason?
-This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can assign a score to each
-group. You can then sort the group buffer based on this score.
-Alternatively, you can sort on score and then level. (Taken together,
-the level and the score is called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group
-that is on level 4 and has a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group
-on level 5 that has a score of 300. (The level is the most significant
-part and the score is the least significant part.))
+This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
+to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
+the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
+score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
+called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
+a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
+of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
+least significant part.))
@findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
@code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
-@code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, and @code{forward}. If you run
-this command without a prefix, gnus will guess at the file type.
-@xref{Document Groups}.
+@code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{nsmail} and @code{forward}.
+If you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
+type. @xref{Document Groups}.
@item G u
@kindex G u (Group)
Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
(@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
+@item / x
+@kindex / x (Summary)
+@findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
+Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
+headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
+(@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
+
@item / u
@itemx x
@kindex / u (Summary)
* Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
* Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
* Article Signature:: What is a signature?
+* Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
@end menu
(copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
@end lisp
+@vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
+
+If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
+@code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
+syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
+parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
+
@xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
signature after all.
+@node Article Miscellania
+@subsection Article Miscellania
+
+@table @kbd
+@item A t
+@kindex A t (Summary)
+@findex gnus-article-babel
+Translate the article from one language to another
+(@code{gnus-article-babel}).
+
+@end table
+
+
@node MIME Commands
-@section MIME Commands
+@section @sc{mime} Commands
@cindex MIME decoding
@table @kbd
+@item X m
+@kindex X m (Summary)
+@findex gnus-summary-save-parts
+Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
+(@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
+convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
+
@item M-t
@kindex M-t (Summary)
@findex gnus-summary-display-buttonized
non-@code{nil} every-time, then you can push button in the article
buffer when there are nobody else.
+Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
+
@node Customizing Articles
@section Customizing Articles
than this number.
@item
-A list:
+A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
+articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
+regexps in the list.
+
+@item
+A list where the first element is not a string:
The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
@item gnus-treat-display-xface
@item gnus-treat-display-smileys
@item gnus-treat-display-picons
+@item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences
+@item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines
+@item gnus-treat-play-sounds
+@item gnus-treat-translate
@item gnus-treat-decode-article-as-default-mime-charset
@end table
* Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
* MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
* Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
+* Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
@end menu
@code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
though.
+@node Comparing Mail Backends
+@subsubsection Comparing Mail Backends
+
+First, just for terminology, the @dfn{backend} is the common word for a
+low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
+is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
+and so selection of a suitable backend is required in order to get that
+mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
+
+The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
+typically done by NNTP these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
+in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
+articles lay (the machine which today we call an NNTP server), and
+access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
+area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
+@code{nnspool} backends, to select between these methods, if one happens
+actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
+via NFS).
+
+The goal in selecting a mail backend is to pick one which
+simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
+format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
+future. Here are some high and low points on each:
+
+@table @code
+@item nnmbox
+
+UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
+defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
+they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
+@samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
+to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
+@samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
+historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
+mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
+this backend, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
+area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
+(appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
+to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
+fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
+what's where.
+
+@item nnbabyl
+
+Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
+systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
+reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
+was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
+format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
+spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
+headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
+RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
+and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
+to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
+VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
+perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
+headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
+course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
+
+Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
+filesystem, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
+look at your mail.
+
+@item nnml
+
+@code{nnml} is the backend which smells the most as though you were
+actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
+fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
+lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
+and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
+Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
+CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
+or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
+@dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
+@sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
+due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
+file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
+extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
+provided by the active file and overviews.
+
+@code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
+resource which defines available places in the filesystem to put new
+files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
+tight, shared filesystems. But if you live on a personal machine where
+the filesystem is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
+wins big.
+
+It is also problematic using this backend if you are living in a
+FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
+tiny files.
+
+@item nnmh
+
+The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
+long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
+individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
+is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
+active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
+one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
+slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
+
+@item nnfolder
+
+Basically the effetc of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
+method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
+itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
+little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
+a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
+can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
+format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
+it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
+out how many messages there are in each separate group.
+
+If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
+messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
+only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
+friendly mail backend all over.
+
+@end table
+
+
@node Other Sources
@section Other Sources
@item forward
Forwarded articles.
+@item nsmail
+Netscape mail boxes.
+
@item mime-parts
MIME multipart messages.
This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
@code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
@code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
-@code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs} or @code{guess}.
+@code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail} or @code{guess}.
@item nndoc-post-type
@vindex nndoc-post-type
Is the "+" character illegal in newsgroup names? Is there any way in
Gnus to work around this? (gnus 5.6.45 - XEmacs 20.4)
+@item
+
+When `#F', do:
+
+@example
+Subject: Answer to your mails 01.01.1999-01.05.1999
+ --text follows this line--
+Sorry I killfiled you...
+
+Under the subject "foo", you wrote on 01.01.1999:
+> bar
+Under the subject "foo1", you wrote on 01.01.1999:
+> bar 1
+@end example
@item
Solve the halting problem.
projects / elisp / gnus.git- / commitdiff