4 @settitle T-gnus 6.15 Manual
10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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281 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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290 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
291 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
294 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
295 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
296 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
297 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
298 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
299 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
300 License'' in the Emacs manual.
302 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
303 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
304 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
306 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
307 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
308 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
309 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
317 This file documents gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
319 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
320 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
322 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
323 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
324 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
325 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
326 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
327 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
328 License'' in the Emacs manual.
330 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
331 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
332 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
334 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
335 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
336 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
337 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
343 @title T-gnus 6.15 Manual
345 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
348 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
349 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
350 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
352 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
353 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
354 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
355 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
356 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
357 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
358 License'' in the Emacs manual.
360 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
361 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
362 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
364 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
365 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
366 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
367 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
376 @top The gnus Newsreader
380 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using gnus. The news
381 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
382 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
385 T-gnus provides @sc{mime} features based on @sc{semi} API. So T-gnus
386 supports your right to read strange messages including big images or
387 other various kinds of formats. T-gnus also supports
388 internationalization/localization and multiscript features based on MULE
389 API. So T-gnus does not discriminate various language communities.
390 Oh, if you are a Klingon, please wait Unicode Next Generation.
392 This manual corresponds to T-gnus 6.15.
403 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
404 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
406 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
407 being accused of plagiarism:
409 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
410 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
411 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
412 can even read news with it!
414 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
415 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
416 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend gnus to make it behave
417 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
418 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
424 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
425 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
426 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
427 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
428 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
429 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
430 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
431 * Various:: General purpose settings.
432 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
433 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
434 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
435 * Key Index:: Key Index.
438 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
442 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
443 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
444 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
445 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
446 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
447 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
448 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
449 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
450 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
451 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
452 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
456 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
457 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
458 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
462 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
463 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
464 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
465 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
466 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
467 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
468 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
469 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
470 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
471 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
472 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
473 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
474 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
475 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
476 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
477 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
478 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
482 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
483 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
484 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
488 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
489 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
490 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
491 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
492 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
496 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
497 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
498 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
499 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
500 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
504 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
505 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
506 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
507 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
508 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
510 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
511 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
512 * Threading:: How threads are made.
513 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
514 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
515 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
516 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
517 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
518 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
519 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
520 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
521 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
522 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
523 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
524 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
525 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
526 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
527 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
528 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
529 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
530 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
531 or reselecting the current group.
532 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
533 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
534 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
535 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
537 Summary Buffer Format
539 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
540 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
541 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
542 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
546 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
547 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
549 Reply, Followup and Post
551 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
552 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
553 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
554 * Canceling and Superseding::
558 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
559 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
560 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
562 * Generic Marking Commands::
563 * Setting Process Marks::
567 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
568 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
569 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
573 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
574 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
576 Customizing Threading
578 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
579 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
580 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
581 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
585 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
586 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
587 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
588 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
589 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
590 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
594 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
595 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
596 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
600 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
601 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
602 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
603 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
604 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
605 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
606 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
607 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
608 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
609 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
611 Alternative Approaches
613 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
614 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
616 Various Summary Stuff
618 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
619 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
620 * Summary Generation Commands::
621 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
625 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
626 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
627 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
628 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
629 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
633 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
634 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
635 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
636 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
637 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
638 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
639 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
640 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
644 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
645 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
646 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
647 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
648 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
649 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
650 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
651 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
655 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
656 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
657 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
658 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
659 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
660 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
661 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
665 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
666 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
670 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
671 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
672 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
676 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
677 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
678 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
679 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
680 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
681 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
682 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
683 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
684 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
685 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
686 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
687 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
688 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
692 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
693 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
694 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
696 Choosing a Mail Back End
698 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
699 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
700 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
701 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
702 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
703 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
708 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
709 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
710 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
711 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
712 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
713 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
717 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
718 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
719 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
723 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
724 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
725 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
726 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
727 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
731 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
735 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
736 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
737 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
741 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
742 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
746 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
747 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
748 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
749 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
750 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
751 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
752 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
753 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
754 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
755 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
759 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
760 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
761 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
765 * Group Agent Commands::
766 * Summary Agent Commands::
767 * Server Agent Commands::
771 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
772 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
773 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
774 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
775 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
776 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
777 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
778 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
779 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
780 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
781 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
782 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
783 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
784 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
785 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
786 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
787 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
791 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
792 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
793 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
794 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
798 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
799 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
800 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
804 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
805 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
806 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
807 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
808 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
809 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
810 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
811 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
812 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
813 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
814 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
815 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
816 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
817 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
818 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
819 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
820 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
821 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
822 * Pay Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
823 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
827 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
828 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
829 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
830 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
831 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
832 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
833 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
834 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
838 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
839 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
840 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
841 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
842 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
846 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
847 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
848 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
849 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
850 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
854 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
855 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
856 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
857 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
858 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
859 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
860 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
861 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
862 * Frequently Asked Questions::
866 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
867 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
868 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
869 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
870 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
871 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
872 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
873 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
874 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
878 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
879 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
880 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
881 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
882 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
886 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
887 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
888 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
889 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
893 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
894 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
895 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
896 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
897 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
898 * Group Info:: The group info format.
899 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
900 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
901 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
905 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
906 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
907 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
908 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
909 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
910 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
914 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
915 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
919 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
920 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
926 @chapter Starting gnus
931 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting gnus
932 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
935 @findex gnus-other-frame
936 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
937 If you want to start gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
938 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
940 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
941 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
942 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
944 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
945 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
948 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
949 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
950 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
951 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
952 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
953 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
954 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
955 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
956 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
957 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
958 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
962 @node Finding the News
963 @section Finding the News
966 @vindex gnus-select-method
968 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where gnus should look for
969 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
970 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
971 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
974 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
975 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
978 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
981 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
984 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
987 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
988 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
989 server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
991 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
993 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
994 If this variable is not set, gnus will take a look at the
995 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
996 gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
997 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
998 that fails as well, gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
1000 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1001 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1002 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1003 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1005 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1006 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1007 You can also make gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1008 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1009 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), gnus will let you choose between the servers
1010 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1011 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1012 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1013 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1016 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1018 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
1019 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1020 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1021 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1022 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1023 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1025 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1027 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1028 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1029 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1030 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1031 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1032 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1035 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1036 you would typically set this variable to
1039 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1043 @node The First Time
1044 @section The First Time
1045 @cindex first time usage
1047 If no startup files exist, gnus will try to determine what groups should
1048 be subscribed by default.
1050 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1051 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, gnus
1052 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1053 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1056 Since she hasn't, gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1057 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1058 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1060 You'll also be subscribed to the gnus documentation group, which should
1061 help you with most common problems.
1063 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, gnus will just
1064 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1068 @node The Server is Down
1069 @section The Server is Down
1070 @cindex server errors
1072 If the default server is down, gnus will understandably have some
1073 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1074 the news groups, you may want to start gnus anyway.
1076 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1077 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1078 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1079 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1080 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1081 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1082 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1084 @findex gnus-no-server
1085 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1087 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1088 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1089 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start gnus. That might come in handy
1090 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1091 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1092 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1093 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1097 @section Slave Gnusae
1100 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one gnus at the
1101 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1102 are using the two different gnusae to read from two different servers),
1103 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1105 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1106 @code{.newsrc} file.
1108 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the gnus
1109 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1110 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1111 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1112 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1113 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1114 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1116 Anyway, you start one gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1117 however you do it). Each subsequent slave gnusae should be started with
1118 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1119 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1120 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master gnus
1121 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1122 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1123 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1125 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1126 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
1128 If the @code{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1129 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1130 file. If you answer "yes", the unsaved changes to the master will be
1131 incorporated into the slave. If you answer "no", the slave may see some
1132 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1134 @node Fetching a Group
1135 @section Fetching a Group
1136 @cindex fetching a group
1138 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1139 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1140 group and I don't care whether gnus has been started or not''. This is
1141 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1142 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1143 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1149 @cindex subscription
1151 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1152 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1153 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1154 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1155 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1156 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1157 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1158 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1159 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1162 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1163 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1164 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1168 @node Checking New Groups
1169 @subsection Checking New Groups
1171 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1172 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1173 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1174 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, gnus will ask the
1175 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1176 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1177 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1178 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1179 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1180 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1182 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1183 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1184 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1185 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1186 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1187 work. I could write a function to make gnus guess whether the server
1188 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1189 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1190 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1191 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1192 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1194 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, gnus will
1195 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1196 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1197 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1198 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1199 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1202 @node Subscription Methods
1203 @subsection Subscription Methods
1205 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1206 What gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1207 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1209 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1210 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1212 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1216 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1217 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1218 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1219 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1220 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1222 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1223 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1224 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1225 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1227 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1228 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1229 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1231 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1232 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1233 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1234 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1235 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1236 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1237 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1238 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1239 up. Or something like that.
1241 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1242 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1243 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that gnus will ask
1244 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1245 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1247 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1248 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1249 Kill all new groups.
1251 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1252 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1253 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1254 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1255 topic parameter that looks like
1261 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1264 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1269 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1270 A closely related variable is
1271 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1272 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will ask you in a
1273 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1274 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1277 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1278 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1279 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1280 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1283 @node Filtering New Groups
1284 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1286 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1287 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1288 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1291 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1294 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1295 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1296 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1297 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1298 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1299 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1300 subscribing these groups.
1301 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1302 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1304 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1305 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1306 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1307 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1308 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1309 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1310 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1311 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1313 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1314 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1315 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1316 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1317 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1318 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1319 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1320 that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1321 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1322 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1325 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1326 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1329 @node Changing Servers
1330 @section Changing Servers
1331 @cindex changing servers
1333 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1334 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1335 very flaky and you want to use another.
1337 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1338 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1342 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1343 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1344 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1345 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1348 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1349 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1350 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1351 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1353 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1354 @findex gnus-change-server
1355 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1356 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1357 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1358 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1359 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1361 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1362 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1363 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1364 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1365 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1367 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1368 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1369 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1370 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1371 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1372 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1374 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1375 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1376 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1377 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1379 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1380 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1381 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1382 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1383 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1384 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1385 cache for all groups).
1389 @section Startup Files
1390 @cindex startup files
1395 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1396 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1398 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1399 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1400 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1401 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1402 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1403 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1404 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1406 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1407 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1408 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1409 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1410 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1411 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1413 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1414 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1415 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1416 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1417 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from gnus faster.
1418 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1419 gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1420 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes gnus ignore the
1421 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1422 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1424 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1425 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1426 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1427 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1428 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1429 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1430 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1431 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1432 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1433 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1434 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1435 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1437 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1438 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1439 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1440 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1442 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1443 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1444 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1445 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1446 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1447 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1448 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1449 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1450 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1451 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1454 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1455 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1457 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1458 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1461 @vindex gnus-init-file
1462 When gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1463 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1464 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1465 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1466 @file{site-init} files with gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1467 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1468 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1469 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1470 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1476 @cindex dribble file
1479 Whenever you do something that changes the gnus data (reading articles,
1480 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1481 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1482 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1483 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1486 If gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1487 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1490 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1491 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, gnus won't create and
1492 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1494 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1495 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1496 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, gnus will dribble
1497 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1498 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1499 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
1501 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1502 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1503 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1506 @node The Active File
1507 @section The Active File
1509 @cindex ignored groups
1511 When gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1512 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1513 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1515 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1516 Before examining the active file, gnus deletes all lines that match the
1517 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1518 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make gnus
1519 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1520 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1521 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1524 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1525 @c if you set it to anything else.
1527 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1529 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1530 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent gnus from
1531 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1533 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1534 you actually subscribe to.
1536 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1537 variable to @code{nil} will probably make gnus slower, not faster. At
1538 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow gnus down
1539 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1541 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1542 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1543 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1544 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1545 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1546 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1548 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1549 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1550 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1553 If this variable is @code{nil}, gnus will ask for group info in total
1554 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1555 @sc{nntp} server, gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1556 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1557 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1558 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1560 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1561 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1563 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1564 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1566 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1567 secondary select methods.
1570 @node Startup Variables
1571 @section Startup Variables
1575 @item gnus-load-hook
1576 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1577 A hook run while gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1578 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1579 times you start gnus.
1581 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1582 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1583 A hook run after starting up gnus successfully.
1585 @item gnus-startup-hook
1586 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1587 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1589 @item gnus-started-hook
1590 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1591 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1594 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1595 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1596 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1597 generating the group buffer.
1599 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1600 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1601 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1602 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1603 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1604 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1605 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1606 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1608 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1609 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1610 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1611 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1612 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1613 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1615 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1616 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1617 Message displayed by gnus when no groups are available.
1619 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1620 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1621 If non-@code{nil}, play the gnus jingle at startup.
1623 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1624 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1625 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1626 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1632 @chapter Group Buffer
1633 @cindex group buffer
1635 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1637 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1638 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1639 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1640 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1641 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1642 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1643 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1644 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1645 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1646 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1647 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1648 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1649 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1650 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1651 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1652 @c human rights at 9...
1655 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1656 is the first buffer shown when gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1657 long as gnus is active.
1661 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1662 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1663 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1664 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1665 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1666 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1667 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1668 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1674 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1675 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1676 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1677 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1678 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1679 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1680 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1681 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1682 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1683 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1684 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1685 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1686 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1687 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1688 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1689 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1690 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1694 @node Group Buffer Format
1695 @section Group Buffer Format
1698 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1699 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1700 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1704 @node Group Line Specification
1705 @subsection Group Line Specification
1706 @cindex group buffer format
1708 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1709 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1711 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1714 25: news.announce.newusers
1715 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1720 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1721 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1722 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1723 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1725 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1726 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1727 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1728 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1729 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1730 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1732 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1734 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1735 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1736 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1737 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1738 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1740 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1741 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1742 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1744 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1749 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1752 Whether the group is subscribed.
1755 Level of subscribedness.
1758 Number of unread articles.
1761 Number of dormant articles.
1764 Number of ticked articles.
1767 Number of read articles.
1770 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1771 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1773 Gnus uses this estimation because the @sc{nntp} protocol provides
1774 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1775 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1776 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1777 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1778 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1779 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1780 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1783 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1786 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1795 Newsgroup description.
1798 @samp{m} if moderated.
1801 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1810 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1814 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1817 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1818 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1819 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1820 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1821 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1824 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1826 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1830 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1833 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1837 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1838 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1839 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1840 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1841 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1842 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1847 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1848 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1849 group, or a bogus native group.
1852 @node Group Modeline Specification
1853 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1854 @cindex group modeline
1856 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1857 The mode line can be changed by setting
1858 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1859 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1863 The native news server.
1865 The native select method.
1869 @node Group Highlighting
1870 @subsection Group Highlighting
1871 @cindex highlighting
1872 @cindex group highlighting
1874 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1875 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1876 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1877 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1878 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1880 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1884 (cond (window-system
1885 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1886 (defface my-group-face-1
1887 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1888 (defface my-group-face-2
1889 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1890 (defface my-group-face-3
1891 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1892 (defface my-group-face-4
1893 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1894 (defface my-group-face-5
1895 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1897 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1898 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1899 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1900 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1901 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1902 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1905 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1907 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1914 The number of unread articles in the group.
1918 Whether the group is a mail group.
1920 The level of the group.
1922 The score of the group.
1924 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1926 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1927 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1929 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1930 topic being inserted.
1933 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1934 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal gnus
1935 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1937 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1938 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1939 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1940 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1941 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1944 @node Group Maneuvering
1945 @section Group Maneuvering
1946 @cindex group movement
1948 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1949 expected, hopefully.
1955 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1956 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1957 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1963 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1964 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1965 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1969 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1970 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1974 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1975 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1979 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1980 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1981 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1985 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1986 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1987 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1990 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1996 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1997 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1998 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2003 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2004 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2005 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2009 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2010 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2011 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2014 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2015 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2016 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2017 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2021 @node Selecting a Group
2022 @section Selecting a Group
2023 @cindex group selection
2028 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2029 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2030 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2031 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2032 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2033 this command, gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2034 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
2035 determines the number of articles gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
2036 positive, gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
2037 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
2039 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2040 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2041 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2043 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2044 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2049 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2050 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2051 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2052 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2053 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2057 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2058 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2059 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2060 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2061 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2062 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2063 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2064 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2065 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2066 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2069 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2070 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2071 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2072 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2073 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2076 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2077 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2078 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2079 doing any processing of its contents
2080 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2081 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2082 manner will have no permanent effects.
2086 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2087 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what gnus should consider
2088 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
2089 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, gnus will query the user
2090 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2091 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2092 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2093 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2096 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2097 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2098 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2099 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2100 Which article this is is controlled by the
2101 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2107 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2110 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2113 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2115 @item unseen-or-unread
2116 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2117 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2121 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2125 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2126 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2128 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2129 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2130 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2131 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2135 @node Subscription Commands
2136 @section Subscription Commands
2137 @cindex subscription
2145 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2146 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2147 Toggle subscription to the current group
2148 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2154 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2155 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2156 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2157 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2163 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2164 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2165 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2171 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2172 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2175 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2176 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2177 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2178 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2179 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2185 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2186 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2190 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2191 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2194 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2195 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2196 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2197 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2198 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2199 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2200 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2201 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2202 @file{.newsrc} file.
2206 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2216 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2217 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2218 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2219 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2220 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2221 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2226 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2227 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2228 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2232 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2233 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2234 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2236 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2237 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2238 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2239 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2240 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2241 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2248 @section Group Levels
2252 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2253 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2254 can ask gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2255 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2256 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2258 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2264 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2265 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2266 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2267 prompted for a level.
2270 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2271 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2272 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2273 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2274 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2275 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2276 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2277 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2278 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2279 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2280 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2281 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2282 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2283 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2284 reasons of efficiency.
2286 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2287 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2289 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2290 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2291 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2292 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2293 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2294 groups are hidden, in a way.
2296 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2297 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2298 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2299 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2300 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2301 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2303 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2304 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2305 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2306 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2307 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2308 list of killed groups.)
2310 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2311 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2312 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2314 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2315 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2316 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2317 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2318 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2319 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2320 relevant valid ranges.
2322 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2323 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2324 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2325 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2326 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2327 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2330 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2331 one with the best level.
2333 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2334 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2335 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2338 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2339 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2340 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2341 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2344 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2345 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2346 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2347 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2349 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2350 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2351 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2352 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2353 to 5. The default is 6.
2357 @section Group Score
2362 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2363 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2364 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2367 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2368 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2369 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2370 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2371 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2372 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2373 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2374 least significant part.))
2376 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2377 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2378 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2379 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2380 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2381 action after each summary exit, you can add
2382 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2383 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2384 slow things down somewhat.
2387 @node Marking Groups
2388 @section Marking Groups
2389 @cindex marking groups
2391 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2392 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2393 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2394 bidding on those groups.
2396 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2397 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2398 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2406 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2407 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2413 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2414 Remove the mark from the current group
2415 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2419 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2420 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2424 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2425 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2429 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2430 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2434 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2435 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2436 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2439 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2441 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2442 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2443 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2444 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2445 the command to be executed.
2448 @node Foreign Groups
2449 @section Foreign Groups
2450 @cindex foreign groups
2452 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2453 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2454 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2455 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2462 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2463 @cindex making groups
2464 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2465 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2466 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2470 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2471 @cindex renaming groups
2472 Rename the current group to something else
2473 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2474 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2480 @findex gnus-group-customize
2481 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2485 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2486 @cindex renaming groups
2487 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2488 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2492 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2493 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2494 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2498 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2499 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2500 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2504 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2506 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2507 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2512 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2513 Make the gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2517 @cindex (ding) archive
2518 @cindex archive group
2519 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2520 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2521 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2522 Make a gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2523 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2524 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2525 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2529 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2531 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2532 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2533 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2534 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2538 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2540 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2541 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2542 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2546 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2547 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2549 Make a group based on some file or other
2550 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2551 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2552 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2553 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2554 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2555 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2556 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2557 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2558 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2562 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2563 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2564 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2565 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2569 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2574 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2575 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2576 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2577 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2578 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
2579 @xref{Web Searches}.
2581 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
2582 to a particular group by using a match string like
2583 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
2586 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2587 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2588 This function will delete the current group
2589 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2590 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2591 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2592 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2593 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2597 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2598 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2599 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2603 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2604 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2605 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2608 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2611 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2612 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2613 gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2614 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2615 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2616 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2620 @node Group Parameters
2621 @section Group Parameters
2622 @cindex group parameters
2624 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2625 Here's an example group parameter list:
2628 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2632 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2633 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2634 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2635 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2637 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2638 is an alist of regexps and values.
2640 The following group parameters can be used:
2645 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2648 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2651 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2652 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2653 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2654 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2655 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2657 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2658 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2659 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2660 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2661 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2662 list address instead.
2664 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2668 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2671 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2674 It is totally ignored
2675 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2676 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2678 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2679 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2680 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2681 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2682 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2684 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2685 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2686 sending the message.
2688 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2689 @cindex Mail List Groups
2690 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2691 entering summary buffer.
2693 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2698 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2699 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2700 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2701 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2702 headers for your posts to these lists. Look here @pxref{(message)Mailing
2703 Lists} for a complete treatment of available MFT support.
2705 See also @code{gnus-find-subscribed-addresses}, the function that
2706 directly uses this group parameter.
2710 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2711 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2712 of whether it has any unread articles.
2714 @item broken-reply-to
2715 @cindex broken-reply-to
2716 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2717 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2718 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2719 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2720 broken behavior. So there!
2724 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2725 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2729 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, gnus
2730 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2731 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2736 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2737 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2738 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2739 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2740 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2741 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2742 (@pxref{Archived Messages}). CAVEAT:: It yields an error putting
2743 @code{(gcc-self . t)} in groups of a @code{nntp} server or so, because
2744 a @code{nntp} server doesn't accept artciles.
2748 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2749 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2750 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2752 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2755 @cindex total-expire
2756 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2757 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2758 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2759 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2762 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2766 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2767 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2768 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2769 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2770 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2771 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2774 @cindex score file group parameter
2775 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2776 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2777 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2780 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2781 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2782 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2783 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2786 @cindex admin-address
2787 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2788 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2789 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2790 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2794 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2795 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2799 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2802 Display the last INTEGER articles in the group. This is the same as
2803 entering the group with C-u INTEGER.
2806 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2810 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2812 Here are some examples:
2816 Display only unread articles.
2819 Display everything except expirable articles.
2821 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2822 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2826 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2827 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2828 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2829 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2830 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
2834 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2835 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2836 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2840 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2841 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2842 gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2847 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2848 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2849 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2851 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2853 @item ignored-charsets
2854 @cindex ignored-charset
2855 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2856 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2857 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2859 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2862 @cindex posting-style
2863 You can store additional posting style information for this group only
2864 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2865 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2866 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2867 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2869 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2870 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2871 like this in the group parameters:
2876 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2881 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2882 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2886 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2887 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2888 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2889 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2890 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2894 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
2895 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
2896 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
2897 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
2899 For example, if the INBOX.list.sieve group has the @code{(sieve
2900 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
2901 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
2902 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
2905 if address \"sender\" \"sieve-admin@@extundo.com\" @{
2906 fileinto \"INBOX.list.sieve\";
2910 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, , Top, sieve,
2913 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2914 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2915 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2916 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2917 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2918 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2919 @code{eval}ed there.
2921 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
2922 A use for this feature, is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
2923 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
2924 @samp{nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps} has the tag
2925 @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this tag can be
2926 removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for the group by
2927 putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")} into the group
2928 parameters for the group.
2931 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2932 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2933 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2934 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2935 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2939 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2940 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2941 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2942 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2943 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2945 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
2946 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
2950 (setq gnus-parameters
2952 (gnus-show-threads nil)
2953 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
2954 (gnus-summary-line-format
2955 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
2959 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
2963 (gnus-use-scoring t))
2967 (broken-reply-to . t))))
2970 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
2971 the @code{to-group} example shows.
2974 @node Listing Groups
2975 @section Listing Groups
2976 @cindex group listing
2978 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2986 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2987 List all groups that have unread articles
2988 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2989 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2990 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2991 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2998 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2999 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3000 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3001 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3002 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3003 unsubscribed groups).
3007 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3008 List all unread groups on a specific level
3009 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3010 with no unread articles.
3014 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3015 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3016 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3017 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3022 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3023 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3027 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3028 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3029 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3033 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3034 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3038 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3039 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3040 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3041 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3042 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3043 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3044 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3045 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3049 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3050 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3051 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3055 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3056 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3057 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3061 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3062 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3066 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3067 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3071 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3072 List groups limited within the current selection
3073 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3077 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3078 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3082 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3083 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3087 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3088 @cindex visible group parameter
3089 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3090 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3091 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3092 get the same effect.
3094 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3095 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3096 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3097 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3098 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3101 @node Sorting Groups
3102 @section Sorting Groups
3103 @cindex sorting groups
3105 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3106 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3107 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3108 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3109 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3110 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3115 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3116 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3117 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3119 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3120 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3121 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3123 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3124 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3125 Sort by group level.
3127 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3128 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3129 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3131 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3132 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3133 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3134 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3136 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3137 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3138 Sort by number of unread articles.
3140 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3141 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3142 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3144 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3145 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3146 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3151 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3152 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3156 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3157 some sorting criteria:
3161 @kindex G S a (Group)
3162 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3163 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3164 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3167 @kindex G S u (Group)
3168 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3169 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3170 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3173 @kindex G S l (Group)
3174 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3175 Sort the group buffer by group level
3176 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3179 @kindex G S v (Group)
3180 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3181 Sort the group buffer by group score
3182 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3185 @kindex G S r (Group)
3186 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3187 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3188 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3191 @kindex G S m (Group)
3192 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3193 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name
3194 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3198 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3199 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3201 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3202 commands will sort in reverse order.
3204 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3208 @kindex G P a (Group)
3209 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3210 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3211 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3214 @kindex G P u (Group)
3215 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3216 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3217 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3220 @kindex G P l (Group)
3221 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3222 Sort the groups by group level
3223 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3226 @kindex G P v (Group)
3227 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3228 Sort the groups by group score
3229 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3232 @kindex G P r (Group)
3233 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3234 Sort the groups by group rank
3235 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3238 @kindex G P m (Group)
3239 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3240 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name
3241 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3244 @kindex G P s (Group)
3245 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3246 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3250 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3254 @node Group Maintenance
3255 @section Group Maintenance
3256 @cindex bogus groups
3261 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3262 Find bogus groups and delete them
3263 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3267 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3268 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3269 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3270 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3271 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3275 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3276 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3277 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3278 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3279 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3280 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3283 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3284 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3285 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3286 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3291 @node Browse Foreign Server
3292 @section Browse Foreign Server
3293 @cindex foreign servers
3294 @cindex browsing servers
3299 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3300 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3301 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3302 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3305 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3306 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3307 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3308 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3310 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3315 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3316 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3320 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3321 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3324 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3325 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3326 Enter the current group and display the first article
3327 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3330 @kindex RET (Browse)
3331 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3332 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3336 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3337 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3338 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3344 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3345 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3349 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3350 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3351 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3356 @section Exiting gnus
3357 @cindex exiting gnus
3359 Yes, gnus is ex(c)iting.
3364 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3365 Suspend gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit gnus,
3366 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3367 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3371 @findex gnus-group-exit
3372 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3373 Quit gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3377 @findex gnus-group-quit
3378 Quit gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3379 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3382 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3383 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3384 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend gnus and
3385 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit gnus, while
3386 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3391 If you wish to completely unload gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3392 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3393 trying to customize meta-variables.
3398 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3399 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3400 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3406 @section Group Topics
3409 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3410 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3411 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3412 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3413 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3414 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3418 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3419 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3430 2: alt.religion.emacs
3433 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3435 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3436 13: comp.sources.unix
3439 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3441 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3442 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3443 is a toggling command.)
3445 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3446 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and
3447 now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3448 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3451 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3452 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3453 @file{~/.gnus} file:
3456 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3460 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3461 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3462 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3463 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3464 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3468 @node Topic Commands
3469 @subsection Topic Commands
3470 @cindex topic commands
3472 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3473 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3474 definitions slightly.
3476 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3477 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3478 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3479 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3480 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3481 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3483 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3490 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3491 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3492 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3496 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3498 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3499 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3500 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3501 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3504 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3505 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3506 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3507 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3511 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3512 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3513 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3514 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3520 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3521 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3522 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3526 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3527 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3528 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3531 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3532 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the `cut' part of cut and paste. Then,
3533 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the `Gnus'
3534 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the `paste' part of cut and
3535 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3537 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3538 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3542 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3543 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3550 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3552 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3553 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3554 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3555 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3556 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3557 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3561 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3567 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3568 Move the current group to some other topic
3569 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3570 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3574 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3575 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3579 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3580 Copy the current group to some other topic
3581 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3582 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3586 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3587 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3588 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3592 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3593 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3594 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3598 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3599 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3600 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3601 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3602 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3603 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3604 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3607 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3608 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3612 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3613 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3614 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3618 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3619 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3620 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3624 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3625 Toggle hiding empty topics
3626 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3630 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3631 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3632 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
3635 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3636 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3637 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3638 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
3641 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3642 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3643 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3644 expiry process (if any)
3645 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3649 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3650 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3653 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3654 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3655 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3659 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3660 List all groups that gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3661 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3664 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3665 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3666 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3669 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3670 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3671 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3675 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3676 @cindex group parameters
3677 @cindex topic parameters
3679 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3680 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3685 @node Topic Variables
3686 @subsection Topic Variables
3687 @cindex topic variables
3689 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3690 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3692 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3693 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3694 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3707 Number of groups in the topic.
3709 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3711 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3714 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3715 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3716 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3719 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3720 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3722 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3723 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3724 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3728 @subsection Topic Sorting
3729 @cindex topic sorting
3731 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3737 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3738 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3739 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3740 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3743 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3744 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3745 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3746 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3749 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3750 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3751 Sort the current topic by group level
3752 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3755 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3756 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3757 Sort the current topic by group score
3758 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3761 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3762 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3763 Sort the current topic by group rank
3764 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3767 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3768 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3769 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
3770 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3773 @kindex T S e (Topic)
3774 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
3775 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
3776 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
3780 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
3781 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
3782 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
3783 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
3787 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
3788 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
3792 @node Topic Topology
3793 @subsection Topic Topology
3794 @cindex topic topology
3797 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3803 2: alt.religion.emacs
3806 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3808 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3809 13: comp.sources.unix
3812 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3813 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3814 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3819 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3820 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3824 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3825 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3826 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3827 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3828 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3829 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3831 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3832 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3833 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3836 @node Topic Parameters
3837 @subsection Topic Parameters
3838 @cindex topic parameters
3840 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3841 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3842 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3844 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3849 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3850 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3851 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3854 @item subscribe-level
3855 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
3856 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
3857 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
3861 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3862 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3863 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3864 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3870 2: alt.religion.emacs
3874 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3876 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3877 13: comp.sources.unix
3881 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3882 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3883 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3884 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3885 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3886 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3888 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3889 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3890 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3891 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3892 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3894 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3895 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3896 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3897 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3898 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3899 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3900 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3901 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3904 @node Misc Group Stuff
3905 @section Misc Group Stuff
3908 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3909 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3910 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3911 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3912 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
3919 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3920 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3921 @xref{Server Buffer}.
3925 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3926 Start composing a message (a news by default)
3927 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
3928 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
3929 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
3930 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
3931 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3935 @findex gnus-group-mail
3936 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
3937 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
3938 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
3939 @xref{Composing Messages}.
3943 @findex gnus-group-news
3944 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
3945 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
3946 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3948 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
3949 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
3950 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
3951 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
3952 for this to work though.
3956 Variables for the group buffer:
3960 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
3961 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
3962 is called after the group buffer has been
3965 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
3966 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3967 is called after the group buffer is
3968 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
3971 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
3972 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3973 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
3974 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
3976 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3977 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3978 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
3979 whether they are empty or not.
3981 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3982 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3983 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
3984 non-ASCII group names.
3988 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3989 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
3992 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3993 @cindex UTF-8 group names
3994 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3995 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names. It
3996 is used to show non-ASCII group names. @code{((".*" utf-8))} is the
3997 default value if UTF-8 is supported, otherwise the default is nil.
4001 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4002 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
4007 @node Scanning New Messages
4008 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4009 @cindex new messages
4010 @cindex scanning new news
4016 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4017 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4018 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4019 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4020 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4021 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4026 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4027 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4028 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4029 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4030 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4031 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4032 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4034 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4035 @cindex activating groups
4037 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4038 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4043 @findex gnus-group-restart
4044 Restart gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4045 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4046 gnus variables, and then starts gnus all over again.
4050 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4051 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4053 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4054 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4058 @node Group Information
4059 @subsection Group Information
4060 @cindex group information
4061 @cindex information on groups
4068 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4069 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4072 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
4073 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
4074 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
4075 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
4076 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4077 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
4078 for fetching the file.
4080 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, gnus will attempt to go
4081 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4085 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4087 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4088 @cindex describing groups
4089 @cindex group description
4090 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4091 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4092 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4096 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4097 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4098 prefix, force gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4105 @findex gnus-version
4106 Display current gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4110 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4111 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4114 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4117 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4118 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4122 @node Group Timestamp
4123 @subsection Group Timestamp
4125 @cindex group timestamps
4127 It can be convenient to let gnus keep track of when you last read a
4128 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4129 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4132 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4135 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4137 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4138 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4141 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4142 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4145 This will result in lines looking like:
4148 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4149 0: custom 19961002T012713
4152 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4153 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4157 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4158 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4161 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4162 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4166 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4167 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4168 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4169 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4171 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4177 @subsection File Commands
4178 @cindex file commands
4184 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4185 @vindex gnus-init-file
4186 @cindex reading init file
4187 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4188 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4192 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4193 @cindex saving .newsrc
4194 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4195 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4196 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4199 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4200 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4201 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4206 @node Sieve Commands
4207 @subsection Sieve Commands
4208 @cindex group sieve commands
4210 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4211 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4212 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4213 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4214 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4216 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4217 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4218 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4219 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4220 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4221 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4222 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4223 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4224 regenerate the Sieve script.
4226 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4227 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4228 is generated. If it is non-nil (the default) articles is placed in
4229 all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article is only
4230 placed in the group with the first matching rule. For example, the
4231 group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4232 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4233 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is nil. (When
4234 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-nil, it looks the same except that
4235 the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4238 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4239 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4244 @xref{Top, ,Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4250 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4251 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4252 @cindex generating sieve script
4253 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4254 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4258 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4259 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4260 @cindex updating sieve script
4261 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4262 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4263 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4268 @node Summary Buffer
4269 @chapter Summary Buffer
4270 @cindex summary buffer
4272 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4273 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4275 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4276 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4278 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4281 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4282 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4283 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4284 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4285 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4286 * Delayed Articles::
4287 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4288 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4289 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4290 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4291 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4292 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4293 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4294 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4295 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4296 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4297 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4298 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4299 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4300 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4301 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4302 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4303 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4304 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4305 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4306 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4307 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4308 or reselecting the current group.
4309 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4310 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4311 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4312 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4316 @node Summary Buffer Format
4317 @section Summary Buffer Format
4318 @cindex summary buffer format
4322 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4323 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4324 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4330 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4331 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4332 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4333 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4336 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4337 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4338 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4339 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4340 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4341 @code{From} header. Three pre-defined functions exist:
4342 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4343 fast, and too simplistic solution;
4344 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works nicely, but is
4345 slower; and @code{std11-extract-address-components}, which works very
4346 nicely, but is slower. The default function will return the wrong
4347 answer in 5% of the cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the
4348 other function instead:
4351 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4352 'mail-extract-address-components)
4355 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4356 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4357 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4358 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4361 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4362 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4364 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4365 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4366 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4367 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4368 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4370 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4371 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4372 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4373 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4374 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4375 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4377 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4379 The following format specification characters and extended format
4380 specification(s) are understood:
4386 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4387 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4389 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4390 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4391 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4393 Full @code{From} header.
4395 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4397 The name, code @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header
4398 (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
4400 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4401 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4402 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4403 may be more thorough.
4405 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4408 Number of lines in the article.
4410 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4411 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4413 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4415 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4418 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4419 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4421 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4422 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4424 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4425 for adopted articles.
4427 One space for each thread level.
4429 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4431 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4434 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4435 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4436 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4439 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4441 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4442 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4443 default level. If the difference between
4444 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4445 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4453 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4455 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4461 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4462 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4464 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4465 article has any children.
4471 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4472 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4474 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4475 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4476 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4477 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4478 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4479 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4482 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4483 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4484 There can only be one such area.
4486 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4487 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, gnus will
4488 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4489 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4490 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4491 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4493 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4494 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4496 This restriction may disappear in later versions of gnus.
4499 @node To From Newsgroups
4500 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4504 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4505 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4506 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4507 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4508 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4512 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4513 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4514 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4518 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4519 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4522 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4523 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4526 @findex gnus-extra-header
4527 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4528 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4529 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4532 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4536 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4537 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4538 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4539 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4540 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4541 headers are used instead.
4545 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4546 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4547 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
4548 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
4551 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4552 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4553 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4554 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4556 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4560 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4562 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4563 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4564 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4565 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4569 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
4572 Now, this is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4573 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4580 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4581 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4584 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4585 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4587 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4588 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4589 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4590 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4592 Here are the elements you can play with:
4598 Unprefixed group name.
4600 Current article number.
4602 Current article score.
4606 Number of unread articles in this group.
4608 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4611 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4612 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4613 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4614 and no unselected ones.
4616 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4617 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4619 Subject of the current article.
4621 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4623 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4625 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4627 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4629 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4631 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4635 @node Summary Highlighting
4636 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4640 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4641 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4642 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4643 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4644 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4646 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4647 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4648 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4649 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4651 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4652 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4653 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4654 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4656 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4657 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4658 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4659 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4660 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4661 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4664 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4665 ((> score default) . bold))
4667 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4668 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4672 @node Summary Maneuvering
4673 @section Summary Maneuvering
4674 @cindex summary movement
4676 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4677 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4679 None of these commands select articles.
4684 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4685 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4686 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4687 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4688 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4692 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4693 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4694 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4695 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4696 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4699 @kindex G g (Summary)
4700 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4701 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4702 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4705 If gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4706 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4707 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4708 to the group buffer.
4710 Variables related to summary movement:
4714 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4715 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4716 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4717 no more unread articles after the current one, gnus will offer to go to
4718 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4719 empty, gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4720 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, gnus will select the
4721 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
4722 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, gnus will select the
4723 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
4724 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
4725 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
4726 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
4727 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
4729 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4730 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4731 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4732 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4733 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4734 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4735 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4737 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4739 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4740 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4741 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4742 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4743 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4745 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4746 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4747 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4748 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4749 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4750 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4751 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4752 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4755 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4756 the given number of lines from the top.
4761 @node Choosing Articles
4762 @section Choosing Articles
4763 @cindex selecting articles
4766 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4767 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4771 @node Choosing Commands
4772 @subsection Choosing Commands
4774 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4775 and they all select and display an article.
4777 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4778 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4782 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4783 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4784 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4785 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4790 @kindex G n (Summary)
4791 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4792 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4793 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4798 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4799 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4800 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4805 @kindex G N (Summary)
4806 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4807 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4812 @kindex G P (Summary)
4813 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4814 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4817 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4818 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4819 Go to the next article with the same subject
4820 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4823 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4824 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4825 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4826 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4830 @kindex G f (Summary)
4832 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4833 Go to the first unread article
4834 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4838 @kindex G b (Summary)
4840 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4841 Go to the unread article with the highest score
4842 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
4843 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
4848 @kindex G l (Summary)
4849 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4850 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4853 @kindex G o (Summary)
4854 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4856 @cindex article history
4857 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4858 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4859 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4860 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
4861 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
4862 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
4867 @kindex G j (Summary)
4868 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
4869 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
4870 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
4875 @node Choosing Variables
4876 @subsection Choosing Variables
4878 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
4881 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4882 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4883 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
4884 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
4885 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
4886 the server and display it in the article buffer.
4888 @item gnus-select-article-hook
4889 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
4890 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
4891 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
4893 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
4894 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
4895 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
4896 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
4897 @findex gnus-unread-mark
4898 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
4899 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
4900 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
4901 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
4902 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
4903 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
4904 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
4905 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
4906 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
4911 @node Paging the Article
4912 @section Scrolling the Article
4913 @cindex article scrolling
4918 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4919 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4920 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
4921 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
4922 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4925 @kindex DEL (Summary)
4926 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
4927 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
4930 @kindex RET (Summary)
4931 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
4932 Scroll the current article one line forward
4933 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
4936 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
4937 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
4938 Scroll the current article one line backward
4939 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
4943 @kindex A g (Summary)
4945 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
4946 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4947 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
4948 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
4949 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
4950 the way it came from the server.
4952 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
4953 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
4954 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
4957 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4962 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
4967 @kindex A < (Summary)
4968 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
4969 Scroll to the beginning of the article
4970 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
4975 @kindex A > (Summary)
4976 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
4977 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
4981 @kindex A s (Summary)
4983 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
4984 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
4985 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
4989 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
4990 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
4995 @node Reply Followup and Post
4996 @section Reply, Followup and Post
4999 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5000 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5001 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5002 * Canceling and Superseding::
5006 @node Summary Mail Commands
5007 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5009 @cindex composing mail
5011 Commands for composing a mail message:
5017 @kindex S r (Summary)
5019 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5020 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5021 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5022 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5023 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5028 @kindex S R (Summary)
5029 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5030 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5031 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5032 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5033 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5036 @kindex S w (Summary)
5037 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5038 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5039 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5040 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5041 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
5044 @kindex S W (Summary)
5045 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5046 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5047 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5048 the process/prefix convention.
5051 @kindex S v (Summary)
5052 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5053 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5054 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5055 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5056 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5057 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5061 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5062 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5063 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5064 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5065 Forward the current article to some other person
5066 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5067 headers of the forwarded article.
5072 @kindex S m (Summary)
5073 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5074 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5075 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5076 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5077 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5082 @kindex S i (Summary)
5083 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5084 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5085 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5086 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5088 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5089 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
5090 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5091 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5092 for this to work though.
5095 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5096 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5097 @cindex bouncing mail
5098 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5099 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5100 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5101 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5102 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5103 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, gnus will try to fetch
5104 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5105 very well fail, though.
5108 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5109 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5110 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5111 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5112 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5113 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5114 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5115 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5116 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5117 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5119 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5120 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5121 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5122 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5123 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5125 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5126 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5129 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5130 @findex gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward
5131 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5132 result using mail (@code{gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward}). This
5133 command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5136 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5137 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5138 @cindex crossposting
5139 @cindex excessive crossposting
5140 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5141 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5143 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5144 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5145 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5146 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5147 command understands the process/prefix convention
5148 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5152 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5153 Manual}, for more information.
5156 @node Summary Post Commands
5157 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5159 @cindex composing news
5161 Commands for posting a news article:
5167 @kindex S p (Summary)
5168 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5169 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5170 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5171 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5172 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5177 @kindex S f (Summary)
5178 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5179 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5180 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5184 @kindex S F (Summary)
5186 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5187 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5188 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5189 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5190 process/prefix convention.
5193 @kindex S n (Summary)
5194 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5195 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5196 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5199 @kindex S N (Summary)
5200 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5201 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5202 message through mail and include the original message
5203 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5204 the process/prefix convention.
5207 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5208 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5209 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5210 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5211 headers of the forwarded article.
5214 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5215 @findex gnus-summary-digest-post-forward
5217 @cindex making digests
5218 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5219 (@code{gnus-summary-digest-post-forward}). This command uses the
5220 process/prefix convention.
5223 @kindex S u (Summary)
5224 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5225 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5226 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5227 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5230 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5231 Manual}, for more information.
5234 @node Summary Message Commands
5235 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5239 @kindex S y (Summary)
5240 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5241 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5242 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5243 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5244 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5249 @node Canceling and Superseding
5250 @subsection Canceling Articles
5251 @cindex canceling articles
5252 @cindex superseding articles
5254 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5255 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5257 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5259 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5261 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5262 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5263 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5264 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5265 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5266 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5268 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5269 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5272 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5273 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5274 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5276 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5277 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5278 your original article.
5280 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5282 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5283 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5284 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5287 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5288 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5289 have posted almost the same article twice.
5291 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5292 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5293 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5294 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5295 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5296 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5297 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5298 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5299 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5300 canceled/superseded.
5302 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5304 @node Delayed Articles
5305 @section Delayed Articles
5306 @cindex delayed sending
5307 @cindex send delayed
5309 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5310 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5311 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5312 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5315 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5318 @findex gnus-delay-article
5319 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5320 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5321 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5322 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5326 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5327 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5328 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5329 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5332 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5333 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5334 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5337 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5338 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5339 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5340 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5341 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5342 that means a time tomorrow.
5345 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5346 couple of variables:
5349 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5350 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5351 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5352 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5354 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5355 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5356 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5357 formats described above.
5359 @item gnus-delay-group
5360 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5361 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5362 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5363 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5365 @item gnus-delay-header
5366 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5367 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5368 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5369 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5372 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5373 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5374 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5375 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5376 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5378 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5379 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5380 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5381 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5382 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5383 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5386 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5387 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5388 By default, this function installs the @kbd{C-c C-j} key binding in
5389 Message mode and @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5390 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts two optional arguments,
5391 @code{no-keymap} and @code{no-check}. If @code{no-keymap} is non-nil,
5392 the @kbd{C-c C-j} binding is not intalled. If @code{no-check} is
5393 non-nil, @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed.
5395 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to change the
5396 keymap but not to change @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. Presumably, you
5397 want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles. Just don't
5398 forget to set that up :-)
5402 @node Marking Articles
5403 @section Marking Articles
5404 @cindex article marking
5405 @cindex article ticking
5408 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5410 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5411 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5412 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5414 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5417 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5418 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5419 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
5423 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
5427 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
5428 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
5429 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
5433 @node Unread Articles
5434 @subsection Unread Articles
5436 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5441 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5442 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5444 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5445 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5446 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5447 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5448 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5449 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5450 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5453 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5454 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5456 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5457 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5458 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5459 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5463 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5464 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5466 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5471 @subsection Read Articles
5472 @cindex expirable mark
5474 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5479 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5480 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5481 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5484 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5485 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5488 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5489 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5490 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5493 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5494 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5497 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5498 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5501 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5502 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5505 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5506 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5509 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5510 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5513 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5514 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5517 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5518 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5522 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5523 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5524 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5528 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5529 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5531 One more special mark, though:
5535 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5536 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5538 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5539 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5540 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5541 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by gnus at
5547 @subsection Other Marks
5548 @cindex process mark
5551 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5557 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5558 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5559 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5560 in the article, and gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5561 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5564 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5565 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5566 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5567 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5570 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5571 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5572 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5575 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5576 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5577 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5580 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5581 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5582 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5583 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5586 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5587 Articles that according to the back end haven't been seen by the user
5588 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
5589 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all back ends support this
5590 mark, in which case it simply never appears.
5593 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5594 Articles that haven't been seen by the user before are marked with a
5595 @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5598 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5599 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5600 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5601 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5602 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5605 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5606 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5607 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5608 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5609 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5610 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5614 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5615 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5616 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5618 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5619 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5620 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5624 @subsection Setting Marks
5625 @cindex setting marks
5627 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5632 @kindex M c (Summary)
5633 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5634 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5635 @cindex mark as unread
5636 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5637 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5643 @kindex M t (Summary)
5644 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5645 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5646 @xref{Article Caching}.
5651 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5652 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5653 Mark the current article as dormant
5654 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5658 @kindex M d (Summary)
5660 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5661 Mark the current article as read
5662 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5666 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5667 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5668 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5673 @kindex M k (Summary)
5674 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5675 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5676 and then select the next unread article
5677 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5681 @kindex M K (Summary)
5682 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5683 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5684 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5685 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5688 @kindex M C (Summary)
5689 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5690 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5691 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5694 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5695 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5696 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5697 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5700 @kindex M H (Summary)
5701 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5702 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
5703 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5706 @kindex M h (Summary)
5707 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
5708 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
5709 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
5712 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5713 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5714 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5715 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5718 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5719 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5720 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5721 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5725 @kindex M e (Summary)
5727 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5728 Mark the current article as expirable
5729 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5732 @kindex M b (Summary)
5733 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5734 Set a bookmark in the current article
5735 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5738 @kindex M B (Summary)
5739 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5740 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5741 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5744 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5745 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5746 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5747 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5750 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5751 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5752 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5753 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5756 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5757 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5758 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5759 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5760 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5763 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5764 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5765 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5766 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5767 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5768 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5769 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5770 The default is @code{t}.
5773 @node Generic Marking Commands
5774 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5776 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5777 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5778 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5779 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5780 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5783 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
5784 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5787 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5788 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5789 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5790 to list in this manual.
5792 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5793 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5794 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5795 article, you could say something like:
5798 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5799 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5800 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
5806 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5807 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
5811 @node Setting Process Marks
5812 @subsection Setting Process Marks
5813 @cindex setting process marks
5820 @kindex M P p (Summary)
5821 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
5822 Mark the current article with the process mark
5823 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
5824 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
5828 @kindex M P u (Summary)
5829 @kindex M-# (Summary)
5830 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
5831 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
5834 @kindex M P U (Summary)
5835 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
5836 Remove the process mark from all articles
5837 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
5840 @kindex M P i (Summary)
5841 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
5842 Invert the list of process marked articles
5843 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
5846 @kindex M P R (Summary)
5847 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
5848 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5849 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
5852 @kindex M P G (Summary)
5853 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
5854 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5855 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
5858 @kindex M P r (Summary)
5859 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
5860 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
5863 @kindex M P t (Summary)
5864 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5865 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5866 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5869 @kindex M P T (Summary)
5870 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5871 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5872 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5875 @kindex M P v (Summary)
5876 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
5877 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
5878 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
5881 @kindex M P s (Summary)
5882 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
5883 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5886 @kindex M P S (Summary)
5887 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
5888 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
5889 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
5892 @kindex M P a (Summary)
5893 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
5894 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5897 @kindex M P b (Summary)
5898 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
5899 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
5900 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
5903 @kindex M P k (Summary)
5904 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
5905 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
5906 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
5909 @kindex M P y (Summary)
5910 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
5911 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
5912 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
5915 @kindex M P w (Summary)
5916 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
5917 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
5918 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
5922 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
5923 set process marks based on article body contents.
5930 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
5931 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
5932 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
5935 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
5936 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
5937 additional articles.
5943 @kindex / / (Summary)
5944 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
5945 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
5946 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
5950 @kindex / a (Summary)
5951 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
5952 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
5953 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
5957 @kindex / x (Summary)
5958 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
5959 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
5960 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
5961 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
5966 @kindex / u (Summary)
5968 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
5969 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
5970 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
5971 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
5972 dormant articles will also be excluded.
5975 @kindex / m (Summary)
5976 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
5977 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
5978 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
5981 @kindex / t (Summary)
5982 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
5983 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
5984 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
5985 articles younger than that number of days.
5988 @kindex / n (Summary)
5989 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
5990 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
5991 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
5992 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5995 @kindex / w (Summary)
5996 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
5997 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
5998 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6002 @kindex / v (Summary)
6003 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6004 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6005 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6008 @kindex / p (Summary)
6009 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6010 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6011 group parameter predicate
6012 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). See @pxref{Group
6013 Parameters} for more on this predicate.
6017 @kindex M S (Summary)
6018 @kindex / E (Summary)
6019 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6020 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6021 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6024 @kindex / D (Summary)
6025 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6026 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6027 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6030 @kindex / * (Summary)
6031 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6032 Include all cached articles in the limit
6033 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6036 @kindex / d (Summary)
6037 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6038 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6039 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6042 @kindex / M (Summary)
6043 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6044 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6047 @kindex / T (Summary)
6048 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6049 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6052 @kindex / c (Summary)
6053 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6054 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
6055 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6058 @kindex / C (Summary)
6059 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6060 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6061 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6062 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6065 @kindex / N (Summary)
6066 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6067 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6068 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6071 @kindex / o (Summary)
6072 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6073 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6074 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6082 @cindex article threading
6084 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6085 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6086 hierarchical fashion.
6088 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6089 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6090 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6091 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6092 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6093 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6094 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
6096 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6100 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6103 A tree-like article structure.
6106 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6109 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6110 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6111 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6112 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6113 called loose threads.
6115 @item thread gathering
6116 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6118 @item sparse threads
6119 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6120 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6126 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6127 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6131 @node Customizing Threading
6132 @subsection Customizing Threading
6133 @cindex customizing threading
6136 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6137 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6138 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6139 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
6144 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6147 @cindex loose threads
6150 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6151 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6152 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6153 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6154 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6155 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6157 When there is no real root of a thread, gnus will have to fudge
6158 something. This variable says what fudging method gnus should use.
6159 There are four possible values:
6163 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6164 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6165 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6166 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6167 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6172 @cindex adopting articles
6177 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6178 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6179 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6180 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6183 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6184 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6185 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6186 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6187 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6188 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6189 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6192 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6193 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6194 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6198 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6199 display them after one another.
6202 Don't gather loose threads.
6205 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6206 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6207 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6208 variable is @code{nil}, gnus requires an exact match between the
6209 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6210 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6211 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6212 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6213 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6214 variable to a really low number, you'll find that gnus will gather
6215 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6217 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6218 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, gnus will
6219 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6222 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6223 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6224 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6225 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6226 simplification is used.
6228 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6229 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6230 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6231 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6233 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6235 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6241 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6242 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6243 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6244 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6249 (mapconcat 'identity
6250 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6252 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6255 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6258 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6259 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6260 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6261 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6262 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6263 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6265 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6268 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6269 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6270 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6272 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6273 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6276 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6277 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6278 Remove excessive whitespace.
6280 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6281 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6282 Remove all whitespace.
6285 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6288 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6289 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6290 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6291 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6292 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6293 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6294 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6295 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6297 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6298 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6299 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6300 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6301 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6302 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6303 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6304 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6305 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6309 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6310 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6311 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6312 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6314 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6315 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6316 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6319 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6323 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6324 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6330 @node Filling In Threads
6331 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6334 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6335 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6336 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6337 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
6338 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
6339 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
6340 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
6341 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
6342 fetching old headers only works if the back end you are using carries
6343 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
6344 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
6345 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do
6348 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
6349 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
6350 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
6352 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
6353 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
6354 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
6355 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
6356 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
6357 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
6358 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where gnus guesses that an article
6359 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
6360 lines. If you select a gap, gnus will try to fetch the article in
6361 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, gnus will display all these
6362 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
6363 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, gnus won't cut
6364 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
6365 @code{nil} by default.
6367 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
6368 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
6369 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
6370 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
6371 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
6372 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
6373 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
6375 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
6376 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
6377 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
6382 @node More Threading
6383 @subsubsection More Threading
6386 @item gnus-show-threads
6387 @vindex gnus-show-threads
6388 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
6389 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
6390 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
6391 slower and more awkward.
6393 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6394 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6395 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
6398 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
6399 Avaliable predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
6400 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}).
6405 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6406 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
6407 gnus-article-unseen-p))
6410 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
6411 unread, but you get my drift.)
6414 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
6415 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
6416 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
6417 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
6418 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
6419 threads are expunged.
6421 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
6422 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
6423 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
6426 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6427 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6428 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
6429 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
6430 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
6431 result in a new thread.
6433 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
6434 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
6435 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
6438 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6439 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6440 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
6441 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
6442 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
6443 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
6444 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
6445 Setting this variable to an alternate value
6446 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
6447 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
6448 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
6453 @node Low-Level Threading
6454 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
6458 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
6459 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
6460 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
6461 @code{(gnus-set-summary-default-charset)}, which sets up local value of
6462 @code{default-mime-charset} in summary buffer based on variable
6463 @code{gnus-newsgroup-default-charset-alist}.
6465 @item gnus-alter-header-function
6466 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
6467 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
6468 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
6469 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
6470 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
6471 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
6472 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
6473 meaningful. Here's one example:
6476 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
6478 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
6479 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
6481 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
6483 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6490 @node Thread Commands
6491 @subsection Thread Commands
6492 @cindex thread commands
6498 @kindex T k (Summary)
6499 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
6500 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6501 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6502 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6503 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6508 @kindex T l (Summary)
6509 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
6510 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6511 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6512 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6515 @kindex T i (Summary)
6516 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6517 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6518 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6521 @kindex T # (Summary)
6522 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6523 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6524 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6527 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6528 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6529 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
6530 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6533 @kindex T T (Summary)
6534 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
6535 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
6538 @kindex T s (Summary)
6539 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
6540 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
6541 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
6544 @kindex T h (Summary)
6545 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
6546 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
6549 @kindex T S (Summary)
6550 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
6551 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
6554 @kindex T H (Summary)
6555 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
6556 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
6559 @kindex T t (Summary)
6560 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6561 Re-thread the current article's thread
6562 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6563 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6566 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6567 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6568 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6569 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6573 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6574 understand the numeric prefix.
6579 @kindex T n (Summary)
6581 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
6583 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6584 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6585 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6588 @kindex T p (Summary)
6590 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
6592 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6593 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6594 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6597 @kindex T d (Summary)
6598 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6599 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6602 @kindex T u (Summary)
6603 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6604 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6607 @kindex T o (Summary)
6608 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6609 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6612 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6613 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6614 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6615 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6616 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6617 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6618 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6619 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6620 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6621 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6622 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6623 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6627 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6628 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6630 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6631 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6632 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6633 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6634 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6635 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6636 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6637 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-thread
6638 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6639 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6640 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6641 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6643 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6644 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6645 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6646 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
6647 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
6648 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date} and
6649 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6651 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6652 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6653 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6655 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6656 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6657 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6658 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6659 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6660 ascending article order.
6662 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6663 by number, you could do something like:
6666 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6667 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6668 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6669 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6672 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6673 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6674 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6675 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6676 which the articles arrived.
6678 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6682 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6684 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6685 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6688 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6689 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6690 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6691 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6694 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6695 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6696 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6697 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6698 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6699 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6700 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
6701 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
6702 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
6703 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
6704 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6705 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
6706 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6708 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6712 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6713 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6714 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6719 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6720 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6721 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6722 @cindex article pre-fetch
6725 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6726 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6727 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6728 article appears. Why can't gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6729 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6731 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6732 article fetching, especially the way gnus does it.
6734 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6735 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6736 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6737 article 3, but since gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6738 connection is blocked.
6740 To avoid these situations, gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6741 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6742 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6743 extra connection takes some time, so gnus startup will be slower.
6745 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6746 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6747 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6748 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6751 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
6754 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6755 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6756 happen automatically.
6758 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6759 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6760 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6761 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
6762 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
6763 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6764 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6766 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6767 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6768 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6769 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
6770 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
6771 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
6772 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
6773 data structure as the only parameter.
6775 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
6778 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
6779 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
6780 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
6781 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
6784 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
6787 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
6788 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down gnus too much.
6789 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
6791 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
6792 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
6793 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
6794 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
6798 Remove articles when they are read.
6801 Remove articles when exiting the group.
6804 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
6806 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
6807 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
6808 @c from the next group.
6811 @node Article Caching
6812 @section Article Caching
6813 @cindex article caching
6816 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
6817 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
6818 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
6819 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
6820 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
6822 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
6824 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6825 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
6826 @vindex gnus-use-cache
6827 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
6828 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
6829 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
6830 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
6831 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
6833 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
6834 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
6835 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
6836 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
6837 as dormant, and don't worry.
6839 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
6841 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
6842 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
6843 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
6844 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
6845 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
6846 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
6847 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
6848 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
6849 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
6850 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
6852 @findex gnus-jog-cache
6853 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
6854 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
6855 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
6856 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
6857 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
6858 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
6859 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
6860 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
6861 not then be downloaded by this command.
6863 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
6864 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
6865 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
6866 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
6867 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
6868 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
6870 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
6871 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
6872 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
6873 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
6874 variables, the group is not cached.
6876 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
6877 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
6878 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
6879 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
6880 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
6881 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, gnus
6882 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
6883 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
6884 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
6887 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
6888 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
6889 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
6890 where, isn't that cool?
6892 @node Persistent Articles
6893 @section Persistent Articles
6894 @cindex persistent articles
6896 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
6897 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
6898 useful in my opinion.
6900 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
6901 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
6902 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
6903 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
6904 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
6905 the expiry going on at the news server.
6907 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
6908 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
6909 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
6915 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
6916 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
6919 @kindex M-* (Summary)
6920 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
6921 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
6922 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
6926 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
6928 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
6929 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
6930 interested in persistent articles:
6933 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
6937 @node Article Backlog
6938 @section Article Backlog
6940 @cindex article backlog
6942 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
6943 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
6944 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where gnus will buffer
6945 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
6946 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
6947 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
6948 that, turning the backlog on will slow gnus down a little bit, and
6949 increase memory usage some.
6951 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
6952 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, gnus will store
6953 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
6954 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, gnus will store
6955 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
6956 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
6957 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
6959 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
6962 @node Saving Articles
6963 @section Saving Articles
6964 @cindex saving articles
6966 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
6967 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
6968 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
6969 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
6970 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
6972 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
6973 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
6974 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
6976 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
6977 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, gnus will not delete
6978 unwanted headers before saving the article.
6980 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
6981 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
6982 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
6983 deleted before saving.
6989 @kindex O o (Summary)
6991 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
6992 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
6993 Save the current article using the default article saver
6994 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
6997 @kindex O m (Summary)
6998 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
6999 Save the current article in mail format
7000 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7003 @kindex O r (Summary)
7004 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7005 Save the current article in rmail format
7006 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7009 @kindex O f (Summary)
7010 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7011 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7012 Save the current article in plain file format
7013 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7016 @kindex O F (Summary)
7017 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7018 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7019 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7022 @kindex O b (Summary)
7023 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7024 Save the current article body in plain file format
7025 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7028 @kindex O h (Summary)
7029 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7030 Save the current article in mh folder format
7031 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7034 @kindex O v (Summary)
7035 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7036 Save the current article in a VM folder
7037 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7041 @kindex O p (Summary)
7043 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7044 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7045 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7048 @kindex O P (Summary)
7049 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7050 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7051 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7052 external program Muttprint (see
7053 @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/}). The program name and
7054 options to use is controlled by the variable
7055 @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}. (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7059 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7060 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7061 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7062 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7063 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7064 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7065 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7066 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7067 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7068 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7069 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7070 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7074 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7075 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7076 gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
7077 functions below, or you can create your own.
7081 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7082 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7083 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7084 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7085 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
7086 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7087 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7089 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7090 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7091 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7092 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7093 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7094 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7096 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7097 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7098 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7099 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7100 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7101 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7102 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7104 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7105 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7106 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7107 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7108 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7109 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7111 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7112 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7113 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7114 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7115 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7117 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7118 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7119 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7120 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7121 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7124 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7125 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7126 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7127 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7128 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7130 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7131 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7132 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7133 reader to use this setting.
7136 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7137 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7138 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7139 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7142 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7143 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7144 available functions that generate names:
7148 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7149 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7150 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7152 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7153 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7154 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7156 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7157 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7158 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7160 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7161 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7162 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7164 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7165 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7166 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7169 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7170 You can have gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7171 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7172 save articles related to gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7173 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7177 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7178 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7179 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7180 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7183 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7184 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
7185 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
7186 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
7187 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
7188 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
7189 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
7190 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
7191 called returns a string or a list of strings.
7193 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
7194 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
7195 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
7196 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
7198 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
7199 means that gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
7200 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
7203 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
7204 lots of mail groups called things like
7205 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
7206 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
7207 following will do just that:
7210 (defun my-save-name (group)
7211 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
7212 (substring group (match-end 0))))
7214 (setq gnus-split-methods
7215 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
7220 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7221 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
7222 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
7223 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
7224 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
7225 all the files in the top level directory
7226 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
7227 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
7228 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
7229 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
7231 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
7232 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
7233 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
7234 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
7235 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
7238 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
7242 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
7243 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
7244 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
7247 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
7248 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
7249 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
7250 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
7253 @node Decoding Articles
7254 @section Decoding Articles
7255 @cindex decoding articles
7257 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
7258 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
7261 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
7262 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
7263 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
7264 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
7265 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
7266 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
7270 @cindex article series
7271 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
7272 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
7273 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
7274 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
7275 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
7277 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
7278 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
7279 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
7281 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, gnus
7282 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
7283 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
7285 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
7286 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
7287 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
7290 @node Uuencoded Articles
7291 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
7293 @cindex uuencoded articles
7298 @kindex X u (Summary)
7299 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
7300 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
7301 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
7304 @kindex X U (Summary)
7305 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
7306 Uudecodes and saves the current series
7307 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7310 @kindex X v u (Summary)
7311 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
7312 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
7315 @kindex X v U (Summary)
7316 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
7317 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
7318 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
7322 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
7323 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
7324 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
7325 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
7326 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7328 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
7329 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
7330 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
7331 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
7334 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
7335 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
7336 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
7337 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
7338 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
7339 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
7343 @node Shell Archives
7344 @subsection Shell Archives
7346 @cindex shell archives
7347 @cindex shared articles
7349 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
7350 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
7351 some commands to deal with these:
7356 @kindex X s (Summary)
7357 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
7358 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
7361 @kindex X S (Summary)
7362 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
7363 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
7366 @kindex X v s (Summary)
7367 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
7368 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
7371 @kindex X v S (Summary)
7372 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
7373 Unshars, views and saves the current series
7374 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
7378 @node PostScript Files
7379 @subsection PostScript Files
7385 @kindex X p (Summary)
7386 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
7387 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
7390 @kindex X P (Summary)
7391 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
7392 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
7393 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
7396 @kindex X v p (Summary)
7397 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
7398 View the current PostScript series
7399 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
7402 @kindex X v P (Summary)
7403 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
7404 View and save the current PostScript series
7405 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
7410 @subsection Other Files
7414 @kindex X o (Summary)
7415 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
7416 Save the current series
7417 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
7420 @kindex X b (Summary)
7421 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
7422 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
7423 doesn't really work yet.
7427 @node Decoding Variables
7428 @subsection Decoding Variables
7430 Adjective, not verb.
7433 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
7434 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
7435 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
7439 @node Rule Variables
7440 @subsubsection Rule Variables
7441 @cindex rule variables
7443 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
7444 variables are of the form
7447 (list '(regexp1 command2)
7454 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7455 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7457 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
7458 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
7461 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7462 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
7465 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7466 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7467 This variable is consulted if gnus couldn't make any matches from the
7468 user and default view rules.
7470 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7471 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7472 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
7477 @node Other Decode Variables
7478 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
7481 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7483 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7484 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
7485 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
7486 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
7487 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
7491 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
7492 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
7495 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
7496 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
7497 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
7500 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7501 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7502 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
7503 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
7504 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
7507 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7508 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7509 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
7511 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7512 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7513 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
7514 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
7515 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
7518 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7519 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7520 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
7522 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7523 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7524 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
7525 looking for files to display.
7527 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
7528 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
7529 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
7532 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7533 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7534 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
7537 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7538 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7539 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
7542 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7543 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7544 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
7547 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7548 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7549 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
7550 decoded articles as unread.
7552 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7553 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7554 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
7555 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
7557 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7558 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7559 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
7561 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7562 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7564 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
7565 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
7566 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
7567 @code{metamail} for viewing.
7569 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7570 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7571 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
7572 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
7573 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
7574 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
7575 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
7576 simply dropped them.
7581 @node Uuencoding and Posting
7582 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
7586 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7587 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7588 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
7589 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
7590 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7591 for you when you post the article.
7593 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7594 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7595 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7596 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7598 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7599 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7600 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7601 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7602 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7603 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7604 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
7606 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7607 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7608 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7609 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7610 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7611 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7612 Default is @code{t}.
7618 @subsection Viewing Files
7619 @cindex viewing files
7620 @cindex pseudo-articles
7622 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, gnus will attempt
7623 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7624 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7625 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, gnus will
7626 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7627 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7628 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7630 Finally, gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7631 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
7632 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
7633 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
7635 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7636 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7637 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7639 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7640 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7641 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7642 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7643 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7645 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7646 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7647 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7648 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7649 a list of parameters to that command.
7651 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7652 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7653 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7655 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7656 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7657 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7660 @node Article Treatment
7661 @section Article Treatment
7663 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7664 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7665 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7666 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7667 these articles easier.
7670 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7671 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7672 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7673 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7674 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
7675 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7676 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7677 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
7678 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7679 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7683 @node Article Highlighting
7684 @subsection Article Highlighting
7685 @cindex highlighting
7687 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7688 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7693 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7694 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7695 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7696 Do much highlighting of the current article
7697 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7698 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7701 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7702 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7703 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7704 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7705 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7706 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7707 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7708 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7709 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7710 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7711 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7712 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7715 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7716 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7717 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7719 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7722 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7724 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7725 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7726 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7728 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7729 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7730 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7732 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7733 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7734 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7735 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7736 gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7737 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7739 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7740 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7741 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
7743 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7744 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7745 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
7747 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7748 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7749 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7750 that it's a citation.
7752 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7753 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7754 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7756 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7757 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7758 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7760 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7761 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7762 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7763 cited text belonging to the attribution.
7769 @kindex W H s (Summary)
7770 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7771 @vindex gnus-signature-face
7772 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
7773 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
7774 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
7775 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
7776 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
7781 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
7784 @node Article Fontisizing
7785 @subsection Article Fontisizing
7787 @cindex article emphasis
7789 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
7790 @kindex W e (Summary)
7791 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
7792 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
7793 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
7794 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
7796 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
7797 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
7798 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
7799 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
7800 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
7801 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
7802 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
7803 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
7807 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
7808 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
7809 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
7818 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
7819 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
7820 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
7821 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
7822 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
7823 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
7824 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
7825 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
7826 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
7827 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
7828 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
7829 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
7830 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
7832 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
7833 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
7834 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
7838 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
7841 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
7843 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
7844 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
7845 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
7846 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
7848 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
7851 @node Article Hiding
7852 @subsection Article Hiding
7853 @cindex article hiding
7855 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
7856 too much cruft in most articles.
7861 @kindex W W a (Summary)
7862 @findex gnus-article-hide
7863 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
7864 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
7865 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
7868 @kindex W W h (Summary)
7869 @findex gnus-article-toggle-headers
7870 Toggle hiding of headers (@code{gnus-article-toggle-headers}). @xref{Hiding
7874 @kindex W W b (Summary)
7875 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7876 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
7877 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
7880 @kindex W W s (Summary)
7881 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
7882 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
7886 @kindex W W l (Summary)
7887 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
7888 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7889 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
7890 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
7891 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
7892 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
7893 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
7897 @item gnus-list-identifiers
7898 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7899 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
7900 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
7905 @kindex W W p (Summary)
7906 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
7907 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7908 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
7909 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
7910 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
7911 articles that have signatures in them do:
7913 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
7915 (setq gnus-treat-strip-pgp t)
7917 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
7918 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
7920 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7923 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
7928 @kindex W W P (Summary)
7929 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
7930 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
7931 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
7934 @kindex W W B (Summary)
7935 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
7938 @cindex stripping advertisements
7939 @cindex advertisements
7940 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
7941 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
7942 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
7943 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
7944 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
7945 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
7946 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
7947 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
7948 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
7949 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
7953 @kindex W W c (Summary)
7954 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
7955 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
7956 customizing the hiding:
7960 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7961 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7962 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7963 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7964 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
7965 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
7966 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
7971 Starting point of the hidden text.
7973 Ending point of the hidden text.
7975 Number of characters in the hidden region.
7977 Number of lines of hidden text.
7980 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
7981 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
7982 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
7983 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
7984 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
7989 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
7990 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
7992 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
7993 following two variables:
7996 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7997 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7998 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
7999 50), hide the cited text.
8001 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8002 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8003 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8008 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8009 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8010 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8011 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8012 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8013 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8017 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8018 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8019 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8021 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8022 citation customization.
8024 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8028 @node Article Washing
8029 @subsection Article Washing
8031 @cindex article washing
8033 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8034 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8036 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8037 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8040 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8041 articles by default.
8046 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8047 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8051 @kindex W l (Summary)
8052 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8053 Remove page breaks from the current article
8054 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8058 @kindex W r (Summary)
8059 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8060 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8061 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8062 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8063 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8064 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8066 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8067 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8068 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8069 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8073 @kindex W t (Summary)
8075 @findex gnus-article-toggle-headers
8076 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8077 (@code{gnus-article-toggle-headers}).
8080 @kindex W v (Summary)
8081 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8082 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8083 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8086 @kindex W m (Summary)
8087 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
8088 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
8089 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
8092 @kindex W o (Summary)
8093 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8094 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8097 @kindex W d (Summary)
8098 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8099 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8101 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8103 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8104 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8105 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8106 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8109 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8110 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8111 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8112 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8115 @kindex W k (Summary)
8116 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8117 @cindex Outlook Express
8118 Deuglify broken Outlook (Express) articles and redisplay
8119 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8122 @kindex W w (Summary)
8123 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
8124 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
8126 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
8130 @kindex W Q (Summary)
8131 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
8132 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
8135 @kindex W C (Summary)
8136 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
8137 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
8138 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
8141 @kindex W c (Summary)
8142 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
8143 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
8144 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
8145 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
8146 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
8149 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
8150 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
8151 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
8152 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
8153 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is usually done
8154 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8155 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
8157 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8160 @kindex W Z (Summary)
8161 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
8162 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
8163 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
8164 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
8167 @kindex W u (Summary)
8168 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
8169 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
8170 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
8171 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
8172 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
8175 @kindex W h (Summary)
8176 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
8177 Treat @sc{html} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
8178 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8179 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @sc{html}.
8181 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8183 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
8184 The default is to use the function specified by
8185 @code{mm-inline-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{Customization, , , emacs-mime})
8186 to convert the @sc{html}, but this is controlled by the
8187 @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions you
8195 Use emacs-w3m (see @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/} for more
8199 Use Links (see @uref{http://artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mikulas/links/}).
8202 Use Lynx (see @uref{http://lynx.browser.org/}).
8205 Use html2text -- a simple @sc{html} converter included with Gnus.
8210 @kindex W b (Summary)
8211 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
8212 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
8213 @xref{Article Buttons}.
8216 @kindex W B (Summary)
8217 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
8218 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
8219 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
8222 @kindex W p (Summary)
8223 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
8224 Verify a signed control message (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}).
8225 Control messages such as @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are
8226 usually signed by the hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the PGP
8227 public key of the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
8228 message.@footnote{PGP keys for many hierarchies are available at
8229 @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
8232 @kindex W s (Summary)
8233 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
8234 Verify a signed (PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}) message
8235 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
8238 @kindex W a (Summary)
8239 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
8240 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
8241 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
8244 @kindex W E l (Summary)
8245 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
8246 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
8247 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
8250 @kindex W E m (Summary)
8251 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8252 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
8253 lines with a single empty line.
8254 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
8257 @kindex W E t (Summary)
8258 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
8259 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
8260 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
8263 @kindex W E a (Summary)
8264 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
8265 Do all the three commands above
8266 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
8269 @kindex W E A (Summary)
8270 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
8271 Remove all blank lines
8272 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
8275 @kindex W E s (Summary)
8276 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
8277 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
8278 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
8281 @kindex W E e (Summary)
8282 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
8283 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
8284 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
8288 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
8291 @node Article Header
8292 @subsection Article Header
8294 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
8299 @kindex W G u (Summary)
8300 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
8301 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
8304 @kindex W G n (Summary)
8305 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
8306 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
8307 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
8310 @kindex W G f (Summary)
8311 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-header
8312 Fold all the message headers
8313 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
8317 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
8318 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
8319 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
8324 @node Article Buttons
8325 @subsection Article Buttons
8328 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
8329 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
8330 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
8331 button on these references.
8333 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
8334 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
8335 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
8340 @item gnus-button-alist
8341 @vindex gnus-button-alist
8342 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
8345 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8351 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
8352 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
8353 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a variable containing a
8354 regexp, useful variables to use include @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}.
8357 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
8358 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
8359 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
8362 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
8363 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
8364 avoid false matches.
8367 This function will be called when you click on this button.
8370 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
8371 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
8375 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
8378 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
8381 @item gnus-header-button-alist
8382 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
8383 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
8384 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
8385 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
8388 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8391 @var{header} is a regular expression.
8393 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
8394 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
8395 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
8396 default values of the variables above.
8398 @item gnus-article-button-face
8399 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
8400 Face used on buttons.
8402 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
8403 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
8404 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
8408 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
8412 @subsection Article Date
8414 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
8415 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
8416 when the article was sent.
8421 @kindex W T u (Summary)
8422 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
8423 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
8424 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
8427 @kindex W T i (Summary)
8428 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
8430 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
8431 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
8434 @kindex W T l (Summary)
8435 @findex gnus-article-date-local
8436 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
8439 @kindex W T p (Summary)
8440 @findex gnus-article-date-english
8441 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
8442 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
8445 @kindex W T s (Summary)
8446 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
8447 @findex gnus-article-date-user
8448 @findex format-time-string
8449 Display the date using a user-defined format
8450 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
8451 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
8452 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
8453 for a list of possible format specs.
8456 @kindex W T e (Summary)
8457 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
8458 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
8459 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
8460 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
8461 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
8464 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
8467 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
8468 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
8471 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
8472 into wonderful absurdities.
8474 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
8477 (gnus-start-date-timer)
8480 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
8481 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
8485 @kindex W T o (Summary)
8486 @findex gnus-article-date-original
8487 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
8488 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
8489 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
8490 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
8491 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
8495 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
8496 preferred format automatically.
8499 @node Article Display
8500 @subsection Article Display
8505 These commands add various frivolous display gimmics to the article
8506 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
8508 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
8509 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
8511 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
8512 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
8514 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
8515 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
8517 All these functions are toggles--if the elements already exist,
8522 @kindex W D x (Summary)
8523 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
8524 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
8525 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
8528 @kindex W D s (Summary)
8529 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
8530 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
8533 @kindex W D f (Summary)
8534 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
8535 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
8538 @kindex W D m (Summary)
8539 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
8540 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
8541 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
8544 @kindex W D n (Summary)
8545 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
8546 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
8547 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
8550 @kindex W D D (Summary)
8551 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
8552 Remove all images from the article buffer
8553 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
8559 @node Article Signature
8560 @subsection Article Signature
8562 @cindex article signature
8564 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8565 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
8566 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
8567 that says what is to be considered a signature is
8568 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
8569 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
8570 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
8571 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
8572 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
8575 (setq gnus-signature-separator
8576 '("^-- $" ; The standard
8577 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
8578 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
8579 ; line of dashes. Shame!
8580 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
8581 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
8582 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
8585 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
8588 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
8589 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
8590 signature when displaying articles.
8594 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
8597 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
8600 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
8601 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
8603 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
8604 in question is not a signature.
8607 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
8608 listed above. Here's an example:
8611 (setq gnus-signature-limit
8612 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
8615 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
8616 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
8617 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
8618 signature after all.
8621 @node Article Miscellania
8622 @subsection Article Miscellania
8626 @kindex A t (Summary)
8627 @findex gnus-article-babel
8628 Translate the article from one language to another
8629 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
8635 @section MIME Commands
8636 @cindex MIME decoding
8638 @cindex viewing attachments
8640 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
8641 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
8647 @kindex K v (Summary)
8648 View the @sc{mime} part.
8651 @kindex K o (Summary)
8652 Save the @sc{mime} part.
8655 @kindex K c (Summary)
8656 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
8659 @kindex K e (Summary)
8660 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
8663 @kindex K i (Summary)
8664 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
8667 @kindex K | (Summary)
8668 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
8671 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
8676 @kindex K b (Summary)
8677 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
8678 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
8682 @kindex K m (Summary)
8683 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
8684 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
8685 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
8686 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
8687 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
8690 @kindex X m (Summary)
8691 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
8692 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
8693 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
8694 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8697 @kindex M-t (Summary)
8698 @findex gnus-summary-display-buttonized
8699 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
8700 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
8703 @kindex W M w (Summary)
8704 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
8705 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
8708 @kindex W M c (Summary)
8709 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
8710 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
8712 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
8713 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
8714 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
8715 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
8716 include @sc{mime} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
8717 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
8720 @kindex W M v (Summary)
8721 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
8722 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
8729 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
8730 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
8731 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8732 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
8735 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
8738 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
8742 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8743 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8744 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8745 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
8746 displayed or this variable is overriden by
8747 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
8750 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
8751 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
8752 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8753 this list will have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
8754 displayed. This variable overrides
8755 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
8757 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
8758 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
8759 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} to the default value.
8761 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
8762 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
8763 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
8764 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
8765 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
8766 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
8767 save all jpegs into some directory).
8769 Here's an example function the does the latter:
8772 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
8773 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
8775 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
8776 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
8777 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
8778 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
8779 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
8782 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8783 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8784 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
8786 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
8787 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
8788 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @sc{mime} parts.
8789 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
8791 Ready-made functions include@*
8792 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
8793 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
8794 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
8795 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
8796 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
8797 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
8798 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
8799 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
8800 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
8801 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
8802 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
8803 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
8805 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
8806 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
8808 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
8809 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
8810 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
8813 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
8814 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
8815 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
8816 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
8820 to your @file{.gnus} file.
8829 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
8830 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
8831 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
8832 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
8833 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
8834 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
8835 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
8837 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
8838 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
8839 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
8840 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
8842 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
8843 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
8844 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
8845 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
8846 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
8847 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
8848 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
8849 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
8851 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
8852 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
8853 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
8854 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
8855 quoted-printable header encoding.
8857 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
8858 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
8859 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
8863 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
8866 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
8867 means encode all charsets),
8869 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
8870 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
8871 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
8878 @cindex coding system aliases
8879 @cindex preferred charset
8881 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
8883 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
8884 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
8887 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
8888 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
8891 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
8892 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
8894 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
8897 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
8900 This will almost do the right thing.
8902 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
8906 (codepage-setup 1251)
8907 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
8911 @node Article Commands
8912 @section Article Commands
8919 @kindex A P (Summary)
8920 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
8921 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
8922 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
8923 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
8924 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
8925 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
8930 @node Summary Sorting
8931 @section Summary Sorting
8932 @cindex summary sorting
8934 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
8935 can't really see why you'd want that.
8940 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
8941 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
8942 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
8945 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
8946 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
8947 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
8950 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
8951 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
8952 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
8955 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
8956 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
8957 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
8960 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
8961 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
8962 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
8965 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
8966 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
8967 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
8970 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
8971 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
8972 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
8975 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
8976 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
8977 Sort using the default sorting method
8978 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
8981 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
8982 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
8983 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
8984 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
8985 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
8989 @node Finding the Parent
8990 @section Finding the Parent
8991 @cindex parent articles
8992 @cindex referring articles
8997 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
8998 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
8999 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
9000 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
9001 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
9002 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
9003 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
9004 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
9005 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
9007 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
9008 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
9009 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, gnus will fetch the parent, the
9010 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
9011 @kbd{-3 ^}, gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
9015 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
9016 @kindex A R (Summary)
9017 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
9018 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
9021 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
9022 @kindex A T (Summary)
9023 Display the full thread where the current article appears
9024 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
9025 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
9026 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
9027 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
9028 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
9029 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
9031 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
9032 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
9033 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
9034 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
9035 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
9036 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
9039 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
9040 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
9042 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
9043 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
9044 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
9045 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
9046 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
9047 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
9048 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
9051 The current select method will be used when fetching by
9052 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
9053 by giving this command a prefix.
9055 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
9056 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
9057 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
9058 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
9059 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
9060 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
9063 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
9064 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
9065 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
9068 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
9069 then ask Deja if that fails:
9072 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
9074 (nnweb "refer" (nnweb-type dejanews))))
9077 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
9078 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
9079 @code{nnbabyl}, and @code{nnmaildir} are able to locate articles from
9080 any groups, while @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
9081 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current group.
9082 (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not
9083 support this at all.
9086 @node Alternative Approaches
9087 @section Alternative Approaches
9089 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
9090 gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
9093 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
9094 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
9099 @subsection Pick and Read
9100 @cindex pick and read
9102 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
9103 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
9104 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
9105 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
9107 @findex gnus-pick-mode
9108 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
9109 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
9110 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
9111 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
9112 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
9114 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
9119 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
9120 Pick the article or thread on the current line
9121 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9122 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
9123 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
9124 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
9125 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
9126 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
9129 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
9130 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
9131 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
9132 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
9136 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
9137 Unpick the thread or article
9138 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9139 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
9140 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
9141 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
9142 the thread or article at that line.
9146 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
9147 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
9148 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
9149 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
9150 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
9151 will still be visible when you are reading.
9155 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
9156 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
9157 which is mapped to the same function
9158 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
9160 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
9163 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
9166 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
9167 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
9169 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
9170 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
9171 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
9173 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
9174 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
9175 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
9176 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
9177 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
9178 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
9179 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
9183 @subsection Binary Groups
9184 @cindex binary groups
9186 @findex gnus-binary-mode
9187 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
9188 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
9189 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
9190 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
9191 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
9192 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
9195 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
9196 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
9197 command, when you have turned on this mode
9198 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
9200 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
9201 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
9205 @section Tree Display
9208 @vindex gnus-use-trees
9209 If you don't like the normal gnus summary display, you might try setting
9210 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
9211 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
9214 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
9217 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
9218 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
9219 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
9221 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9222 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9223 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
9224 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
9225 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
9227 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
9228 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
9229 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
9230 default is @code{modeline}.
9232 @item gnus-tree-line-format
9233 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
9234 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
9235 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
9236 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
9237 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
9238 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
9244 The name of the poster.
9246 The @code{From} header.
9248 The number of the article.
9250 The opening bracket.
9252 The closing bracket.
9257 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
9259 Variables related to the display are:
9262 @item gnus-tree-brackets
9263 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
9264 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
9265 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
9266 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
9267 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
9269 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9270 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9271 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
9272 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
9276 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
9277 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
9278 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will try to keep the tree
9279 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other gnus
9280 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
9281 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
9282 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
9283 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
9284 other windows displayed next to it.
9286 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
9290 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
9291 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
9294 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
9295 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
9296 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9297 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
9298 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
9299 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
9300 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
9304 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
9307 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
9317 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
9321 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
9322 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
9324 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
9326 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
9331 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
9332 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
9333 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
9336 (setq gnus-use-trees t
9337 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9338 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
9339 (gnus-add-configuration
9343 (summary 0.75 point)
9348 @xref{Window Layout}.
9351 @node Mail Group Commands
9352 @section Mail Group Commands
9353 @cindex mail group commands
9355 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
9356 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
9358 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
9359 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9364 @kindex B e (Summary)
9365 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
9366 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
9367 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
9368 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
9369 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
9372 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
9373 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
9374 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
9375 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
9376 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
9377 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
9380 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
9381 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
9382 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
9383 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
9384 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
9385 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
9388 @kindex B m (Summary)
9390 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
9391 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
9392 Move the article from one mail group to another
9393 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9394 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9397 @kindex B c (Summary)
9399 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
9400 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
9401 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
9402 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9403 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9406 @kindex B B (Summary)
9407 @cindex crosspost mail
9408 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
9409 Crosspost the current article to some other group
9410 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
9411 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
9412 be properly updated.
9415 @kindex B i (Summary)
9416 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
9417 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
9418 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
9419 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9422 @kindex B I (Summary)
9423 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
9424 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
9425 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
9426 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9429 @kindex B r (Summary)
9430 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
9431 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
9432 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
9433 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
9434 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
9435 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
9436 (which is the default).
9440 @kindex B w (Summary)
9442 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
9443 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
9444 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
9445 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
9446 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
9447 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
9448 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, gnus won't re-highlight the article.
9451 @kindex B q (Summary)
9452 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
9453 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
9454 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
9455 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
9458 @kindex B t (Summary)
9459 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
9460 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
9461 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
9464 @kindex B p (Summary)
9465 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
9466 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
9467 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
9468 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
9469 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
9470 article from your news server (or rather, from
9471 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
9472 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
9473 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
9474 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
9475 just not have arrived yet.
9478 @kindex K E (Summary)
9479 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
9480 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
9481 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
9482 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
9483 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
9487 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
9488 @cindex moving articles
9489 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have gnus
9490 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
9491 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
9492 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
9493 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
9494 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
9495 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
9498 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
9499 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
9500 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
9501 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
9505 @node Various Summary Stuff
9506 @section Various Summary Stuff
9509 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
9510 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
9511 * Summary Generation Commands::
9512 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
9516 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
9517 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
9518 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
9520 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
9521 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
9522 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
9523 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
9524 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
9525 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
9528 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9529 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9530 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
9531 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
9532 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
9534 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9535 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9536 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
9539 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9540 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9541 When gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
9542 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
9543 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
9544 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
9545 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), gnus will rename the
9546 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
9547 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
9548 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
9550 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9551 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9552 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
9553 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
9554 list of articles to be selected.
9556 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
9557 the list in one particular group:
9560 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
9561 (if (string= group "some.group")
9562 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
9566 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
9567 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
9568 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
9569 variables and their default values (when the default values are not
9570 nil), that should be made global while the summary buffer is active.
9571 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
9572 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
9573 buffers. For example:
9576 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
9577 '(message-use-followup-to
9578 (gnus-visible-headers .
9579 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
9585 @node Summary Group Information
9586 @subsection Summary Group Information
9591 @kindex H f (Summary)
9592 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
9593 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
9594 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
9595 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
9596 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
9597 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
9598 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
9599 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
9600 be used for fetching the file.
9603 @kindex H d (Summary)
9604 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
9605 Give a brief description of the current group
9606 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
9607 rereading the description from the server.
9610 @kindex H h (Summary)
9611 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
9612 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
9613 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
9616 @kindex H i (Summary)
9617 @findex gnus-info-find-node
9618 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
9622 @node Searching for Articles
9623 @subsection Searching for Articles
9628 @kindex M-s (Summary)
9629 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
9630 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
9631 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
9634 @kindex M-r (Summary)
9635 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
9636 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
9637 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
9641 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
9642 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
9643 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
9644 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
9645 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
9646 search backward instead.
9648 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
9649 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
9652 @kindex M-& (Summary)
9653 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
9654 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
9655 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
9658 @node Summary Generation Commands
9659 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
9664 @kindex Y g (Summary)
9665 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
9666 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
9669 @kindex Y c (Summary)
9670 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
9671 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
9672 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
9677 @node Really Various Summary Commands
9678 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
9684 @kindex C-d (Summary)
9685 @kindex A D (Summary)
9686 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
9687 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
9688 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
9689 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
9690 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
9691 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
9692 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
9693 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
9697 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
9698 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
9699 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
9700 several documents into one biiig group
9701 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
9702 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
9703 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
9704 command understands the process/prefix convention
9705 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9708 @kindex C-t (Summary)
9709 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
9710 Toggle truncation of summary lines
9711 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
9712 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
9713 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
9717 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
9718 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
9719 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
9722 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
9723 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
9724 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
9725 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
9728 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
9729 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
9730 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
9731 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
9736 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
9737 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
9738 @cindex summary exit
9739 @cindex exiting groups
9741 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
9742 group and return you to the group buffer.
9748 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
9750 @findex gnus-summary-exit
9751 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
9752 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
9753 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
9754 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
9755 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
9756 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
9757 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
9758 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
9759 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
9760 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
9764 @kindex Z E (Summary)
9766 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
9767 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
9768 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
9772 @kindex Z c (Summary)
9774 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
9775 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
9776 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
9777 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
9780 @kindex Z C (Summary)
9781 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
9782 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
9783 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
9786 @kindex Z n (Summary)
9787 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
9788 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
9789 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
9792 @kindex Z R (Summary)
9793 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
9794 Exit this group, and then enter it again
9795 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
9796 all articles, both read and unread.
9800 @kindex Z G (Summary)
9801 @kindex M-g (Summary)
9802 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
9803 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
9804 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
9805 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
9806 articles, both read and unread.
9809 @kindex Z N (Summary)
9810 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
9811 Exit the group and go to the next group
9812 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
9815 @kindex Z P (Summary)
9816 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
9817 Exit the group and go to the previous group
9818 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
9821 @kindex Z s (Summary)
9822 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
9823 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
9824 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
9825 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
9826 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
9829 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
9830 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
9831 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
9832 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
9834 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
9835 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
9836 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
9837 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
9838 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
9839 If you do that, gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
9840 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
9841 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
9842 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
9843 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
9844 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
9845 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
9847 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
9849 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
9850 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
9851 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
9852 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
9853 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
9854 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
9855 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
9856 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
9857 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
9860 @node Crosspost Handling
9861 @section Crosspost Handling
9865 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
9866 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
9867 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
9868 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
9869 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
9870 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
9873 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
9874 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
9875 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
9876 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
9877 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
9879 @cindex cross-posting
9882 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
9883 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
9884 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
9885 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
9886 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
9887 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
9888 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
9889 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
9890 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
9891 the cross reference mechanism.
9893 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
9894 @cindex overview.fmt
9895 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
9896 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
9897 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
9898 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
9899 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
9900 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
9903 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
9904 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
9905 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
9910 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
9913 @node Duplicate Suppression
9914 @section Duplicate Suppression
9916 By default, gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
9917 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
9918 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
9919 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
9924 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
9925 is evil and not very common.
9928 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
9929 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
9932 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
9933 different @sc{nntp} servers.
9936 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
9939 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
9940 well, but these four are the most common situations.
9942 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
9943 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
9944 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
9945 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
9946 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
9947 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
9948 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
9951 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
9952 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
9953 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
9954 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
9955 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
9959 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
9960 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
9961 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
9963 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
9964 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
9965 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
9966 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
9967 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single gnus
9968 session are suppressed.
9970 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
9971 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
9972 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
9973 suppression list. The default is 10000.
9975 @item gnus-duplicate-file
9976 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
9977 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
9978 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
9981 If you have a tendency to stop and start gnus often, setting
9982 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
9983 you leave gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
9984 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
9985 so that means that if you stop and start gnus often, you should set
9986 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
9987 to you to figure out, I think.
9992 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
9993 The formats that are supported are PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} and @sc{s/mime},
9994 however you need some external programs to get things to work:
9998 To handle PGP messages, you have to install mailcrypt or gpg.el as
9999 well as a OpenPGP implementation (such as GnuPG).
10002 To handle @sc{s/mime} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
10003 or newer is recommended.
10007 More information on how to set things up can be found in the message
10008 manual (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
10011 @item mm-verify-option
10012 @vindex mm-verify-option
10013 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
10014 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
10015 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10017 @item mm-decrypt-option
10018 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
10019 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
10020 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
10021 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10026 @section Mailing List
10028 @kindex A M (summary)
10029 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
10030 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
10031 either add a `to-list' group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
10032 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
10033 summary buffer, or say:
10036 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-mailing-list-mode)
10039 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
10044 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
10045 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
10046 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
10049 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
10050 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
10051 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
10054 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
10055 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
10056 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
10060 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
10061 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
10062 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
10065 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
10066 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10067 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
10070 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
10071 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10072 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
10076 @node Article Buffer
10077 @chapter Article Buffer
10078 @cindex article buffer
10080 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
10081 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
10082 tell gnus otherwise.
10085 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
10086 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
10087 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
10088 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
10089 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
10093 @node Hiding Headers
10094 @section Hiding Headers
10095 @cindex hiding headers
10096 @cindex deleting headers
10098 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
10099 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
10101 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
10102 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
10103 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
10104 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
10105 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
10106 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
10107 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
10108 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
10109 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
10111 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
10115 @item gnus-visible-headers
10116 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
10117 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
10118 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
10119 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
10121 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
10122 the article and the subject, you'd say:
10125 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
10128 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10131 @item gnus-ignored-headers
10132 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
10133 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
10134 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
10135 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
10136 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
10138 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} field
10139 and the @code{Xref} field, you might say:
10142 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
10145 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10148 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
10149 variable will have no effect.
10153 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
10154 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
10155 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
10156 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
10157 the headers are to be displayed.
10159 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
10160 and then the subject, you might say something like:
10163 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
10166 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
10167 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
10169 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
10170 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
10171 You can hide further boring headers by setting
10172 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
10173 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
10174 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
10175 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
10178 These conditions are:
10181 Remove all empty headers.
10183 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
10184 @code{Newsgroups} header.
10186 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
10187 @code{From} header.
10189 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
10192 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10193 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
10195 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
10198 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
10200 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
10203 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
10206 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
10207 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
10210 This is also the default value for this variable.
10214 @section Using MIME
10217 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
10218 while people stand around yawning.
10220 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
10221 while all newsreaders die of fear.
10223 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
10224 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
10225 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
10227 @vindex gnus-show-mime
10228 @vindex gnus-article-display-method-for-mime
10229 @findex gnus-article-display-mime-message
10230 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
10231 @code{gnus-article-display-method-for-mime}, which is
10232 @code{gnus-article-display-mime-message} by default. This function
10233 calls the @sc{semi} MIME-View program to actually do the work. For more
10234 information on @sc{semi} MIME-View, see its manual page (however it is
10235 not existed yet, sorry).
10237 Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
10238 @sc{mime} all the time. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime} set, then
10239 you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article buffer.
10240 These can't be avoided.
10242 In GNUS or Gnus, it might be best to just use the toggling functions
10243 from the summary buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance,
10244 you enter the group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it,
10245 @sc{mime} has decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible
10246 sing-a-long song comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find
10247 the volume button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to
10248 look at you, and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you
10249 can't find the program to control the volume, and everybody else in the
10250 room suddenly decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel
10253 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
10255 To avoid such kind of situation, gnus stops to use
10256 @code{metamail-buffer}. So now, you can set @code{gnus-show-mime} to
10257 non-@code{nil} every-time, then you can push button in the article
10258 buffer when there are nobody else.
10260 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
10263 @node Customizing Articles
10264 @section Customizing Articles
10265 @cindex article customization
10267 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
10268 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
10269 called automatically when you select the articles.
10271 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
10272 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
10273 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
10274 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
10276 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
10277 for sensible values.
10281 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
10284 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
10287 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
10290 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
10293 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
10297 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
10298 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
10299 regexps in the list.
10302 A list where the first element is not a string:
10304 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
10305 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
10306 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
10310 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
10314 @code{mime}: Do this treatment if the value of @code{gnus-show-mime}' is
10319 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
10320 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
10321 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
10322 considered to contain just a single part.
10324 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
10325 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
10326 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
10327 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
10328 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
10329 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
10330 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
10332 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
10333 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
10334 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
10335 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
10338 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
10339 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
10341 @xref{Article Buttons}.
10343 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
10344 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
10345 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
10346 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
10347 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
10348 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
10349 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
10350 @item gnus-treat-strip-pgp (t, last, integer)
10351 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
10352 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
10353 @item gnus-treat-decode-article-as-default-mime-charset (t, integer)
10355 @xref{Article Washing}.
10357 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
10358 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
10359 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
10360 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
10361 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
10362 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
10363 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
10365 @xref{Article Date}.
10367 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
10368 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
10369 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
10373 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
10375 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
10377 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
10378 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
10379 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
10383 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
10387 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
10388 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
10389 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
10390 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
10391 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
10392 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
10393 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
10394 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
10396 @xref{Article Hiding}.
10398 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
10399 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
10400 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
10402 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
10404 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
10405 @item gnus-treat-translate
10406 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
10408 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
10409 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
10410 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
10411 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
10413 @xref{Article Header}.
10418 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
10419 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
10420 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
10421 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
10422 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
10426 @node Article Keymap
10427 @section Article Keymap
10429 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
10430 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
10431 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
10432 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
10435 A few additional keystrokes are available:
10440 @kindex SPACE (Article)
10441 @findex gnus-article-next-page
10442 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
10445 @kindex DEL (Article)
10446 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
10447 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
10450 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
10451 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
10452 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
10453 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
10454 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
10457 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
10458 @findex gnus-article-mail
10459 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
10460 given a prefix, include the mail.
10463 @kindex s (Article)
10464 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
10465 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
10466 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
10469 @kindex ? (Article)
10470 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
10471 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
10472 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
10475 @kindex TAB (Article)
10476 @findex gnus-article-next-button
10477 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
10478 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
10481 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
10482 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
10483 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
10486 @kindex R (Article)
10487 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
10488 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
10489 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If given a prefix, make a
10490 wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10494 @kindex F (Article)
10495 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
10496 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
10497 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If given a prefix, make
10498 a wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10506 @section Misc Article
10510 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
10511 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
10512 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
10513 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
10516 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
10517 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
10519 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
10520 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
10522 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
10523 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
10524 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
10525 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
10526 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
10527 the contents of the article buffer.
10529 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
10530 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
10531 Hook called in article mode buffers.
10533 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10534 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10535 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
10536 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
10538 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
10539 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
10540 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
10541 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
10542 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
10548 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
10549 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
10550 performed. The characters and their meaning:
10555 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
10558 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
10561 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
10562 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
10563 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
10566 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
10569 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
10572 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
10577 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
10581 @vindex gnus-break-pages
10583 @item gnus-break-pages
10584 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
10585 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
10586 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
10587 paging will not be done.
10589 @item gnus-page-delimiter
10590 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
10591 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
10596 @node Composing Messages
10597 @chapter Composing Messages
10598 @cindex composing messages
10601 @cindex sending mail
10606 @cindex using s/mime
10607 @cindex using smime
10609 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
10610 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
10611 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
10612 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
10613 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
10614 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
10617 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
10618 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
10619 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
10620 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
10621 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
10622 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
10623 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
10624 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
10627 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
10628 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
10634 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
10637 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
10638 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
10639 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
10640 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
10642 @item gnus-add-to-list
10643 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
10644 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
10645 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
10647 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
10648 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
10649 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus requests confirmation when replying to news.
10650 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
10651 press R anyway, this variable might be for you.
10656 @node Posting Server
10657 @section Posting Server
10659 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
10660 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
10662 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
10664 It can be quite complicated.
10666 @vindex gnus-post-method
10667 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
10668 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
10669 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
10670 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
10671 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
10672 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
10673 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
10674 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
10675 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
10678 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
10681 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
10682 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
10683 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
10684 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
10686 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
10687 gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
10689 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
10690 If that's the case, gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
10693 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
10694 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
10696 When sending mail, Message invokes @code{message-send-mail-function}.
10697 The default function, @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, pipes
10698 your article to the @code{sendmail} binary for further queuing and
10699 sending. When your local system is not configured for sending mail
10700 using @code{sendmail}, and you have access to a remote @sc{smtp}
10701 server, you can set @code{message-send-mail-function} to
10702 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and make sure to setup the @code{smtpmail}
10703 package correctly. An example:
10706 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
10707 smtpmail-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
10710 Other possible choises for @code{message-send-mail-function} includes
10711 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
10712 and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
10714 @node Mail and Post
10715 @section Mail and Post
10717 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
10721 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
10722 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
10723 @cindex mailing lists
10725 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
10726 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
10727 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
10728 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
10729 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
10730 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
10731 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
10732 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
10733 still a pain, though.
10737 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
10738 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
10739 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
10742 @findex ispell-message
10744 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
10747 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
10748 you're in, you could say something like the following:
10751 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
10755 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
10756 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
10758 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
10761 Modify to suit your needs.
10764 @node Archived Messages
10765 @section Archived Messages
10766 @cindex archived messages
10767 @cindex sent messages
10769 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
10770 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
10771 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
10772 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
10775 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
10776 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
10779 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
10780 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server gnus is to
10781 use to store sent messages. The default is:
10784 (nnfolder "archive"
10785 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
10786 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
10787 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
10788 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
10791 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
10792 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
10793 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
10794 directory chosen, you could say something like:
10797 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
10798 '(nnfolder "archive"
10799 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
10800 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
10801 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
10804 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
10806 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
10807 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
10808 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
10810 This variable can be used to do the following:
10815 Messages will be saved in that group.
10817 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
10818 message will not be stored in the select method given by
10819 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
10820 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
10821 has the default value shown above. Then setting
10822 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
10823 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
10824 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
10828 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
10830 an alist of regexps, functions and forms
10831 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
10834 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
10839 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
10841 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
10844 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
10846 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
10849 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
10851 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
10852 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
10853 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
10854 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
10857 More complex stuff:
10859 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
10860 '((if (message-news-p)
10865 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
10866 messages in one file per month:
10869 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
10870 '((if (message-news-p)
10872 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
10875 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
10876 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
10878 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
10879 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
10880 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
10881 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
10882 gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
10883 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
10884 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
10885 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
10886 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
10887 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
10889 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
10890 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
10891 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
10892 this will disable archiving.
10895 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
10896 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
10897 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
10898 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
10899 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
10902 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
10903 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
10904 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
10907 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
10908 but the latter is the preferred method.
10910 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
10911 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
10912 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
10914 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
10915 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
10916 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
10917 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
10918 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
10919 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
10920 changed in the future.
10925 @node Posting Styles
10926 @section Posting Styles
10927 @cindex posting styles
10930 All them variables, they make my head swim.
10932 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
10933 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
10934 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
10937 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
10938 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
10939 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
10940 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
10941 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
10946 (signature "Peace and happiness")
10947 (organization "What me?"))
10949 (signature "Death to everybody"))
10950 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
10951 (organization "Emacs is it")))
10954 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
10955 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
10956 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
10957 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
10958 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
10959 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
10960 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
10961 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
10963 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
10964 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
10965 If it is the form @code{(header MATCH REGEXP)}, then Gnus will look in
10966 the original article for a header whose name is MATCH and compare that
10967 REGEXP. MATCH and REGEXP are strings. If it's a function symbol, that
10968 function will be called with no arguments. If it's a variable symbol,
10969 then the variable will be referenced. If it's a list, then that list
10970 will be @code{eval}ed. In any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil}
10971 value, then the style is said to @dfn{match}.
10973 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
10974 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
10975 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
10976 @code{x-face-file}, @code{address} (overriding
10977 @code{user-mail-address}), @code{name} (overriding
10978 @code{(user-full-name)}) or @code{body}. The attribute name can also
10979 be a string or a symbol. In that case, this will be used as a header
10980 name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the article; if
10981 the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed. If the
10982 attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the result
10985 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
10986 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
10987 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
10988 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
10989 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
10990 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
10991 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
10992 references chars lines xref extra.
10994 @vindex message-reply-headers
10996 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
10997 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
10998 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
11000 @findex message-mail-p
11001 @findex message-news-p
11003 So here's a new example:
11006 (setq gnus-posting-styles
11008 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11010 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11011 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11013 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
11014 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; A form
11015 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
11016 (message-news-p ;; A function symbol
11017 (signature my-news-signature))
11018 (window-system ;; A value symbol
11019 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
11020 ;; If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.
11021 ((header "to" "larsi.*org")
11022 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
11023 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; A user defined function
11024 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
11025 (address "user@@bar.foo")
11026 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
11027 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
11029 (From (save-excursion
11030 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
11031 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
11033 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
11036 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
11037 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
11038 if you fill many roles.
11045 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
11046 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
11047 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
11048 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
11049 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
11051 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
11052 some sort using the gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
11053 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
11054 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
11055 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
11059 @vindex nndraft-directory
11060 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
11061 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
11062 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
11063 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
11064 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
11065 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
11067 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
11068 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
11071 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
11072 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
11073 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
11074 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
11075 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
11076 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
11077 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
11078 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
11079 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
11080 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
11081 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
11082 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
11083 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
11084 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
11086 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
11087 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
11088 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
11090 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
11091 @kindex D e (Draft)
11092 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
11093 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
11094 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
11096 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
11099 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
11100 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
11101 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
11102 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
11103 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
11104 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
11105 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
11108 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
11109 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
11110 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
11113 @node Rejected Articles
11114 @section Rejected Articles
11115 @cindex rejected articles
11117 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
11118 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
11119 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
11120 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
11122 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of gnus.
11123 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
11124 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
11125 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So gnus saves these
11126 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
11128 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
11129 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
11130 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
11132 @node Signing and encrypting
11133 @section Signing and encrypting
11135 @cindex using s/mime
11136 @cindex using smime
11138 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla PGP
11139 format or @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}. For decoding such messages,
11140 see the @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} options
11141 (@pxref{Security}).
11143 For PGP, Gnus supports two external libraries, @sc{gpg.el} and
11144 @sc{Mailcrypt}, you need to install at least one of them. The
11145 @sc{s/mime} support in Gnus requires the external program OpenSSL.
11147 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
11148 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
11149 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
11150 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
11151 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
11152 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
11153 automatically encrypted messages.
11155 Instructing MML to perform security operations on a @sc{mime} part is
11156 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c
11157 C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
11162 @kindex C-c C-m s s
11163 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
11165 Digitally sign current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11168 @kindex C-c C-m s o
11169 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11171 Digitally sign current message using PGP.
11174 @kindex C-c C-m s p
11175 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11177 Digitally sign current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11180 @kindex C-c C-m c s
11181 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
11183 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11186 @kindex C-c C-m c o
11187 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
11189 Digitally encrypt current message using PGP.
11192 @kindex C-c C-m c p
11193 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
11195 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11198 @kindex C-c C-m C-n
11199 @findex mml-unsecure-message
11200 Remove security related MML tags from message.
11204 Also @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}.
11206 @node Select Methods
11207 @chapter Select Methods
11208 @cindex foreign groups
11209 @cindex select methods
11211 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
11212 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
11213 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
11214 personal mail group.
11216 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
11217 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
11218 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
11219 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
11220 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
11221 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
11223 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
11224 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
11226 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
11229 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
11230 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
11231 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
11232 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
11233 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
11235 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
11238 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
11239 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
11240 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
11241 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
11242 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
11243 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
11244 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
11245 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
11249 @node Server Buffer
11250 @section Server Buffer
11252 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
11253 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
11254 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
11255 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
11256 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
11257 back end represents a virtual server.
11259 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
11260 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
11261 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
11262 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
11264 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
11265 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
11266 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
11267 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
11268 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
11269 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
11270 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
11272 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
11273 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
11276 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
11277 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
11278 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
11279 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
11280 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
11281 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
11282 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
11285 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
11286 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
11289 @node Server Buffer Format
11290 @subsection Server Buffer Format
11291 @cindex server buffer format
11293 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
11294 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
11295 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
11296 variable, with some simple extensions:
11301 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
11304 The name of this server.
11307 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
11310 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
11313 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
11314 The mode line can also be customized by using the
11315 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
11316 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
11326 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
11329 @node Server Commands
11330 @subsection Server Commands
11331 @cindex server commands
11337 @findex gnus-server-add-server
11338 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
11342 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
11343 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
11346 @kindex SPACE (Server)
11347 @findex gnus-server-read-server
11348 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
11352 @findex gnus-server-exit
11353 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
11357 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
11358 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
11362 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
11363 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
11367 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
11368 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
11372 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
11373 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
11377 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
11378 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
11379 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
11384 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
11385 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
11386 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
11387 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
11392 @node Example Methods
11393 @subsection Example Methods
11395 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
11398 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
11401 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
11407 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
11408 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
11411 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
11412 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
11414 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
11415 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
11419 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
11422 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
11423 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
11425 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
11426 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
11427 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
11431 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
11434 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
11437 Here's the method for a public spool:
11441 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
11442 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
11448 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
11449 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
11450 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
11451 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
11452 should probably look something like this:
11456 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
11457 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
11458 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
11459 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11462 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
11463 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
11464 configuration to the example above:
11467 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
11470 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}.
11472 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
11473 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
11474 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
11478 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
11479 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
11480 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
11481 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11484 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
11485 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
11486 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
11487 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
11490 @node Creating a Virtual Server
11491 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
11493 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
11494 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
11496 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
11497 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
11498 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
11500 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
11502 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
11503 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
11504 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
11505 will contain the following:
11515 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
11516 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
11517 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
11520 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
11521 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
11522 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
11525 @node Server Variables
11526 @subsection Server Variables
11528 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
11529 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
11530 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
11531 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
11532 won't change the "derived" variables.
11534 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
11535 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
11536 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
11537 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
11538 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
11539 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
11540 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
11541 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
11542 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
11546 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
11547 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
11548 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
11552 @node Servers and Methods
11553 @subsection Servers and Methods
11555 Wherever you would normally use a select method
11556 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
11557 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
11558 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
11562 @node Unavailable Servers
11563 @subsection Unavailable Servers
11565 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
11566 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
11567 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
11568 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
11569 actually the case or not.
11571 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
11572 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
11573 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
11574 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
11575 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
11576 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
11577 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
11578 it will regard that server as ``down''.
11580 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
11581 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
11583 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
11584 with the following commands:
11590 @findex gnus-server-open-server
11591 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
11592 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
11596 @findex gnus-server-close-server
11597 Close the connection (if any) to the server
11598 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
11602 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
11603 Mark the current server as unreachable
11604 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
11607 @kindex M-o (Server)
11608 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
11609 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
11610 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
11613 @kindex M-c (Server)
11614 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
11615 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
11616 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
11620 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
11621 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
11622 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
11626 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
11627 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
11633 @section Getting News
11634 @cindex reading news
11635 @cindex news back ends
11637 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
11638 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
11639 or it can read from a local spool.
11642 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
11643 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
11651 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
11652 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
11653 server as the, uhm, address.
11655 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
11656 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
11657 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
11658 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
11660 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
11661 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
11662 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
11664 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
11669 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
11670 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
11671 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
11673 @cindex authentification
11674 @cindex nntp authentification
11675 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
11676 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
11677 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
11678 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
11679 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
11680 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
11681 present in this hook.
11683 @item nntp-authinfo-function
11684 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
11685 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
11686 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
11687 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
11688 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
11689 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
11690 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
11691 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
11692 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
11693 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
11694 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
11698 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
11701 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
11703 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
11704 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
11705 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
11706 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
11707 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
11708 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
11709 @samp{force} is explained below.
11713 Here's an example file:
11716 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
11717 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
11720 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
11721 have to be first, for instance.
11723 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
11724 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
11725 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
11726 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
11727 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
11728 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
11729 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
11731 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
11732 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
11738 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
11739 previously mentioned.
11741 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
11743 @item nntp-server-action-alist
11744 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
11745 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
11746 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
11747 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
11750 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
11751 '(("innd" (ding))))
11754 You probably don't want to do that, though.
11756 The default value is
11759 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
11760 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
11761 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
11764 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
11765 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
11767 @item nntp-maximum-request
11768 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
11769 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this back end
11770 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
11771 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
11772 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
11773 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
11774 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
11776 @item nntp-connection-timeout
11777 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
11778 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
11779 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
11780 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
11781 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
11782 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
11783 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
11784 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
11785 no timeouts are done.
11787 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
11788 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
11789 @c @cindex PPP connections
11790 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
11791 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
11792 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
11793 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
11794 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
11795 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
11796 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
11797 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
11798 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
11799 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
11801 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
11802 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
11803 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
11804 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
11805 @c described above.
11807 @item nntp-server-hook
11808 @vindex nntp-server-hook
11809 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
11812 @item nntp-buggy-select
11813 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
11814 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
11816 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
11817 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
11818 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
11819 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
11822 @item nntp-xover-commands
11823 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
11826 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
11827 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
11831 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
11832 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
11833 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
11834 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
11835 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
11836 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
11837 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
11838 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
11839 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
11840 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
11841 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
11843 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
11844 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
11845 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
11847 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
11848 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
11849 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
11850 server closes connection.
11852 @item nntp-record-commands
11853 @vindex nntp-record-commands
11854 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
11855 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
11856 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
11857 that doesn't seem to work.
11859 @item nntp-open-connection-function
11860 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
11861 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
11862 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
11863 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
11864 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
11865 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
11866 indirect ones (two pre-made).
11868 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
11869 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
11870 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
11871 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
11872 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
11873 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
11874 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
11877 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
11880 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
11881 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
11883 @item nntp-list-options
11884 @vindex nntp-list-options
11885 List of newsgroup name used for a option of the LIST command to restrict
11886 the listing output to only the specified newsgroups. Each newsgroup name
11887 can be a shell-style wildcard, for instance, @dfn{fj.*}, @dfn{japan.*},
11888 etc. Fortunately, if the server can accept such a option, it will
11889 probably make gnus run faster. You may use it as a server variable as
11893 (setq gnus-select-method
11894 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
11895 (nntp-list-options ("fj.*" "japan.*"))))
11898 @item nntp-options-subscribe
11899 @vindex nntp-options-subscribe
11900 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will be subscribed
11901 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
11902 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
11903 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
11904 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
11907 (setq gnus-select-method
11908 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
11909 (nntp-options-subscribe "^fj\\.\\|^japan\\.")))
11912 @item nntp-options-not-subscribe
11913 @vindex nntp-options-not-subscribe
11914 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will not be subscribed
11915 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
11916 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
11917 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
11918 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
11921 (setq gnus-select-method
11922 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
11923 (nntp-options-not-subscribe "\\.binaries\\.")))
11928 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
11929 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
11930 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
11934 @node Direct Functions
11935 @subsubsection Direct Functions
11936 @cindex direct connection functions
11938 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
11939 between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server. The behavior of these
11940 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
11941 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
11944 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
11945 @item nntp-open-network-stream
11946 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
11949 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
11950 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
11951 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
11952 this you must have OpenSSL (@uref{http://www.openssl.org}) or SSLeay
11953 installed (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also
11954 need @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distribution, for instance). You then
11955 define a server as follows:
11958 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
11960 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
11962 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
11963 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
11964 (nntp-port-number "snews")
11965 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
11968 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
11969 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
11970 Opens a connection to an @sc{nntp} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
11971 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
11972 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
11973 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
11974 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
11975 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
11979 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
11980 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
11981 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
11984 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
11985 session, which is not a good idea.
11989 @node Indirect Functions
11990 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
11991 @cindex indirect connection functions
11993 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
11994 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @sc{nntp} server.
11995 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
11996 the "via" family of connection: they're all prefixed with "via" to make
11997 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
11998 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12001 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12002 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12003 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
12004 to the real @sc{nntp} server from there. This is useful for instance if
12005 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
12007 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12010 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
12011 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
12012 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
12013 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
12015 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12016 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12017 List of strings to be used as the switches to
12018 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
12019 @samp{ssh} for `nntp-via-rlogin-command', you may set this to
12020 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
12021 this to @samp{("-t")} or @samp{("-C" "-t")} if the telnet command
12022 requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate host.
12025 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12026 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12027 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
12028 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
12030 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12033 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
12034 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
12035 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
12038 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
12039 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
12040 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
12041 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
12043 @item nntp-via-user-password
12044 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
12045 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
12047 @item nntp-via-envuser
12048 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
12049 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
12050 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
12051 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
12053 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
12054 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
12055 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
12056 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
12063 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
12068 @item nntp-via-user-name
12069 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
12070 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
12072 @item nntp-via-address
12073 @vindex nntp-via-address
12074 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
12079 @node Common Variables
12080 @subsubsection Common Variables
12082 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
12083 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
12088 @item nntp-pre-command
12089 @vindex nntp-pre-command
12090 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native connection
12091 function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream} and
12092 @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is where you would put a @samp{SOCKS}
12093 wrapper for instance.
12096 @vindex nntp-address
12097 The address of the @sc{nntp} server.
12099 @item nntp-port-number
12100 @vindex nntp-port-number
12101 Port number to connect to the @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{nntp}.
12103 @item nntp-end-of-line
12104 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
12105 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
12106 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
12107 using a non native connection function.
12109 @item nntp-telnet-command
12110 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
12111 Command to use when connecting to the @sc{nntp} server through
12112 @samp{telnet}. This is NOT for an intermediate host. This is just for
12113 the real @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{telnet}.
12115 @item nntp-telnet-switches
12116 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
12117 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
12124 @subsection News Spool
12128 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
12129 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
12130 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
12133 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
12134 anything else) as the address.
12136 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
12137 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
12138 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
12139 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
12143 @item nnspool-inews-program
12144 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
12145 Program used to post an article.
12147 @item nnspool-inews-switches
12148 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
12149 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
12151 @item nnspool-spool-directory
12152 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
12153 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
12154 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
12156 @item nnspool-nov-directory
12157 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
12158 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
12159 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
12161 @item nnspool-lib-dir
12162 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
12163 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
12165 @item nnspool-active-file
12166 @vindex nnspool-active-file
12167 The path to the active file.
12169 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
12170 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
12171 The path to the group descriptions file.
12173 @item nnspool-history-file
12174 @vindex nnspool-history-file
12175 The path to the news history file.
12177 @item nnspool-active-times-file
12178 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
12179 The path to the active date file.
12181 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
12182 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
12183 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
12186 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12187 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12189 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
12190 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
12191 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
12197 @section Getting Mail
12198 @cindex reading mail
12201 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
12205 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
12206 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
12207 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
12208 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
12209 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
12210 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
12211 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
12212 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
12213 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
12214 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
12215 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
12216 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
12217 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
12221 @node Mail in a Newsreader
12222 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
12224 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
12225 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
12226 of a culture shock.
12228 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
12229 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
12231 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
12232 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
12233 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
12234 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
12236 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
12238 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
12239 deleted? How awful!
12241 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
12242 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
12243 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
12244 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
12247 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
12248 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
12249 they want to treat a message.
12251 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
12252 via @sc{smtp}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
12253 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
12254 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
12255 archived somewhere else.
12257 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
12258 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
12259 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
12260 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
12261 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
12263 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
12264 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
12265 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
12267 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
12268 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
12271 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
12272 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
12273 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
12274 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
12275 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
12277 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
12278 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
12279 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
12280 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
12281 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
12282 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
12286 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
12287 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
12289 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
12290 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
12291 and things will happen automatically.
12293 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
12294 mail" back end), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
12297 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
12300 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
12301 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
12302 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
12303 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
12304 like any other group.
12306 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
12309 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12310 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12311 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12315 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
12316 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
12317 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
12320 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
12321 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
12322 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
12325 @node Splitting Mail
12326 @subsection Splitting Mail
12327 @cindex splitting mail
12328 @cindex mail splitting
12330 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
12331 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
12332 to be split into groups.
12335 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12336 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12337 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12338 ("mail.other" "")))
12341 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
12342 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
12343 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
12344 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
12345 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
12346 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
12347 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
12350 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
12353 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
12354 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
12355 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
12356 mail belongs in that group.
12358 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
12359 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
12360 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
12361 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
12362 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
12363 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
12365 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
12366 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
12367 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
12368 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
12369 thinks should carry this mail message.
12371 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
12372 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
12373 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
12374 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
12376 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
12377 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
12378 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
12379 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
12380 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
12382 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
12385 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
12386 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
12387 links. If that's the case for you, set
12388 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
12389 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
12391 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
12392 @kindex nnmail-split-history
12393 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
12394 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
12395 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
12396 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
12399 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
12400 Header lines longer than the value of
12401 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
12404 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
12405 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
12406 By default the splitting codes MIME decodes headers so you can match
12407 on non-ASCII strings. The @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset}
12408 variable specifies the default charset for decoding. The behaviour
12409 can be turned off completely by binding
12410 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} to nil, which is useful if you
12411 want to match articles based on the raw header data.
12413 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
12414 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
12415 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
12416 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
12417 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
12418 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
12419 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
12420 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
12421 month's rent money.
12425 @subsection Mail Sources
12427 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
12428 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
12432 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
12433 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
12434 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
12438 @node Mail Source Specifiers
12439 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
12441 @cindex mail server
12444 @cindex mail source
12446 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
12447 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
12452 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
12455 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
12456 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
12457 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
12460 The following mail source types are available:
12464 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
12470 The path of the file. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
12471 environment variable or @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}.
12474 An example file mail source:
12477 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
12480 Or using the default path:
12486 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
12487 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
12488 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
12491 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
12495 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
12498 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
12502 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
12505 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
12507 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
12510 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
12514 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used
12515 when you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files.
12516 That is, mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool} will be put in the
12517 group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix to be used instead
12518 of @code{.spool}.) Setting
12519 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil forces Gnus
12520 to scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful if you
12521 want to scan mail groups at a specified level.
12527 The path of the directory where the files are. There is no default
12531 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
12535 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
12536 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
12537 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
12538 predicate are considered.
12542 Script run before/after fetching mail.
12546 An example directory mail source:
12549 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
12554 Get mail from a POP server.
12560 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
12561 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
12564 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
12565 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
12566 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
12567 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
12568 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
12571 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
12575 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
12579 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
12580 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
12583 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
12586 The valid format specifier characters are:
12590 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
12591 included in this string.
12594 The name of the server.
12597 The port number of the server.
12600 The user name to use.
12603 The password to use.
12606 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
12607 corresponding keywords.
12610 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
12611 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
12614 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
12615 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
12618 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
12619 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
12622 @item :authentication
12623 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
12624 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
12628 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this can be the symbol
12629 @code{ssl}, the symbol @code{tls} or others. The default is @code{nil}
12630 and use insecure connections. Note that for SSL/TLS, you need external
12631 programs and libraries:
12635 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL@. Requires OpenSSL (the program
12636 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
12637 library @samp{ssl.el}.
12639 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to SSL)@.
12640 Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
12645 Non-@code{nil} if mail is to be left on the server and UIDL used for
12646 message retrieval. The default is @code{nil}.
12650 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
12651 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
12653 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
12654 default user name, and default fetcher:
12660 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
12663 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
12664 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
12667 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
12670 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
12674 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
12675 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
12676 contains exactly one mail.
12682 The path of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
12683 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
12686 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
12687 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
12689 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
12690 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
12691 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
12694 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
12695 from locking problems).
12699 Two example maildir mail sources:
12702 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
12703 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
12707 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
12712 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
12713 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
12714 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
12715 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
12718 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, SSL/TLS and STARTTLS support you
12719 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
12725 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
12726 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
12729 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
12730 @samp{993} for SSL/TLS connections.
12733 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
12737 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
12741 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
12742 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
12743 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{ssl},
12744 @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
12746 @item :authentication
12747 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
12748 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
12749 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
12750 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
12753 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
12754 mapped into the `imap-shell-program' variable. This should be a
12755 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
12761 The valid format specifier characters are:
12765 The name of the server.
12768 User name from `imap-default-user'.
12771 The port number of the server.
12774 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
12775 corresponding keywords.
12778 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
12779 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
12782 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
12783 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
12784 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
12785 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{nil}.
12786 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
12787 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
12790 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
12791 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
12792 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
12793 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
12796 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
12797 after finishing the fetch.
12801 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
12804 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
12806 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
12810 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{www.hotmail.com},
12811 @uref{webmail.netscape.com}, @uref{www.netaddress.com},
12812 @uref{www.my-deja.com}.
12814 NOTE: Now @uref{mail.yahoo.com} provides POP3 service, so @sc{pop} mail source
12817 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
12818 required for url "4.0pre.46".
12820 WARNING: Mails may lost. NO WARRANTY.
12826 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
12827 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
12830 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
12834 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
12838 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
12839 folder after finishing the fetch.
12843 An example webmail source:
12846 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
12848 :password "secret")
12853 @item Common Keywords
12854 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
12860 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
12861 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
12865 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
12870 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
12871 useful when you use local mail and news.
12876 @subsubsection Function Interface
12878 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
12879 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
12880 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
12881 consider the following mail-source setting:
12884 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
12885 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
12888 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
12889 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
12890 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
12891 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
12892 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
12894 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
12897 @node Mail Source Customization
12898 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
12900 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
12901 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
12905 @item mail-source-crash-box
12906 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
12907 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
12908 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
12910 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
12911 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
12912 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
12914 @item mail-source-directory
12915 @vindex mail-source-directory
12916 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
12917 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
12918 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
12921 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
12922 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
12923 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
12924 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
12925 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
12926 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
12928 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
12929 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
12930 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
12932 @item mail-source-movemail-program
12933 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
12934 If non-nil, name of program for fetching new mail. If nil,
12935 @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
12940 @node Fetching Mail
12941 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
12943 @vindex mail-sources
12944 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
12945 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
12946 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
12947 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
12949 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
12950 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
12953 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
12954 mail server, you'd say something like:
12959 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
12960 :password "secret")))
12963 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
12967 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
12968 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
12971 :password "secret")))
12975 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
12976 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
12977 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
12978 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
12979 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
12980 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
12984 @node Mail Back End Variables
12985 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
12987 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
12991 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
12992 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
12993 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
12994 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
12996 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
12997 @item nnmail-split-hook
12998 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
12999 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
13000 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
13001 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
13002 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
13003 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
13004 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
13005 in the buffer will show up in any files.
13006 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
13009 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13010 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13011 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13012 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13013 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
13014 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
13015 starting to handle the new mail) and
13016 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
13017 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
13018 default file modes the new mail files get:
13021 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13022 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
13024 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13025 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
13028 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
13029 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
13030 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
13031 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
13032 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
13033 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
13034 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
13036 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
13037 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
13038 @findex delete-file
13039 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
13041 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13042 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13043 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
13044 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
13045 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
13047 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13048 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13049 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
13050 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
13051 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
13053 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
13054 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
13055 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
13060 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
13061 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
13062 @cindex mail splitting
13063 @cindex fancy mail splitting
13065 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
13066 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
13067 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
13068 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
13069 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
13070 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
13072 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
13075 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
13076 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
13077 ;; from real errors.
13078 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
13080 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
13081 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
13082 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
13083 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
13084 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
13085 ;; Other mailing lists...
13086 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
13087 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
13088 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
13089 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
13090 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
13091 ;; message was really cross-posted.
13092 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
13093 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
13095 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
13096 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
13100 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
13101 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
13102 the five possible split syntaxes:
13107 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
13108 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
13112 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
13113 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
13114 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
13115 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
13116 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
13117 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
13118 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
13119 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
13122 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13123 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
13124 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
13125 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
13128 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13129 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
13132 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
13133 (i.e., delete) this message. Use with extreme caution.
13136 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
13137 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
13138 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
13139 function should return a @var{split}.
13142 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
13143 body of the messages:
13146 (defun split-on-body ()
13148 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
13149 (goto-char (point-min))
13150 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
13154 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
13155 when the @code{:} function is run.
13158 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13159 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
13160 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
13164 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
13168 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
13169 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
13170 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
13171 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
13172 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
13174 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
13175 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
13176 are expanded as specified by the variable
13177 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
13178 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
13181 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
13182 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
13183 when all this splitting is performed.
13185 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
13186 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
13187 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
13190 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
13193 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
13194 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
13196 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
13197 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
13198 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
13199 groupings 1 through 9.
13201 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
13202 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
13203 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
13204 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
13205 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
13206 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
13207 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
13208 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
13209 it once per thread.
13211 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} and
13212 @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-nil value. And then
13213 you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon
13216 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; or 'delete
13217 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
13219 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
13220 ;; other splits go here
13224 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
13225 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
13226 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
13227 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
13228 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
13229 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
13230 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
13231 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
13232 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name
13233 unless the group name matches the regexp
13234 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is recommended
13235 that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a somewhat higher
13236 number than the default so that the message ids are still in the cache.
13237 (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300 kBytes in size.)
13238 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13239 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
13240 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
13241 messages goes into the new group.
13243 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
13244 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
13245 outgoing messages are written to an `outgoing' group, you could set
13246 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
13247 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
13251 @node Group Mail Splitting
13252 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
13253 @cindex mail splitting
13254 @cindex group mail splitting
13256 @findex gnus-group-split
13257 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
13258 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
13259 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
13260 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
13261 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
13262 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
13263 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
13264 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
13266 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
13267 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
13268 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
13269 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
13271 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
13272 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
13273 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
13274 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
13275 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
13276 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
13277 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
13279 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
13280 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
13281 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
13282 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
13283 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
13284 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
13285 @code{gnus-group-split}.
13287 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
13288 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
13289 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
13290 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
13291 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
13292 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
13293 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
13294 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
13295 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
13296 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
13297 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
13298 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
13299 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
13301 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
13306 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
13307 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
13309 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
13310 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
13311 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
13312 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
13314 ((split-spec . catch-all))
13317 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
13318 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
13319 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
13322 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
13323 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
13324 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
13328 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
13329 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
13330 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
13334 (: gnus-group-split-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
13337 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
13338 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
13339 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
13340 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
13341 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
13342 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
13343 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
13344 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
13345 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
13347 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
13348 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
13349 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
13350 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
13351 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
13352 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
13353 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
13354 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
13355 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
13357 @findex gnus-group-split-update
13358 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
13359 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
13360 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
13361 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
13362 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus}:
13365 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
13368 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
13369 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
13370 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
13371 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
13372 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
13375 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
13376 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
13377 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
13378 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
13380 @node Incorporating Old Mail
13381 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
13382 @cindex incorporating old mail
13383 @cindex import old mail
13385 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
13386 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
13387 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
13390 Doing so can be quite easy.
13392 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
13393 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
13394 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
13395 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
13396 your @code{nnml} groups.
13402 Go to the group buffer.
13405 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
13406 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13409 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
13412 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
13413 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
13416 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
13417 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
13420 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
13421 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
13422 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
13423 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
13424 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
13426 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
13427 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
13428 using the new mail back end.
13431 @node Expiring Mail
13432 @subsection Expiring Mail
13433 @cindex article expiry
13435 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
13436 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
13437 different approach to mail reading.
13439 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
13440 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
13441 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
13442 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
13443 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
13444 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
13447 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
13448 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
13449 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
13450 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
13451 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
13452 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
13453 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
13454 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
13456 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13457 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
13458 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
13459 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
13460 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
13461 column in the summary buffer.
13463 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
13464 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
13465 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
13466 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
13469 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
13471 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
13472 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
13473 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
13476 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
13477 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
13478 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
13479 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
13480 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
13482 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
13483 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
13486 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13487 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
13490 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
13491 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
13493 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
13494 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
13495 don't really mix very well.
13497 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
13498 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
13499 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
13500 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
13503 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
13504 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
13505 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
13506 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
13509 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13511 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13513 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
13515 ((string= group "mail.junk")
13517 ((string= group "important")
13523 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
13524 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
13526 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
13527 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
13528 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
13531 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
13532 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
13534 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
13535 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
13536 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
13537 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
13538 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
13539 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
13540 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
13541 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
13542 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
13543 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
13544 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
13545 from as its parameter) which should return a target -- either a group
13546 name or @code{delete}.
13548 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
13550 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
13553 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
13554 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
13555 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
13556 expire mail to groups according to the variable
13557 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
13560 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
13561 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
13562 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
13563 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
13564 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
13567 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
13568 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
13569 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
13570 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
13571 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
13572 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
13574 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
13575 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
13576 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
13577 easier for procmail users.
13579 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
13580 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
13581 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
13582 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
13583 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
13584 caution. Even more dangerous is the
13585 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
13586 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
13587 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
13588 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
13589 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
13590 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
13591 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
13594 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
13596 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
13597 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
13598 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
13599 auto-expire turned on.
13603 @subsection Washing Mail
13604 @cindex mail washing
13605 @cindex list server brain damage
13606 @cindex incoming mail treatment
13608 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
13609 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
13610 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
13611 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
13612 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
13613 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
13615 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
13616 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
13617 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
13620 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
13621 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
13622 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
13623 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
13626 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
13627 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
13628 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
13629 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
13630 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
13633 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
13634 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
13635 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
13636 Emacs running on MS machines.
13640 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
13641 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
13642 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
13643 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
13646 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
13647 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
13648 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
13649 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
13651 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
13652 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
13653 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
13654 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
13655 into a feature by documenting it.)
13657 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
13658 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
13659 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
13660 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
13661 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
13662 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
13663 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
13666 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
13667 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
13670 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
13671 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
13674 This can also be done non-destructively with
13675 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
13677 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
13678 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
13679 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
13681 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
13682 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
13684 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
13685 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
13686 @code{References} headers.
13690 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
13691 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
13692 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
13696 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
13697 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
13698 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
13705 @subsection Duplicates
13707 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
13708 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
13709 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
13710 @cindex duplicate mails
13711 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
13712 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
13713 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
13714 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
13715 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
13716 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
13717 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
13718 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
13719 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
13720 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
13721 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
13722 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
13723 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
13725 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
13726 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
13727 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
13728 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
13730 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
13733 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
13734 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
13738 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
13739 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
13740 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
13741 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
13742 (any mail "mail.misc")
13749 (setq nnmail-split-methods
13750 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
13755 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
13756 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
13757 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
13758 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
13759 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
13762 @node Not Reading Mail
13763 @subsection Not Reading Mail
13765 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
13766 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
13767 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
13769 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
13770 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
13771 mail, which should help.
13773 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
13774 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
13775 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
13776 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
13777 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
13778 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
13779 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
13780 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
13781 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
13782 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
13783 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
13785 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
13786 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
13790 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
13791 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
13793 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
13794 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
13795 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
13797 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
13798 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
13799 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
13800 Spool}). You might notice that only five back ends are listed below;
13801 @code{nnmaildir}'s documentation has not yet been completely
13802 incorporated into this manual. Until it is, you can find it at
13803 @uref{http://multivac.cwru.edu./nnmaildir/}.
13806 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
13807 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
13808 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
13809 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
13810 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
13811 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
13815 @node Unix Mail Box
13816 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
13818 @cindex unix mail box
13820 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
13821 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
13822 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
13823 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
13824 which group it belongs in.
13826 Virtual server settings:
13829 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
13830 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
13831 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
13834 @item nnmbox-active-file
13835 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
13836 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
13837 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
13839 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
13840 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
13841 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
13842 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
13847 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
13851 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
13852 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
13853 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
13854 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
13855 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
13857 Virtual server settings:
13860 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
13861 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
13862 The name of the rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
13864 @item nnbabyl-active-file
13865 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
13866 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
13867 @file{~/.rmail-active}
13869 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
13870 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
13871 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
13877 @subsubsection Mail Spool
13879 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
13881 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
13882 format. It should be used with some caution.
13884 @vindex nnml-directory
13885 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
13886 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
13887 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
13888 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
13890 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
13893 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
13894 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
13895 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
13896 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
13897 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
13898 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
13899 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
13900 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
13902 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
13903 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
13904 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
13905 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
13907 @cindex self contained nnml servers
13909 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
13910 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
13911 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
13912 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
13913 for a group is usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
13914 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
13915 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
13916 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
13919 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
13920 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
13921 them next time it starts.
13923 Virtual server settings:
13926 @item nnml-directory
13927 @vindex nnml-directory
13928 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
13929 The default is the value of `message-directory' (whose default value is
13932 @item nnml-active-file
13933 @vindex nnml-active-file
13934 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
13935 @file{~/Mail/active"}.
13937 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
13938 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
13939 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
13940 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}.
13942 @item nnml-get-new-mail
13943 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
13944 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
13947 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
13948 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
13949 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
13950 default is @code{nil}.
13952 @item nnml-nov-file-name
13953 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
13954 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
13956 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
13957 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
13958 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
13960 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
13961 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
13962 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
13963 default is @code{nil}.
13965 @item nnml-marks-file-name
13966 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
13967 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
13969 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
13970 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
13971 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
13976 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
13977 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
13978 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
13979 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
13980 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
13981 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
13982 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
13987 @subsubsection MH Spool
13989 @cindex mh-e mail spool
13991 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
13992 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks file.
13993 This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than @code{nnml},
13994 but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
13996 Virtual server settings:
13999 @item nnmh-directory
14000 @vindex nnmh-directory
14001 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
14002 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14005 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
14006 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14007 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
14011 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
14012 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
14013 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
14014 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
14015 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
14016 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
14017 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
14022 @subsubsection Mail Folders
14024 @cindex mbox folders
14025 @cindex mail folders
14027 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a separate
14028 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
14029 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
14032 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
14034 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
14035 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14036 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14037 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
14038 Marks for a group is usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
14039 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
14040 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder} directory.
14041 Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to backup, use
14042 @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the
14043 @code{nnfolder} directory).
14045 Virtual server settings:
14048 @item nnfolder-directory
14049 @vindex nnfolder-directory
14050 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
14051 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14054 @item nnfolder-active-file
14055 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
14056 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
14058 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14059 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14060 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14061 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}
14063 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
14064 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14065 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
14068 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14069 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14070 @cindex backup files
14071 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
14072 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
14073 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
14074 your @file{.emacs} file:
14077 (defun turn-off-backup ()
14078 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
14080 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
14083 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14084 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14085 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
14086 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
14087 extract some information from it before removing it.
14089 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14090 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14091 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14092 default is @code{nil}.
14094 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14095 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14096 The extension for @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
14098 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
14099 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
14100 The directory where the @sc{nov} files should be stored. If nil,
14101 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14103 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14104 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14105 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14106 default is @code{nil}.
14108 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14109 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14110 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
14112 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
14113 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
14114 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If nil,
14115 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14120 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
14121 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
14122 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
14123 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
14124 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
14125 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
14128 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
14129 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
14131 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
14132 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
14133 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
14134 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
14135 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
14137 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
14138 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
14139 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
14140 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
14141 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
14142 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
14143 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
14144 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
14147 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
14148 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
14149 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
14150 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
14155 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
14156 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
14157 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
14158 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
14159 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
14160 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
14161 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
14162 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
14163 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
14164 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
14165 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
14166 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
14167 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
14172 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
14173 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
14174 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
14175 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
14176 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
14177 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
14178 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
14179 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
14180 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
14181 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
14182 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
14183 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
14184 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
14185 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
14187 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
14188 filesystem, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
14193 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
14194 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
14195 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
14196 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
14197 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
14198 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
14199 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
14200 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
14201 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
14202 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
14203 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
14204 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
14205 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
14206 provided by the active file and overviews.
14208 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
14209 resource which defines available places in the filesystem to put new
14210 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
14211 tight, shared filesystems. But if you live on a personal machine where
14212 the filesystem is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
14215 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
14216 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
14221 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
14222 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
14223 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
14224 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
14225 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
14226 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
14227 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
14231 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
14232 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
14233 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
14234 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
14235 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
14236 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
14237 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
14238 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
14239 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
14241 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
14242 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
14243 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
14244 friendly mail back end all over.
14248 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
14249 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
14250 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
14251 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
14252 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
14253 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
14254 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to ReiserFS
14255 (@uref{http://www.namesys.com/}) or another non-block-structured
14258 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
14259 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
14260 This means you can skip Gnus's mail splitting if your mail is already
14261 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
14262 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
14263 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
14264 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
14265 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
14266 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
14267 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will undergo
14268 treatment such as duplicate checking.
14270 An article will not necessarily keep the same number across Gnus
14271 sessions; articles are renumbered starting from 1 for each Gnus session
14272 (more precisely, each time you open the @code{nnmaildir} server). This
14273 way, you don't get gaps in your article number ranges, and when entering
14274 large groups, Gnus is likely to give a more accurate article count. The
14275 price is that @code{nnmaildir} doesn't work with the cache or agent.
14276 This will probably be changed in the future.
14278 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
14279 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
14280 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
14281 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
14282 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
14285 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses group
14286 parameters slightly different from those of other mail backends.
14288 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
14289 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
14290 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
14291 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
14292 parameter to somthing small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
14293 would) to make it use less memory.
14295 Startup and shutdown are likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than
14296 with other backends. Everything in between is likely to be faster,
14297 depending in part on your filesystem.
14299 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
14300 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived backend.
14305 @node Browsing the Web
14306 @section Browsing the Web
14308 @cindex browsing the web
14312 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
14313 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
14314 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
14315 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
14316 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
14317 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
14318 even know what a news group is.
14320 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
14321 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
14322 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
14323 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
14324 you mad in the end.
14326 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
14329 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
14330 interfaces to these sources.
14334 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
14335 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
14336 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
14337 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
14338 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
14339 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
14342 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
14344 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
14345 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
14346 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
14347 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
14348 though, you should be ok.
14350 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
14351 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
14352 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
14353 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
14354 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
14356 @node Archiving Mail
14357 @subsection Archiving Mail
14358 @cindex archiving mail
14359 @cindex backup of mail
14361 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
14362 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
14363 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
14364 marks is fairly simple.
14366 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
14367 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
14370 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
14371 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
14372 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
14373 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
14374 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
14375 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
14376 might interfer with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
14377 before you restore the data.
14379 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
14380 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
14381 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
14382 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
14383 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
14384 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
14385 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
14386 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
14387 is unnecessary in that case.
14390 @subsection Web Searches
14395 @cindex InReference
14396 @cindex Usenet searches
14397 @cindex searching the Usenet
14399 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
14400 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
14401 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
14402 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
14403 searches without having to use a browser.
14405 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
14406 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
14407 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
14408 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
14409 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
14411 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
14412 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
14413 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
14414 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
14415 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
14416 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
14417 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
14418 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
14419 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
14420 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
14423 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
14424 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
14425 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
14426 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
14427 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
14428 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
14430 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
14431 to use @code{nnweb}.
14433 Virtual server variables:
14438 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
14439 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and
14443 @vindex nnweb-search
14444 The search string to feed to the search engine.
14446 @item nnweb-max-hits
14447 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
14448 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
14451 @item nnweb-type-definition
14452 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
14453 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
14454 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
14459 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
14463 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
14466 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
14469 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
14473 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
14480 @subsection Slashdot
14484 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
14485 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
14486 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
14488 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
14489 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
14492 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
14493 '((nnslashdot "")))
14496 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
14497 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
14498 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
14499 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
14500 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
14503 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
14504 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14506 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
14507 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
14508 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
14509 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
14510 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
14511 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
14514 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
14517 @item nnslashdot-threaded
14518 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
14519 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
14520 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
14521 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
14522 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
14523 but much, much slower than untreaded.
14525 @item nnslashdot-login-name
14526 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
14527 The login name to use when posting.
14529 @item nnslashdot-password
14530 @vindex nnslashdot-password
14531 The password to use when posting.
14533 @item nnslashdot-directory
14534 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
14535 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
14536 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
14538 @item nnslashdot-active-url
14539 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
14540 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
14541 news articles and comments. The default is
14542 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
14544 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
14545 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
14546 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
14548 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
14550 @item nnslashdot-article-url
14551 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
14552 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
14554 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
14556 @item nnslashdot-threshold
14557 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
14558 The score threshold. The default is -1.
14560 @item nnslashdot-group-number
14561 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
14562 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
14563 updated. The default is 0.
14570 @subsection Ultimate
14572 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
14574 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
14575 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
14576 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
14577 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
14579 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
14580 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
14581 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
14582 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
14583 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
14584 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
14585 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
14587 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
14590 @item nnultimate-directory
14591 @vindex nnultimate-directory
14592 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
14593 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
14598 @subsection Web Archive
14600 @cindex Web Archive
14602 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
14603 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
14604 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
14605 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
14608 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
14609 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
14610 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
14611 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
14612 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
14613 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
14614 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
14616 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
14619 @item nnwarchive-directory
14620 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
14621 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
14622 @samp{~/News/warchive/}.
14624 @item nnwarchive-login
14625 @vindex nnwarchive-login
14626 The account name on the web server.
14628 @item nnwarchive-passwd
14629 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
14630 The password for your account on the web server.
14638 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
14639 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
14640 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
14643 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
14644 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
14647 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
14650 @item nnrss-directory
14651 @vindex nnrss-directory
14652 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
14653 @samp{~/News/rss/}.
14657 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
14658 the summary buffer.
14661 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
14662 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
14664 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
14666 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
14667 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
14670 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
14673 (require 'browse-url)
14675 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
14677 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
14680 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
14681 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
14683 (browse-url (cdr url))
14684 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
14686 (eval-after-load "gnus"
14687 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
14688 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
14689 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
14692 @node Customizing w3
14693 @subsection Customizing w3
14699 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
14700 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
14701 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
14703 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
14704 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
14705 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
14708 (eval-after-load "w3"
14710 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
14711 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
14712 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
14713 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
14715 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
14718 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
14719 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
14728 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
14729 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
14730 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
14731 specify the network address of the server.
14733 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
14734 POP can, it can hence be viewed as a POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
14735 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
14736 protocol -- however, @sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp}
14737 because news is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
14739 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a POP++, use an imap entry in
14740 @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the
14741 @sc{imap} server and store them on the local disk. This is not the
14742 usage described in this section--@xref{Mail Sources}.
14744 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
14745 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
14746 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
14747 usage explained in this section.
14749 A server configuration in @code{~/.gnus} with a few @sc{imap} servers
14750 might look something like the following. (Note that for SSL/TLS, you
14751 need external programs and libraries, see below.)
14754 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
14755 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
14756 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
14758 (nnimap-address "localhost")
14759 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
14760 ; a UW server running on localhost
14762 (nnimap-server-port 143)
14763 (nnimap-address "localhost")
14764 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
14765 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
14766 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
14767 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
14768 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
14769 (nnimap-stream network))
14770 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
14772 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
14773 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
14774 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
14777 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
14782 @item nnimap-address
14783 @vindex nnimap-address
14785 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
14786 server name if not specified.
14788 @item nnimap-server-port
14789 @vindex nnimap-server-port
14790 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
14792 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
14795 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14796 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
14799 @item nnimap-list-pattern
14800 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
14801 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
14802 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
14803 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
14804 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
14805 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
14807 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
14808 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
14809 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
14812 Example server specification:
14815 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14816 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
14817 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
14820 @item nnimap-stream
14821 @vindex nnimap-stream
14822 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
14823 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
14824 of SSL/TLS. (@sc{imap} over SSL/TLS is being replaced by STARTTLS, which
14825 can be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
14827 Example server specification:
14830 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14831 (nnimap-stream ssl))
14834 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
14838 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
14839 @samp{imtest} program.
14841 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
14843 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
14844 SSL). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
14847 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Requires OpenSSL (the program
14848 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
14849 library @samp{ssl.el}.
14851 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
14853 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
14856 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
14857 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
14858 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
14859 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
14860 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
14861 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
14862 restrictions on @sc{imap} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
14863 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
14864 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
14867 @vindex imap-ssl-program
14868 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
14869 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
14870 and nnimap support it too - altough the most recent versions of
14871 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
14872 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
14873 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
14874 to OpenSSL/SSLeay. You also need @samp{ssl.el} (from the W3
14875 distribution, for instance).
14877 @vindex imap-shell-program
14878 @vindex imap-shell-host
14879 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
14880 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
14882 @item nnimap-authenticator
14883 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
14885 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
14886 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
14888 Example server specification:
14891 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14892 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
14895 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
14899 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
14900 external program @code{imtest}.
14902 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
14905 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
14906 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
14908 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
14910 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
14912 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your emailadress as password.
14915 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
14917 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
14918 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
14919 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
14920 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
14921 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
14922 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{G DEL} or
14925 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
14926 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
14927 running in circles yet?
14929 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
14930 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
14933 The possible options are:
14938 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
14941 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
14942 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
14943 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
14944 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
14946 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
14951 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
14952 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
14954 If non-nil, marks dormant articles as ticked (as well), for other
14955 @sc{imap} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will naturally still
14956 (only) be marked as ticked. This is to make dormant articles stand
14957 out, just like ticked articles, in other @sc{imap} clients. (In other
14958 words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @sc{imap} has only one.)
14960 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
14961 enable per-user persistant dormant flags, using something like:
14964 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
14965 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
14966 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
14967 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
14970 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
14971 as ticked for other users.
14973 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
14975 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
14977 This variable contain the @sc{imap} search command sent to server when
14978 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
14979 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
14980 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
14982 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
14983 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
14984 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
14985 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
14987 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
14988 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
14990 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
14991 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
14992 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
14998 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
14999 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
15000 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
15005 @node Splitting in IMAP
15006 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
15007 @cindex splitting imap mail
15009 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
15010 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
15011 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
15012 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
15013 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
15017 Here are the variables of interest:
15021 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
15022 @cindex splitting, crosspost
15024 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
15026 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
15027 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
15029 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
15031 @item nnimap-split-inbox
15032 @cindex splitting, inbox
15034 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
15036 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
15037 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
15041 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
15042 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
15045 No nnmail equivalent.
15047 @item nnimap-split-rule
15048 @cindex Splitting, rules
15049 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
15051 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
15054 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
15055 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
15056 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
15057 Neither did I, we need examples.
15060 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15062 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
15063 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
15064 ("INBOX.private" "")))
15067 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
15068 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
15069 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
15071 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
15072 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
15076 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
15079 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
15080 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
15081 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
15082 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
15084 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
15085 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
15086 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
15087 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
15088 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
15089 them every time you fetch new mail.)
15091 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
15092 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
15093 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
15095 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
15096 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
15097 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15099 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
15101 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
15102 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
15103 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
15106 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15107 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
15108 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
15109 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
15110 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
15111 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
15114 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
15115 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
15116 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
15117 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
15118 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
15119 group/function elements.
15121 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
15123 @item nnimap-split-predicate
15125 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
15127 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
15128 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
15130 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
15131 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
15132 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
15135 @item nnimap-split-fancy
15136 @cindex splitting, fancy
15137 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
15138 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
15140 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15141 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
15142 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
15144 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
15145 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15146 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
15147 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15152 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
15153 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
15156 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
15160 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
15161 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
15162 @cindex editing imap acls
15163 @cindex Access Control Lists
15164 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
15166 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
15168 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
15169 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
15170 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
15173 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
15174 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
15175 editing window with detailed instructions.
15177 Some possible uses:
15181 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
15182 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
15183 follow the list without subscribing to it.
15185 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
15186 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
15187 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
15191 @node Expunging mailboxes
15192 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
15196 @cindex Manual expunging
15198 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
15200 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
15201 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
15202 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
15204 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
15209 @node Other Sources
15210 @section Other Sources
15212 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
15213 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
15217 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
15218 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
15219 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
15220 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
15221 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
15225 @node Directory Groups
15226 @subsection Directory Groups
15228 @cindex directory groups
15230 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
15231 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
15234 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
15235 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
15236 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
15237 back end to read directories. Big deal.
15239 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
15240 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
15241 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
15242 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
15243 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
15245 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
15247 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
15248 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
15249 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
15250 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
15253 @node Anything Groups
15254 @subsection Anything Groups
15257 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
15258 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
15259 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
15262 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
15263 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
15264 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
15265 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
15266 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
15267 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
15268 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
15269 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
15270 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
15271 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
15274 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
15275 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
15276 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
15277 in the article buffer, just as usual.
15279 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
15280 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
15281 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
15282 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
15284 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
15285 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
15286 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
15287 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
15288 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
15289 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
15290 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
15291 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
15296 @item nneething-map-file-directory
15297 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
15298 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
15299 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
15301 @item nneething-exclude-files
15302 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
15303 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
15304 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
15306 @item nneething-include-files
15307 @vindex nneething-include-files
15308 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
15309 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
15311 @item nneething-map-file
15312 @vindex nneething-map-file
15313 Name of the map files.
15317 @node Document Groups
15318 @subsection Document Groups
15320 @cindex documentation group
15323 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
15324 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
15331 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
15336 The standard Unix mbox file.
15338 @cindex MMDF mail box
15340 The MMDF mail box format.
15343 Several news articles appended into a file.
15346 @cindex rnews batch files
15347 The rnews batch transport format.
15348 @cindex forwarded messages
15351 Forwarded articles.
15354 Netscape mail boxes.
15357 @sc{mime} multipart messages.
15359 @item standard-digest
15360 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
15363 A @sc{mime} digest of messages.
15365 @item lanl-gov-announce
15366 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
15368 @item rfc822-forward
15369 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
15372 The Outlook mail box.
15375 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
15378 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
15381 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
15384 An RFC934-forwarded message.
15390 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
15393 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
15399 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
15400 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
15401 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
15404 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
15405 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
15406 group. And that's it.
15408 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
15409 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
15410 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
15411 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
15412 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
15413 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
15414 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
15415 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
15416 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
15417 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
15419 Virtual server variables:
15422 @item nndoc-article-type
15423 @vindex nndoc-article-type
15424 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
15425 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
15426 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
15427 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
15428 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
15430 @item nndoc-post-type
15431 @vindex nndoc-post-type
15432 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
15433 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
15438 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
15442 @node Document Server Internals
15443 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
15445 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
15446 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
15447 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
15448 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
15450 First, here's an example document type definition:
15454 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
15455 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
15458 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
15459 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
15460 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
15461 types can be defined with very few settings:
15464 @item first-article
15465 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
15466 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
15469 @item article-begin
15470 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
15471 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
15473 @item head-begin-function
15474 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
15477 @item nndoc-head-begin
15478 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
15481 @item nndoc-head-end
15482 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
15483 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
15485 @item body-begin-function
15486 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
15490 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
15493 @item body-end-function
15494 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
15498 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
15501 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
15502 regexp will be totally ignored.
15506 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
15507 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
15508 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
15509 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
15510 something that's palatable for Gnus:
15513 @item prepare-body-function
15514 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
15515 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
15516 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
15518 @item article-transform-function
15519 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
15520 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
15521 body of the article.
15523 @item generate-head-function
15524 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
15525 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
15526 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
15527 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
15531 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
15536 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
15537 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
15538 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
15539 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
15540 (head-end . "^ ?$")
15541 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
15542 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
15543 (subtype digest guess))
15546 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
15547 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
15548 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
15549 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
15550 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
15552 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
15553 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
15554 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
15555 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
15556 traversed sequentially, and @code{nndoc-TYPE-type-p} is called for a given type @code{TYPE}. So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document
15557 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
15558 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
15559 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
15560 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
15561 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
15569 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
15570 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
15571 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
15573 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
15574 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
15575 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
15578 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
15579 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
15580 that interested in doing things properly.
15582 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
15583 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
15586 First some terminology:
15591 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
15592 get news and/or mail from.
15595 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
15596 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
15599 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
15603 @item message packets
15604 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
15605 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
15606 default, where @var{x} is a number.
15608 @item response packets
15609 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
15610 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
15611 default, where @var{x} is a number.
15621 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
15622 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
15623 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
15624 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
15627 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
15630 You put the packet in your home directory.
15633 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
15634 the native or secondary server.
15637 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
15638 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
15641 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
15645 You transfer this packet to the server.
15648 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
15651 You then repeat until you die.
15655 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
15656 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
15659 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
15660 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
15661 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
15665 @node SOUP Commands
15666 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
15668 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
15672 @kindex G s b (Group)
15673 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
15674 Pack all unread articles in the current group
15675 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
15676 process/prefix convention.
15679 @kindex G s w (Group)
15680 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
15681 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
15684 @kindex G s s (Group)
15685 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
15686 Send all replies from the replies packet
15687 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
15690 @kindex G s p (Group)
15691 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
15692 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
15695 @kindex G s r (Group)
15696 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
15697 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
15700 @kindex O s (Summary)
15701 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
15702 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
15703 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
15704 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15709 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
15714 @item gnus-soup-directory
15715 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
15716 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
15717 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
15719 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
15720 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
15721 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
15722 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
15724 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
15725 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
15726 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
15727 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
15729 @item gnus-soup-packer
15730 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
15731 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
15732 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
15734 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
15735 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
15736 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
15737 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
15739 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
15740 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
15741 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
15743 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
15744 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
15745 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
15746 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
15752 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
15755 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
15756 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
15757 you can read them at leisure.
15759 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
15763 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
15764 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
15765 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
15766 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
15768 @item nnsoup-directory
15769 @vindex nnsoup-directory
15770 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
15771 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
15773 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
15774 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
15775 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
15776 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
15778 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
15779 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
15780 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
15781 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
15782 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
15784 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
15785 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
15786 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
15787 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
15789 @item nnsoup-active-file
15790 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
15791 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
15792 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
15793 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
15794 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
15796 @item nnsoup-packer
15797 @vindex nnsoup-packer
15798 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
15799 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
15801 @item nnsoup-unpacker
15802 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
15803 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
15804 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
15806 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
15807 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
15808 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
15811 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
15812 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
15813 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
15816 @item nnsoup-always-save
15817 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
15818 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
15824 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
15826 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
15827 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
15828 more for that to happen.
15830 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
15831 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
15832 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
15835 In specific, this is what it does:
15838 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
15839 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
15842 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
15843 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
15844 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
15847 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
15848 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
15849 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
15852 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
15853 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
15854 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
15856 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
15862 @item nngateway-address
15863 @vindex nngateway-address
15864 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
15866 @item nngateway-header-transformation
15867 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
15868 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
15869 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
15870 transformation should be called, and defaults to
15871 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
15872 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
15875 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
15876 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
15877 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
15880 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
15883 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
15886 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
15889 The following pre-defined functions exist:
15891 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
15894 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
15895 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
15896 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
15898 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
15900 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
15901 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
15902 @code{nngateway-address}.
15907 (setq gnus-post-method
15909 "mail2news@@replay.com"
15910 (nngateway-header-transformation
15911 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
15919 So, to use this, simply say something like:
15922 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
15927 @node Combined Groups
15928 @section Combined Groups
15930 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
15934 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
15935 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
15939 @node Virtual Groups
15940 @subsection Virtual Groups
15942 @cindex virtual groups
15943 @cindex merging groups
15945 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
15948 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
15949 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
15950 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
15952 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
15953 regexp to match component groups.
15955 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
15956 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
15957 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
15958 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
15959 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
15960 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
15961 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
15962 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
15964 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
15965 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
15968 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
15971 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
15972 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
15974 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
15975 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
15976 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
15977 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
15980 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
15983 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
15984 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
15985 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
15987 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
15988 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
15989 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
15990 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
15991 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
15993 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
15994 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
15995 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
15997 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
15998 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
15999 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
16000 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
16001 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
16002 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
16003 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
16004 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
16005 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
16006 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
16007 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
16009 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
16010 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
16011 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
16012 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
16013 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
16014 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
16015 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
16017 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
16018 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
16020 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
16021 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
16025 @node Kibozed Groups
16026 @subsection Kibozed Groups
16030 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
16031 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will do this for
16032 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
16033 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
16035 @kindex G k (Group)
16036 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
16039 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
16040 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
16041 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
16042 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
16044 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
16045 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
16046 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
16048 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
16049 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
16050 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
16051 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
16052 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
16053 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
16054 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
16055 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
16057 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
16058 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
16059 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
16060 Stranger things have happened.
16062 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
16063 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
16065 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
16066 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
16067 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
16068 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
16069 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
16070 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
16072 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
16073 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
16076 @node Gnus Unplugged
16077 @section Gnus Unplugged
16082 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
16084 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
16085 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
16086 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
16087 read news. Believe it or not.
16089 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
16090 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
16091 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
16092 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
16093 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
16095 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
16096 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
16097 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
16098 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
16099 reading news on a machine.
16101 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
16105 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
16106 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
16110 Then, put the following magical incantation in your @file{.gnus.el}
16114 (setq gnus-agent t)
16118 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
16120 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
16123 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
16124 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
16125 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
16126 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
16127 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
16128 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
16129 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
16130 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
16131 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
16132 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
16137 @subsection Agent Basics
16139 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
16141 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
16142 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
16143 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
16144 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
16146 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
16147 connected to the net continuously.
16149 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
16150 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
16152 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
16157 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
16158 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
16159 already fetched while in this mode.
16162 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
16163 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
16164 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
16165 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
16166 Source Specifiers}).
16169 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
16170 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
16171 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
16172 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
16173 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
16176 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
16177 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
16178 then you read the news offline.
16181 And then you go to step 2.
16184 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
16190 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
16191 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
16192 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
16193 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
16194 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
16195 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
16198 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
16205 @node Agent Categories
16206 @subsection Agent Categories
16208 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
16209 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
16210 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
16211 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
16212 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
16213 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
16214 you're interested in the articles anyway.
16216 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
16217 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
16218 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
16219 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
16220 managing categories.
16223 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
16224 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
16225 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
16229 @node Category Syntax
16230 @subsubsection Category Syntax
16232 A category consists of two things.
16236 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
16237 are eligible for downloading; and
16240 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
16241 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
16242 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
16245 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
16246 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
16247 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
16248 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
16250 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
16251 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
16252 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
16254 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
16255 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
16256 operators sprinkled in between.
16258 Perhaps some examples are in order.
16260 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
16261 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
16267 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
16268 short (for some value of ``short'').
16270 Here's a more complex predicate:
16279 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
16280 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
16283 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
16284 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
16285 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
16287 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
16288 you want to do, you can write your own.
16292 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
16293 lines; default 100.
16296 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
16297 lines; default 200.
16300 True iff the article has a download score less than
16301 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
16304 True iff the article has a download score greater than
16305 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
16308 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
16309 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
16310 checksum and sees whether articles match.
16319 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
16320 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
16321 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
16324 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
16325 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
16326 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
16327 something along the lines of the following:
16330 (defun my-article-old-p ()
16331 "Say whether an article is old."
16332 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
16333 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
16336 with the predicate then defined as:
16339 (not my-article-old-p)
16342 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
16343 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
16347 (require 'gnus-agent)
16348 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
16349 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
16350 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
16353 and simply specify your predicate as:
16359 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
16360 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
16361 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
16362 just don't give a damn.
16364 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
16365 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
16366 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
16367 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
16368 parameters like so:
16371 (agent-predicate . short)
16374 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
16375 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
16376 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
16378 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
16381 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
16384 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
16385 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
16386 predicate is assumed to be a list.
16389 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
16390 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
16391 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
16392 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
16393 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
16394 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
16396 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
16397 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
16398 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
16399 if it's to be specific to that group.
16401 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
16408 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
16409 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
16415 Category specification
16419 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16425 Group Parameter specification
16428 (agent-score ("from"
16429 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16434 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
16440 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
16447 Category specification
16450 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
16456 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
16460 Group Parameter specification
16463 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
16466 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
16471 Use @code{normal} score files
16473 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
16474 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
16475 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
16476 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
16478 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
16479 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
16480 files for a group, *filtering out* those sections that do not
16481 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
16485 Category Specification
16492 Group Parameter specification
16495 (agent-score . file)
16500 @node Category Buffer
16501 @subsubsection Category Buffer
16503 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
16504 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
16505 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
16507 The following commands are available in this buffer:
16511 @kindex q (Category)
16512 @findex gnus-category-exit
16513 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
16516 @kindex k (Category)
16517 @findex gnus-category-kill
16518 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
16521 @kindex c (Category)
16522 @findex gnus-category-copy
16523 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
16526 @kindex a (Category)
16527 @findex gnus-category-add
16528 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
16531 @kindex p (Category)
16532 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
16533 Edit the predicate of the current category
16534 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
16537 @kindex g (Category)
16538 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
16539 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
16540 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
16543 @kindex s (Category)
16544 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
16545 Edit the download score rule of the current category
16546 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
16549 @kindex l (Category)
16550 @findex gnus-category-list
16551 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
16555 @node Category Variables
16556 @subsubsection Category Variables
16559 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
16560 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
16561 Hook run in category buffers.
16563 @item gnus-category-line-format
16564 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
16565 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
16566 Variables}). Valid elements are:
16570 The name of the category.
16573 The number of groups in the category.
16576 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
16577 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
16578 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
16580 @item gnus-agent-short-article
16581 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
16582 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
16584 @item gnus-agent-long-article
16585 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
16586 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
16588 @item gnus-agent-low-score
16589 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
16590 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
16593 @item gnus-agent-high-score
16594 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
16595 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
16601 @node Agent Commands
16602 @subsection Agent Commands
16604 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
16605 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
16606 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
16610 * Group Agent Commands::
16611 * Summary Agent Commands::
16612 * Server Agent Commands::
16615 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
16616 following incantation:
16618 @cindex gnus-agent-batch
16620 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch
16625 @node Group Agent Commands
16626 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
16630 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
16631 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
16632 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
16633 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
16636 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
16637 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
16638 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
16641 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
16642 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
16643 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
16644 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
16647 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
16648 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
16649 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
16650 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
16653 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
16654 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
16655 Add the current group to an Agent category
16656 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
16657 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16660 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
16661 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
16662 Remove the current group from its category, if any
16663 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
16664 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16667 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
16668 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
16669 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
16675 @node Summary Agent Commands
16676 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
16680 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
16681 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
16682 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
16685 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
16686 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
16687 Remove the downloading mark from the article
16688 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
16691 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
16692 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
16693 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
16696 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
16697 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
16698 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
16701 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
16702 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
16703 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
16704 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
16709 @node Server Agent Commands
16710 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
16714 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
16715 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
16716 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
16717 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
16720 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
16721 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
16722 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
16723 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
16729 @subsection Agent Expiry
16731 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
16732 @findex gnus-agent-expire
16733 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
16734 @cindex Agent expiry
16735 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
16738 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
16739 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
16740 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
16741 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
16742 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
16743 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
16745 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} can also be a list of regexp/day pairs.
16746 The regexps will be matched against group names to allow differing
16747 expiry in different groups.
16750 (setq gnus-agent-expire-days
16756 If you use the list form, the last element must always be the default
16757 method---it must always match all groups.
16759 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
16760 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
16761 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
16762 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
16763 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
16765 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
16766 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
16767 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's a special
16768 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} command to fix possible problems.
16770 @node Agent and IMAP
16771 @subsection Agent and IMAP
16773 The Agent work with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
16774 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
16775 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
16776 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
16778 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
16779 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @code{.newsrc} as is the
16780 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
16781 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
16783 Gnus keep track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
16784 Agent by default. When you plug back in, by default Gnus will check if
16785 you have any changed any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these
16786 with the server. This behavior is customizable with
16787 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
16789 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
16790 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
16791 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, the
16792 default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so ask if
16793 you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has any other
16794 value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
16796 If you do not wish to automatically synchronize flags when you
16797 re-connect, this can be done manually with the
16798 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
16799 in the group buffer by default.
16801 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
16802 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
16807 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
16810 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
16814 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by "pushing"
16815 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
16816 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
16817 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
16818 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
16819 removed from the server when you "synchronize". The queued flag
16820 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
16821 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
16824 @node Outgoing Messages
16825 @subsection Outgoing Messages
16827 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
16828 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
16829 after posting, and edit them at will.
16831 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
16832 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
16833 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
16834 messages in the draft group.
16838 @node Agent Variables
16839 @subsection Agent Variables
16842 @item gnus-agent-directory
16843 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
16844 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
16845 @file{~/News/agent/}.
16847 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
16848 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
16849 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
16850 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
16851 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
16854 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
16855 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
16856 Hook run when connecting to the network.
16858 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
16859 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
16860 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
16862 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
16863 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
16864 Hook run when after finishing fetching articles.
16866 @item gnus-agent-cache
16867 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
16868 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @sc{nov} and articles when
16871 @item gnus-agent-go-online
16872 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
16873 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
16874 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
16875 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
16876 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
16877 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
16883 @node Example Setup
16884 @subsection Example Setup
16886 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
16887 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
16888 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
16891 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
16892 ;;; from your ISP's server.
16893 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
16895 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
16896 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
16897 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
16899 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
16900 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
16902 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
16903 ;;; (gnus-agentize) ; The obsolete setting.
16904 (setq gnus-agent t)
16907 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
16908 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
16911 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
16912 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
16913 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
16914 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
16915 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
16918 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
16919 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
16920 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
16921 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
16922 back all the killed groups.)
16924 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
16925 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
16926 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
16929 @node Batching Agents
16930 @subsection Batching Agents
16932 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
16933 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
16934 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
16938 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
16942 @node Agent Caveats
16943 @subsection Agent Caveats
16945 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
16946 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
16950 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
16954 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
16956 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is `nil'.
16960 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
16961 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP and also uses the
16962 locally stored articles.
16969 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
16970 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
16971 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
16974 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
16975 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
16976 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
16977 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
16978 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
16980 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
16981 before generating the summary buffer.
16983 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
16984 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
16985 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
16987 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
16988 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
16989 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
16990 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
16993 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
16994 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
16995 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
16996 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
16997 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
16998 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
16999 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
17000 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
17001 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
17002 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
17003 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
17004 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
17005 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
17006 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
17007 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
17008 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
17009 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
17013 @node Summary Score Commands
17014 @section Summary Score Commands
17015 @cindex score commands
17017 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
17018 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
17019 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
17020 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
17021 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
17023 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
17024 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
17025 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
17026 score file the current one.
17028 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
17033 @kindex V s (Summary)
17034 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
17035 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
17038 @kindex V S (Summary)
17039 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
17040 Display the score of the current article
17041 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
17044 @kindex V t (Summary)
17045 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
17046 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
17047 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
17050 @kindex V w (Summary)
17051 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
17052 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
17055 @kindex V R (Summary)
17056 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
17057 Run the current summary through the scoring process
17058 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
17059 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
17060 effect you're having.
17063 @kindex V c (Summary)
17064 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
17065 Make a different score file the current
17066 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
17069 @kindex V e (Summary)
17070 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
17071 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
17072 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
17076 @kindex V f (Summary)
17077 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
17078 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
17079 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
17082 @kindex V F (Summary)
17083 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17084 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
17085 after editing score files.
17088 @kindex V C (Summary)
17089 @findex gnus-score-customize
17090 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
17091 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
17095 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
17100 @kindex V m (Summary)
17101 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
17102 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
17103 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
17106 @kindex V x (Summary)
17107 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
17108 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
17109 expunge all articles below this score
17110 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
17113 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
17114 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
17117 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
17118 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
17122 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
17123 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
17125 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
17126 keys are available:
17130 Score on the author name.
17133 Score on the subject line.
17136 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
17139 Score on the @code{References} line.
17145 Score on the number of lines.
17148 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
17151 Score on an "extra" header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
17152 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
17155 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
17156 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
17157 @file{ADAPT} files.)
17166 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
17172 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
17173 what headers you are scoring on.
17185 Substring matching.
17188 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
17217 Greater than number.
17222 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
17223 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
17224 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
17229 Temporary score entry.
17232 Permanent score entry.
17235 Immediately scoring.
17239 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
17240 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
17241 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
17245 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
17246 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
17247 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
17248 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
17250 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
17251 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
17252 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
17253 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
17254 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
17256 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
17257 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
17258 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
17259 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
17260 current score file.
17262 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
17263 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
17264 pretend they are keymaps or not.
17267 @node Group Score Commands
17268 @section Group Score Commands
17269 @cindex group score commands
17271 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
17276 @kindex W f (Group)
17277 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17278 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
17279 all the time. This command will flush the cache
17280 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
17284 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
17286 @findex gnus-batch-score
17287 @cindex batch scoring
17289 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
17293 @node Score Variables
17294 @section Score Variables
17295 @cindex score variables
17299 @item gnus-use-scoring
17300 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
17301 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
17302 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
17304 @item gnus-kill-killed
17305 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
17306 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
17307 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
17308 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
17309 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
17310 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
17311 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
17313 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
17314 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
17315 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
17316 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
17317 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
17319 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
17320 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
17321 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
17322 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
17324 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17325 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17326 @cindex score cache
17327 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
17328 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
17329 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
17330 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
17331 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
17332 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
17335 @item gnus-save-score
17336 @vindex gnus-save-score
17337 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
17338 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
17339 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
17341 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
17342 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
17343 across group visits.
17345 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17346 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17347 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
17348 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
17349 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
17350 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
17351 manually entered data.
17353 @item gnus-summary-default-score
17354 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
17355 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
17357 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
17358 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
17359 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
17360 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
17361 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
17362 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
17364 @item gnus-score-over-mark
17365 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
17366 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
17367 default. Default is @samp{+}.
17369 @item gnus-score-below-mark
17370 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
17371 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
17372 default. Default is @samp{-}.
17374 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
17375 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
17376 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
17377 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
17379 Predefined functions available are:
17382 @item gnus-score-find-single
17383 @findex gnus-score-find-single
17384 Only apply the group's own score file.
17386 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
17387 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
17388 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
17389 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
17390 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
17391 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
17392 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
17393 then a regexp match is done.
17395 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
17396 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
17398 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
17399 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
17400 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
17401 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
17403 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
17404 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
17405 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
17406 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
17407 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
17411 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
17412 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
17413 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
17414 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
17415 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
17416 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
17417 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
17420 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
17421 overall score file, you could use the value
17423 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
17424 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
17427 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
17428 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
17429 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
17430 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
17431 are expired. It's 7 by default.
17433 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
17434 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
17435 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
17436 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
17437 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
17438 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
17439 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
17440 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
17442 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
17443 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
17444 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
17446 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
17447 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
17448 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
17449 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
17450 threading---according to the current value of
17451 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
17452 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
17453 simplified in this manner.
17458 @node Score File Format
17459 @section Score File Format
17460 @cindex score file format
17462 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
17463 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
17464 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
17466 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
17470 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
17472 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
17474 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
17476 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
17481 (mark-and-expunge -10)
17485 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
17486 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
17487 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
17488 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
17492 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
17493 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
17495 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
17496 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
17497 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
17499 Six keys are supported by this alist:
17504 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
17505 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
17506 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
17507 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
17508 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
17509 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
17510 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
17511 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
17512 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
17513 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
17514 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
17515 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
17516 to articles that matches these score entries.
17518 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
17519 score entry has one to four elements.
17523 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
17524 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
17528 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
17529 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
17530 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
17531 is successful. If this element is not present, the
17532 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
17533 instead. This is 1000 by default.
17536 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
17537 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
17538 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
17539 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
17540 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
17543 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
17544 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
17545 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
17546 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
17549 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
17550 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
17551 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
17552 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
17553 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
17554 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
17555 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
17556 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
17557 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
17558 instead, if you feel like.
17561 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
17562 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
17563 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
17564 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
17565 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin host,
17566 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks NNTP-Posting-Host in overviews:
17569 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s "NNTP-Posting-Host")
17573 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
17574 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
17576 These predicates are true if
17579 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
17582 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
17583 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
17590 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
17591 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
17592 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
17593 it's not. I think.)
17595 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
17596 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
17597 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
17598 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
17601 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
17602 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
17603 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
17604 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
17605 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
17606 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
17607 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
17611 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
17612 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
17613 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
17614 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
17615 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
17616 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
17617 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
17618 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
17621 @item Head, Body, All
17622 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
17626 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
17627 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
17628 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
17629 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
17630 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
17631 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
17632 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
17636 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
17637 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
17638 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
17639 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
17640 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
17641 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
17642 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
17643 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
17644 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
17645 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
17646 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
17650 @cindex Score File Atoms
17652 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
17653 lower than this number will be marked as read.
17656 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
17657 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
17659 @item mark-and-expunge
17660 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
17661 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
17664 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
17665 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
17666 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
17667 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
17668 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
17671 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
17672 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
17675 @item exclude-files
17676 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
17677 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
17681 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
17682 ignored when handling global score files.
17685 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
17686 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
17687 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
17688 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
17691 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
17692 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
17693 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
17694 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
17696 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
17700 (mark-and-expunge -100)
17703 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
17704 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
17705 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
17706 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
17707 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
17709 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
17710 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
17711 scoring rules exist.
17714 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
17715 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
17716 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
17717 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
17718 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
17719 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
17720 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
17721 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
17722 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
17723 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
17724 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
17728 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
17729 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
17730 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
17731 file for a number of groups.
17734 @cindex local variables
17735 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
17736 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
17737 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
17738 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
17739 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
17743 @node Score File Editing
17744 @section Score File Editing
17746 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
17747 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
17748 with a mode for that.
17750 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
17751 additional commands:
17756 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
17757 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
17758 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
17759 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
17762 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
17763 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
17764 Insert the current date in numerical format
17765 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
17766 you were wondering.
17769 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
17770 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
17771 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
17772 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
17773 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
17778 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
17780 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
17781 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
17783 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
17784 e} to begin editing score files.
17787 @node Adaptive Scoring
17788 @section Adaptive Scoring
17789 @cindex adaptive scoring
17791 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
17792 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
17793 stupidity, to be precise.
17795 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
17796 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
17797 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
17798 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
17799 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
17800 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
17801 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
17802 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
17803 variable to @code{(word line)}.
17805 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
17806 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
17807 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
17808 might look something like this:
17811 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
17812 '((gnus-unread-mark)
17813 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
17814 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
17815 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
17816 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
17817 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
17818 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
17819 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
17820 (gnus-ancient-mark)
17821 (gnus-low-score-mark)
17822 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
17825 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
17826 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
17827 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
17828 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
17829 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
17830 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
17833 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
17834 will be applied to each article.
17836 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
17837 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
17838 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
17839 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
17841 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
17842 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
17843 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
17844 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
17846 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
17847 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
17848 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
17849 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
17851 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
17852 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
17853 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
17854 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
17855 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
17856 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
17858 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
17859 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
17860 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
17861 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
17862 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
17863 aspirins afterwards.)
17865 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
17866 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
17867 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
17869 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
17870 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
17871 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
17873 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
17874 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
17875 let you use different rules in different groups.
17877 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
17878 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
17879 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
17882 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
17883 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
17884 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
17885 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
17886 the length of the match is less than
17887 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
17888 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
17891 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
17892 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
17893 headers. If you adapt on words, the
17894 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
17895 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
17898 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
17899 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
17900 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
17901 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
17902 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
17905 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
17906 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
17907 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
17908 score with 30 points.
17910 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
17911 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
17912 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
17913 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
17914 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
17916 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
17917 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
17918 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
17919 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
17920 variable defaults til @code{nil}.
17922 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
17923 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
17924 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
17925 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
17927 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
17928 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
17929 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
17930 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
17932 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
17933 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
17934 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
17935 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
17936 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
17938 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
17939 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
17940 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
17942 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
17943 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
17944 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
17945 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
17948 @node Home Score File
17949 @section Home Score File
17951 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
17952 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
17953 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
17954 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
17956 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
17957 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
17958 could perhaps use the same home score file.
17960 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
17961 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
17966 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
17970 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
17971 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
17975 A list. The elements in this list can be:
17979 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
17980 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
17983 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
17984 the home score file.
17987 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
17990 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
17995 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
17998 (setq gnus-home-score-file
17999 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
18002 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
18003 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
18005 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
18007 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18008 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
18011 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
18012 Other functions include
18015 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
18016 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
18017 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
18018 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
18022 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
18023 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
18024 their own home score files:
18027 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18028 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
18029 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
18030 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
18031 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
18034 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
18035 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
18036 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
18037 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
18038 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
18040 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
18041 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
18042 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
18043 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
18044 precedence over this variable.
18047 @node Followups To Yourself
18048 @section Followups To Yourself
18050 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
18051 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
18052 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
18053 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
18054 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
18055 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
18059 @item gnus-score-followup-article
18060 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
18061 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
18064 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
18065 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
18066 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
18070 @vindex message-sent-hook
18071 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
18072 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
18074 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
18078 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
18079 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
18083 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18084 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18087 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
18088 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
18093 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
18097 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
18098 is system-dependent.
18101 @node Scoring On Other Headers
18102 @section Scoring On Other Headers
18103 @cindex scoring on other headers
18105 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
18106 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
18107 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
18108 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
18109 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
18111 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
18112 mail groups, you have greater control. In the @pxref{To From
18113 Newsgroups} section of the manual, it's explained in greater detail what
18114 this mechanism does, but here's a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on
18115 how to allow scoring on the @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
18117 Put the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
18120 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
18121 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
18124 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
18125 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
18126 time if you have much mail.
18128 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
18129 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
18135 @section Scoring Tips
18136 @cindex scoring tips
18142 @cindex scoring crossposts
18143 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
18144 the @code{Xref} header.
18146 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
18149 @item Multiple crossposts
18150 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
18151 more than, say, 3 groups:
18154 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
18158 @item Matching on the body
18159 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
18160 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
18161 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
18162 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
18163 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
18164 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
18165 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
18168 @item Marking as read
18169 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
18170 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
18171 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
18175 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
18177 @item Negated character classes
18178 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
18179 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
18180 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
18184 @node Reverse Scoring
18185 @section Reverse Scoring
18186 @cindex reverse scoring
18188 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
18189 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
18190 like this in your score file:
18194 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
18199 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
18200 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
18203 @node Global Score Files
18204 @section Global Score Files
18205 @cindex global score files
18207 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
18208 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
18209 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
18211 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
18212 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
18213 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
18215 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
18216 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
18217 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
18218 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
18219 files are applicable to which group.
18221 To use the score file
18222 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
18223 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
18227 (setq gnus-global-score-files
18228 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
18229 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
18232 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
18234 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
18235 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
18236 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
18237 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
18239 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
18240 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
18242 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
18243 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
18244 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
18245 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
18246 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
18247 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
18249 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
18255 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
18257 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
18259 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
18261 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
18262 lowered out of existence.
18264 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
18265 articles completely.
18268 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
18269 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
18270 old articles for a long time.
18273 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
18274 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
18275 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
18276 holding our breath yet?
18280 @section Kill Files
18283 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
18284 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
18285 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
18287 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
18288 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
18289 files into score files.
18291 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
18292 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
18293 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
18294 that isn't a very good idea.
18296 Normal kill files look like this:
18299 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18300 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
18304 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
18305 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
18307 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
18308 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
18311 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
18316 @kindex M-k (Summary)
18317 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
18318 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
18321 @kindex M-K (Summary)
18322 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
18323 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
18326 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
18331 @kindex M-k (Group)
18332 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
18333 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
18336 @kindex M-K (Group)
18337 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
18338 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
18341 Kill file variables:
18344 @item gnus-kill-file-name
18345 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
18346 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
18347 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
18348 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
18349 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
18350 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
18352 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18353 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18354 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
18355 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
18358 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
18359 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
18360 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
18361 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
18362 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
18363 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
18364 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
18365 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
18366 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
18368 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
18369 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
18370 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
18375 @node Converting Kill Files
18376 @section Converting Kill Files
18378 @cindex converting kill files
18380 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
18381 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
18382 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
18385 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
18386 You can fetch it from
18387 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
18389 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
18390 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
18391 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
18399 GroupLens (@uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/}) is a
18400 collaborative filtering system that helps you work together with other
18401 people to find the quality news articles out of the huge volume of
18402 news articles generated every day.
18404 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
18405 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
18406 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
18407 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
18408 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
18409 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
18410 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
18411 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
18414 @sc{Note:} Unfortunately the GroupLens system seems to have shut down,
18415 so this section is mostly of historical interest.
18418 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
18419 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
18420 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
18421 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
18425 @node Using GroupLens
18426 @subsection Using GroupLens
18428 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
18430 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
18431 better bit in town at the moment.
18433 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
18437 @item gnus-use-grouplens
18438 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
18439 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
18440 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
18442 @item grouplens-pseudonym
18443 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
18444 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
18445 with the Better Bit Bureau.
18447 @item grouplens-newsgroups
18448 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
18449 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
18453 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
18454 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
18455 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
18456 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
18457 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
18458 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
18461 @node Rating Articles
18462 @subsection Rating Articles
18464 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
18465 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
18466 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
18467 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
18470 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
18475 @kindex r (GroupLens)
18476 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
18477 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
18480 @kindex k (GroupLens)
18481 @findex grouplens-score-thread
18482 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
18483 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
18484 threads in rec.humor.
18488 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
18489 the score of the article you're reading.
18494 @kindex n (GroupLens)
18495 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
18496 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
18499 @kindex , (GroupLens)
18500 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
18501 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
18505 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
18506 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
18509 @node Displaying Predictions
18510 @subsection Displaying Predictions
18512 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
18513 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
18514 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
18515 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
18516 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
18518 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
18519 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
18520 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
18521 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
18522 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
18523 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
18524 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
18525 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
18526 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
18527 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
18528 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
18529 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
18530 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
18532 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
18533 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
18534 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
18535 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
18537 The following are valid values for that variable.
18540 @item prediction-spot
18541 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
18544 @item confidence-interval
18545 A numeric confidence interval.
18547 @item prediction-bar
18548 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
18550 @item confidence-bar
18551 Numerical confidence.
18553 @item confidence-spot
18554 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
18556 @item prediction-num
18557 Plain-old numeric value.
18559 @item confidence-plus-minus
18560 Prediction +/- confidence.
18565 @node GroupLens Variables
18566 @subsection GroupLens Variables
18570 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
18571 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
18572 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
18573 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%)
18576 @item grouplens-bbb-host
18577 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
18580 @item grouplens-bbb-port
18581 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
18583 @item grouplens-score-offset
18584 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
18585 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
18588 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
18589 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
18590 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
18595 @node Advanced Scoring
18596 @section Advanced Scoring
18598 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
18599 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
18600 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
18601 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
18602 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
18604 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
18608 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
18609 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
18610 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
18614 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
18615 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
18617 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
18618 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
18619 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
18620 non-@code{nil} value.
18622 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
18623 operator, and various match operators.
18630 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
18631 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
18632 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
18637 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
18638 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
18639 then this operator will return @code{false}.
18644 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
18645 logical negation of the value of its argument.
18649 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
18650 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
18651 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
18652 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
18653 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
18654 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
18655 the ancestry you want to go.
18657 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
18658 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
18659 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
18660 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
18661 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
18664 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
18665 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
18667 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
18668 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
18671 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
18672 when he's talking about Gnus:
18676 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18677 ("subject" "Gnus"))
18683 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
18687 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18694 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
18695 really don't want to read what he's written:
18699 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18700 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
18704 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
18705 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
18706 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
18713 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
18714 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
18715 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
18716 ("body" "white.*socks"))
18720 The possibilities are endless.
18723 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
18724 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
18726 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
18727 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
18728 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
18729 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
18730 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
18731 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
18732 @samp{subject}) first.
18734 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
18735 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
18746 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
18747 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
18753 ("subject" "Gnus")))
18760 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
18761 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
18766 @section Score Decays
18767 @cindex score decays
18770 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
18771 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
18772 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
18773 use them in any sensible way.
18775 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
18776 @findex gnus-decay-score
18777 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
18778 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
18779 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
18780 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
18781 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
18782 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
18783 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
18784 definition of that function:
18787 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
18789 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
18790 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
18793 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
18795 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
18797 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
18800 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
18801 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
18802 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
18803 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
18807 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
18810 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
18813 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
18817 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
18818 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
18819 the new score, which should be an integer.
18821 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
18822 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
18827 @include message.texi
18828 @chapter Emacs MIME
18829 @include emacs-mime.texi
18831 @include sieve.texi
18839 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
18840 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
18841 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
18842 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
18843 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
18844 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
18845 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
18846 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
18847 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
18848 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
18849 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
18850 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
18851 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
18852 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
18853 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
18854 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
18855 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
18856 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
18857 * Pay Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
18858 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
18862 @node Process/Prefix
18863 @section Process/Prefix
18864 @cindex process/prefix convention
18866 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
18867 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
18869 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
18870 command to be performed on.
18874 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
18875 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
18876 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
18877 with the current one.
18879 @vindex transient-mark-mode
18880 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
18881 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
18883 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
18884 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
18887 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
18888 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
18890 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
18893 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
18894 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
18895 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
18896 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
18898 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
18899 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
18900 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
18901 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
18902 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
18903 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
18904 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
18905 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
18907 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
18908 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
18909 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
18910 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
18911 expirable, you could say `M P b M-& E'.
18915 @section Interactive
18916 @cindex interaction
18920 @item gnus-novice-user
18921 @vindex gnus-novice-user
18922 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
18923 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
18924 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
18925 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
18928 @item gnus-expert-user
18929 @vindex gnus-expert-user
18930 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
18931 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
18932 matter how strange.
18934 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
18935 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
18936 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
18937 is @code{t} by default.
18939 @item gnus-interactive-exit
18940 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
18941 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
18946 @node Symbolic Prefixes
18947 @section Symbolic Prefixes
18948 @cindex symbolic prefixes
18950 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
18951 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
18952 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
18953 rule of 900 to the current article.
18955 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
18956 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
18957 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
18958 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
18959 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
18960 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
18961 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
18963 @kindex M-i (Summary)
18964 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
18965 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
18966 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
18967 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
18968 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
18969 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
18970 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
18971 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
18973 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
18974 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
18975 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
18977 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
18981 @node Formatting Variables
18982 @section Formatting Variables
18983 @cindex formatting variables
18985 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
18986 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
18987 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
18988 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
18989 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
18992 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
18993 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
18994 lots of percentages everywhere.
18997 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
18998 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
18999 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
19000 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
19001 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
19002 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
19003 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
19004 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
19007 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
19008 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
19009 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
19010 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
19011 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
19012 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
19013 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
19014 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
19016 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
19017 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
19019 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
19020 @findex gnus-update-format
19021 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
19022 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
19023 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
19024 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
19028 @node Formatting Basics
19029 @subsection Formatting Basics
19031 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
19032 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
19033 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
19035 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
19036 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
19037 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
19038 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
19039 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
19042 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
19043 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
19044 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
19045 less than 4 characters wide.
19047 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
19048 @samp{%&user-date;}.
19051 @node Mode Line Formatting
19052 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
19054 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
19055 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
19056 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
19057 with the following two differences:
19062 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
19065 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
19066 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
19067 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
19068 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
19069 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
19070 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
19071 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
19076 @node Advanced Formatting
19077 @subsection Advanced Formatting
19079 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
19080 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
19081 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
19082 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
19084 These are the valid modifiers:
19089 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
19093 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
19098 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
19101 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
19106 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
19109 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
19112 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
19115 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
19121 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
19126 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
19127 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
19128 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
19129 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
19130 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
19131 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
19132 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
19134 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
19135 last operation, padding.
19137 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
19138 If @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} is set to @code{nil} (@code{t} by
19139 default) with your strong personality, and use a lots of these advanced
19140 thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets quite slow. This can be helped
19141 enormously by running @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with
19142 the look of your lines.
19143 @xref{Compilation}.
19146 @node User-Defined Specs
19147 @subsection User-Defined Specs
19149 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
19150 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
19151 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
19152 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
19153 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
19154 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
19155 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
19156 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
19157 should protect against that.
19159 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
19160 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
19162 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
19163 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
19164 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
19165 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
19169 @node Formatting Fonts
19170 @subsection Formatting Fonts
19172 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
19173 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
19174 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
19175 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
19178 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
19179 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
19180 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
19181 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
19182 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
19183 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
19185 Text inside the @samp{%<} and @samp{%>} specifiers will get the special
19186 @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you
19187 say @samp{%1<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The
19188 @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or symbols
19189 naming functions that return a string. Under @code{balloon-help-mode},
19190 when the mouse passes over text with this property set, a balloon window
19191 will appear and display the string. Please refer to the doc string of
19192 @code{balloon-help-mode} for more information on this.
19194 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
19197 ;; Create three face types.
19198 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
19199 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
19201 ;; We want the article count to be in
19202 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
19203 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
19204 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
19206 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
19207 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
19209 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
19210 (setq gnus-group-line-format
19211 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
19214 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
19215 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
19217 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
19218 mode-line variables.
19220 @node Positioning Point
19221 @subsection Positioning Point
19223 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
19224 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
19225 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
19227 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
19229 @findex gnus-goto-colon
19230 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
19231 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
19233 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
19234 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%C} specifier. If you
19235 put a @samp{%C} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
19240 @subsection Tabulation
19242 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
19243 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
19244 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
19245 about lining up the following text afterwards.
19247 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs--@samp{%=}. There are two
19248 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
19250 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19251 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
19252 This is the soft tabulator.
19254 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19255 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
19256 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
19259 @node Wide Characters
19260 @subsection Wide Characters
19262 Proportional fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
19263 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
19264 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
19266 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
19267 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
19268 these coutries, that's not true.
19270 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
19271 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
19272 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
19273 prettieer. The default value is @code{t}.
19277 @node Window Layout
19278 @section Window Layout
19279 @cindex window layout
19281 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
19283 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
19284 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
19285 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
19286 @code{t} by default.
19288 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
19289 glitches. Use at your own peril.
19291 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
19292 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
19293 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
19296 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
19297 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
19298 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19302 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
19303 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
19304 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
19305 possible names is listed below.
19307 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
19308 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
19311 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19315 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
19316 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
19317 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
19318 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
19319 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
19320 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
19321 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
19322 size spec per split.
19324 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
19325 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
19326 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
19327 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
19328 present) gets focus.
19330 Here's a more complicated example:
19333 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
19334 (summary 0.25 point)
19335 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
19339 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
19340 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
19341 occupy, not a percentage.
19343 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
19344 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
19345 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
19346 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
19347 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
19350 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
19353 (article (horizontal 1.0
19358 (summary 0.25 point)
19363 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
19364 @code{horizontal} thingie?
19366 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
19367 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
19368 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
19369 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
19370 the screen is to be given to this strip.
19372 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
19373 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
19374 lines from the splits.
19376 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
19380 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
19381 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
19382 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
19383 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
19384 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
19385 size = number | frame-params
19386 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
19389 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
19390 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
19391 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
19392 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
19394 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
19395 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
19396 @cindex window height
19397 @cindex window width
19398 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
19399 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
19400 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
19401 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
19402 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
19403 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
19405 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
19406 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
19407 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
19408 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
19410 @findex gnus-configure-frame
19411 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
19412 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
19413 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
19414 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
19415 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
19416 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
19417 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
19418 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
19419 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
19420 configuration list.
19423 (gnus-configure-frame
19427 (article 0.3 point))
19435 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
19436 @code{frame} split:
19439 (gnus-configure-frame
19442 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
19444 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
19445 (user-position . t)
19446 (left . -1) (top . 1))
19451 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
19452 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
19453 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
19454 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
19455 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
19456 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
19457 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
19458 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
19460 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
19461 be found in its default value.
19463 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
19464 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
19465 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
19469 (message (horizontal 1.0
19470 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
19472 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
19477 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
19478 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
19479 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
19484 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
19485 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
19486 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
19487 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
19488 (name . "Message"))
19489 (message 1.0 point))))
19492 @findex gnus-add-configuration
19493 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
19494 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
19495 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
19496 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
19499 (gnus-add-configuration
19500 '(article (vertical 1.0
19502 (summary .25 point)
19506 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
19507 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
19508 Gnus has been loaded.
19510 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
19511 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
19512 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
19513 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
19514 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
19516 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
19517 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
19518 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
19521 @subsection Example Window Configurations
19525 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
19526 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
19541 (gnus-add-configuration
19544 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
19546 (summary 0.16 point)
19549 (gnus-add-configuration
19552 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
19553 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
19559 @node Faces and Fonts
19560 @section Faces and Fonts
19565 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
19566 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
19567 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
19572 @section Compilation
19573 @cindex compilation
19574 @cindex byte-compilation
19576 @findex gnus-compile
19578 Remember all those line format specification variables?
19579 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
19580 on. By default, T-gnus will use the byte-compiled codes of these
19581 variables and we can keep a slow-down to a minimum. However, if you set
19582 @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} to @code{nil} (@code{t} by default),
19583 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
19584 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
19585 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
19588 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
19589 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
19590 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
19591 you'll get top speed again. Note that T-gnus will not save these
19592 compiled specs in the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
19595 @item gnus-compile-user-specs
19596 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
19597 If it is non-nil, the user-defined format specs will be byte-compiled
19598 automatically. The default value of this variable is @code{t}. It has
19599 an effect on the values of @code{gnus-*-line-format-spec}.
19604 @section Mode Lines
19607 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
19608 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
19609 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
19610 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
19611 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
19612 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
19613 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
19616 @cindex display-time
19618 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
19619 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
19620 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
19621 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
19622 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
19623 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
19624 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
19625 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
19628 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
19630 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
19631 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
19633 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
19634 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
19635 (length display-time-string)))))
19638 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
19639 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
19640 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
19641 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
19642 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
19645 @node Highlighting and Menus
19646 @section Highlighting and Menus
19648 @cindex highlighting
19651 @vindex gnus-visual
19652 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
19653 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
19654 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
19657 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
19658 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
19661 @item group-highlight
19662 Do highlights in the group buffer.
19663 @item summary-highlight
19664 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
19665 @item article-highlight
19666 Do highlights in the article buffer.
19668 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
19670 Create menus in the group buffer.
19672 Create menus in the summary buffers.
19674 Create menus in the article buffer.
19676 Create menus in the browse buffer.
19678 Create menus in the server buffer.
19680 Create menus in the score buffers.
19682 Create menus in all buffers.
19685 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
19686 buffers, you could say something like:
19689 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
19692 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
19695 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
19698 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
19699 in all Gnus buffers.
19701 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
19704 @item gnus-mouse-face
19705 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
19706 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
19707 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
19711 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
19715 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
19716 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
19717 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
19719 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
19720 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
19721 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
19723 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
19724 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
19725 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
19727 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
19728 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
19729 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
19731 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
19732 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
19733 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
19735 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
19736 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
19737 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
19748 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
19749 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
19750 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
19751 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
19752 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
19756 @vindex gnus-carpal
19757 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
19758 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
19759 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
19764 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
19765 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
19766 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
19768 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
19769 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
19770 Face used on buttons.
19772 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
19773 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
19774 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
19776 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
19777 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
19778 Buttons in the group buffer.
19780 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
19781 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
19782 Buttons in the summary buffer.
19784 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
19785 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
19786 Buttons in the server buffer.
19788 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
19789 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
19790 Buttons in the browse buffer.
19793 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
19794 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
19795 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
19803 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
19804 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
19805 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
19806 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
19807 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
19809 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
19810 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
19811 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
19813 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
19814 been idle for thirty minutes:
19817 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
19820 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
19824 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
19827 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
19828 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
19829 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
19831 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
19832 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
19833 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
19834 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
19836 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
19837 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
19838 @var{idle} minutes.
19840 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
19841 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
19844 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
19845 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
19846 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
19848 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
19849 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
19850 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
19851 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
19853 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
19854 your @file{.gnus} file:
19856 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
19858 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
19861 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
19862 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
19863 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
19864 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
19865 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
19866 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
19867 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
19868 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
19869 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
19870 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
19871 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
19873 @findex gnus-demon-init
19874 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
19875 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
19876 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
19877 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
19878 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
19880 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
19881 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
19882 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
19891 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
19892 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
19894 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
19895 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
19896 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
19897 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
19900 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
19901 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
19902 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
19903 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
19905 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
19906 this will make spam disappear.
19908 There are some variables to customize, of course:
19911 @item gnus-use-nocem
19912 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
19913 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
19916 @item gnus-nocem-groups
19917 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
19918 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
19919 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
19920 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
19922 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
19923 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
19924 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
19925 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
19926 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
19927 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
19929 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
19930 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
19932 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
19933 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
19934 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
19935 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
19936 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
19937 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
19938 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
19939 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
19940 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
19941 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
19943 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
19944 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
19947 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
19950 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
19951 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
19954 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
19957 The specs are applied left-to-right.
19960 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
19961 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
19963 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
19964 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
19965 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
19966 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
19968 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
19969 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
19972 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
19974 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
19982 This might be dangerous, though.
19984 @item gnus-nocem-directory
19985 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
19986 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
19987 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
19989 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
19990 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
19991 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
19992 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
19993 might then see old spam.
19995 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
19996 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
19997 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
19998 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
19999 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
20002 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20003 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20004 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
20005 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
20009 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
20010 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
20011 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
20012 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
20019 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
20020 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
20021 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
20023 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
20024 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
20025 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
20026 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
20027 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
20028 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
20029 @code{undo} function.
20031 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
20032 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
20033 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
20034 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
20035 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
20036 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
20037 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
20038 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
20039 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
20040 never be totally undoable.
20042 @findex gnus-undo-mode
20043 @vindex gnus-use-undo
20045 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
20046 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
20047 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
20048 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
20052 @node Predicate Specifiers
20053 @section Predicate Specifiers
20054 @cindex predicate specifiers
20056 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
20057 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
20058 to type all that much.
20060 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
20065 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
20066 gnus-article-unread-p)
20069 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
20070 functions all take one parameter.
20072 @findex gnus-make-predicate
20073 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
20074 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
20075 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
20080 @section Moderation
20083 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
20084 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
20085 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
20088 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
20092 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
20095 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
20097 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
20102 You split your incoming mail by matching on
20103 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
20104 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
20107 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
20108 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
20111 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
20112 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
20116 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
20119 (setq gnus-moderated-list
20120 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
20124 @node Image Enhancements
20125 @section Image Enhancements
20127 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21, is able to display pictures and stuff, so
20128 Gnus has taken advantage of that.
20131 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
20132 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
20133 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
20134 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
20135 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
20148 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
20149 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
20150 over your shoulder as you read news.
20153 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
20154 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
20155 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
20156 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
20157 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
20162 @subsubsection Picon Basics
20164 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
20173 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
20174 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
20175 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
20176 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
20177 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
20178 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
20179 @code{GIF} formats.
20182 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20183 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
20184 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
20185 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
20186 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
20188 @vindex gnus-picons-database
20189 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
20190 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
20191 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
20192 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
20193 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
20195 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
20196 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
20199 @node Picon Requirements
20200 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
20202 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must have @code{x} support
20203 compiled into XEmacs. To display color picons which are much nicer
20204 than the black & white one, you also need one of @code{xpm} or
20205 @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
20207 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20208 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
20209 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
20210 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
20211 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
20212 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20215 @subsubsection Easy Picons
20217 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
20218 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
20221 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
20222 (setq gnus-treat-display-picons t)
20225 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
20226 containing the Picons databases.
20228 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
20231 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20232 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
20237 @subsubsection Hard Picons
20245 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
20246 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
20247 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
20248 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
20249 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
20254 @item gnus-picons-database
20255 @vindex gnus-picons-database
20256 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
20257 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
20258 subdirectories. This is only useful if
20259 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
20260 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
20262 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20263 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20264 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
20265 engine is @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
20266 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
20267 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
20268 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
20270 @item gnus-picons-display-where
20271 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
20272 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
20273 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
20274 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
20275 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
20276 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
20277 routines---@pxref{Window Layout}.
20279 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
20280 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
20281 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
20286 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
20287 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
20289 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
20290 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
20293 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
20295 @item gnus-article-display-picons
20296 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
20297 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
20298 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer.
20300 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
20301 @findex gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
20302 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.
20303 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the function name, not @code{xface})
20309 @node Picon Useless Configuration
20310 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
20318 The following variables offer further control over how things are
20319 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
20320 don't need to worry about.
20324 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
20325 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
20326 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
20327 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
20329 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
20330 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
20331 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
20332 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
20334 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
20335 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
20336 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
20337 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
20338 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
20340 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20341 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20342 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
20343 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
20344 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
20345 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
20346 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
20347 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20349 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
20350 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
20351 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
20352 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
20353 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20355 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
20356 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
20357 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
20358 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
20359 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
20360 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
20361 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
20363 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
20364 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
20365 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
20366 Defaults to @code{nil}.
20368 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
20369 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
20370 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
20371 Defaults to @code{t}.
20373 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
20374 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
20375 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
20376 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
20378 @item gnus-picons-setup-hook
20379 @vindex gnus-picons-setup-hook
20380 Hook run in the picon buffer, if that is displayed.
20382 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
20383 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
20384 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
20385 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
20387 If @code{nil}, display the picons in the @code{From} and
20388 @code{Newsgroups} lines. This is the default.
20390 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
20391 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
20392 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
20393 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
20394 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
20395 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
20396 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
20397 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
20408 @subsection Smileys
20413 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
20418 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
20419 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
20421 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
20422 @file{.gnus.el} file:
20425 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
20428 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
20429 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
20430 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
20431 text and maps that to file names.
20433 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
20434 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
20435 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
20436 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
20437 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
20438 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
20440 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
20441 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
20443 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
20444 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
20445 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
20447 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
20448 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
20452 @item smiley-data-directory
20453 @vindex smiley-data-directory
20454 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
20456 @item smiley-flesh-color
20457 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
20458 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
20460 @item smiley-features-color
20461 @vindex smiley-features-color
20462 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
20464 @item smiley-tongue-color
20465 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
20466 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
20468 @item smiley-circle-color
20469 @vindex smiley-circle-color
20470 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
20472 @item smiley-mouse-face
20473 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
20474 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
20483 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
20484 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
20485 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
20489 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
20490 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
20491 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
20492 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
20500 Decoding an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
20501 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
20502 have @samp{compface} installed on your system. If either is true,
20503 Gnus will default to displaying @code{X-Face} headers.
20505 The variable that controls this is the
20506 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
20507 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
20508 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
20509 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
20510 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
20512 The default action under Emacs 20 is to fork off the @code{display}
20513 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For
20514 the @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
20515 like @code{compface} or @code{faces-xface} on a GNU/Linux system.} to
20518 Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image support, the default
20519 action is to display the face before the @code{From} header. (It's
20520 nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support---that
20521 will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native @code{X-Face}
20522 support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
20523 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
20524 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
20525 like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.})
20527 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
20530 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
20531 easier insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages.
20533 @findex gnus-random-x-face
20534 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files
20535 in @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
20536 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
20537 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
20538 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big.
20540 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a file as the parameter, and then
20541 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
20542 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
20544 Here's how you would typically use the former function. Put something
20545 like the folllowing in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
20548 (setq message-required-news-headers
20549 (nconc message-required-news-headers
20550 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
20553 Using the latter function would be something like this:
20556 (setq message-required-news-headers
20557 (nconc message-required-news-headers
20558 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
20559 (gnus-x-face-from-file
20560 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
20565 @subsection Toolbar
20575 @item gnus-use-toolbar
20576 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
20577 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
20578 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
20579 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
20581 @item gnus-group-toolbar
20582 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
20583 The toolbar in the group buffer.
20585 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
20586 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
20587 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
20589 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
20590 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
20591 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
20597 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
20600 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
20601 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
20602 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
20603 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
20604 unusual directory structure.
20606 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
20607 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
20608 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
20609 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
20611 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
20612 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
20613 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
20614 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
20615 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
20616 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
20618 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
20619 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
20620 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
20634 @node Fuzzy Matching
20635 @section Fuzzy Matching
20636 @cindex fuzzy matching
20638 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
20639 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
20641 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
20642 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
20643 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
20645 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
20646 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
20647 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
20648 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
20649 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
20652 @node Thwarting Email Spam
20653 @section Thwarting Email Spam
20657 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
20659 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
20660 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
20661 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
20662 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
20663 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
20664 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
20665 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
20666 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
20669 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
20670 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
20671 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
20672 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
20673 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
20674 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
20678 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
20679 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
20681 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
20682 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
20683 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
20684 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
20685 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
20686 part of the mail address.)
20689 (setq message-default-news-headers
20690 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
20693 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
20694 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
20699 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
20700 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
20701 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
20707 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
20708 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
20709 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
20710 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
20712 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @sc{smtp} server
20713 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
20714 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
20715 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
20716 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
20717 your fancy split rule in this way:
20722 (to "larsi" "misc")
20726 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
20727 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
20728 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
20729 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
20730 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
20732 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
20733 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
20734 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
20735 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
20736 cosmic balance somewhat.
20738 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
20739 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
20740 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
20741 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
20746 @section Pay Hashcash
20750 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
20751 costly for each message they send. This has the obvious drawback that
20752 you cannot rely on that everyone uses this technique, since it is
20753 optional, but it may be useful in smaller communities.
20756 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
20757 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
20758 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:}
20759 header. For more details, and for the external application
20760 @code{hashcash} you need to install to use this feature, see
20761 @uref{http://www.cypherspace.org/~adam/hashcash/}. Even more
20762 information can be found at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
20764 If you wish to call hashcash for each message you send, say something
20768 (require 'hashcash)
20769 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'mail-add-payment)
20772 The @code{hashcash.el} library can be found at
20773 @uref{http://users.actrix.gen.nz/mycroft/hashcash.el}, or in the Gnus
20774 development contrib directory.
20776 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
20780 @item hashcash-default-payment
20781 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
20782 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
20783 should consist of. By default this is 0, meaning nothing will be
20784 done. Suggested useful values include 17 to 29.
20786 @item hashcash-payment-alist
20787 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
20788 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
20789 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(ADDR AMOUNT)} cells,
20790 where ADDR is the receiver (email address or newsgroup) and AMOUNT is
20791 the number of bits in the collision that is needed. It can also
20792 contain @samp{(ADDR STRING AMOUNT)} cells, where the STRING is the
20793 string to use (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
20797 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed.
20801 Currently there is no built in functionality in Gnus to verify
20802 hashcash cookies, it is expected that this is performed by your hand
20803 customized mail filtering scripts. Improvements in this area would be
20804 a useful contribution, however.
20806 @node Various Various
20807 @section Various Various
20813 @item gnus-home-directory
20814 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
20815 defaults to @file{~/}.
20817 @item gnus-directory
20818 @vindex gnus-directory
20819 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
20820 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
20821 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
20823 Note that gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
20824 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
20825 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
20826 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
20828 @item gnus-default-directory
20829 @vindex gnus-default-directory
20830 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
20831 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
20832 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
20833 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
20834 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
20835 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
20838 @vindex gnus-verbose
20839 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
20840 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
20841 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
20842 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
20843 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
20845 @item gnus-verbose-backends
20846 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
20847 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
20848 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
20850 @item nnheader-max-head-length
20851 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
20852 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
20853 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
20854 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
20855 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
20856 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
20857 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
20858 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
20859 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
20861 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
20862 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
20863 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
20864 read when doing the operation described above.
20866 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
20867 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
20869 @cindex invalid characters in file names
20870 @cindex characters in file names
20871 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
20872 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
20873 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
20876 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
20880 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
20881 Windows (phooey) systems.
20883 @item gnus-hidden-properties
20884 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
20885 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
20886 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
20887 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
20889 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
20890 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
20891 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
20892 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
20893 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
20895 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
20896 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
20897 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
20899 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
20900 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
20902 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
20903 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
20904 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
20905 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
20908 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
20916 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
20917 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
20919 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
20921 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
20927 Not because of victories @*
20930 but for the common sunshine,@*
20932 the largess of the spring.
20936 but for the day's work done@*
20937 as well as I was able;@*
20938 not for a seat upon the dais@*
20939 but at the common table.@*
20944 @chapter Appendices
20947 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
20948 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
20949 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
20950 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
20951 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
20952 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
20953 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
20954 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
20955 * Frequently Asked Questions::
20962 @cindex Installing under XEmacs
20964 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
20965 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
20966 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{w3}, @samp{mh-e},
20967 @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{rmail}, @samp{eterm}, @samp{mail-lib},
20968 @samp{xemacs-base}, and @samp{fsf-compat}.
20975 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
20976 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
20978 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
20979 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
20980 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
20981 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
20982 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
20984 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
20985 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
20986 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
20987 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
20988 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
20989 appropriate name, don't you think?)
20991 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
20992 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
20993 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
20994 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
20997 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
20998 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
20999 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
21000 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
21001 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
21002 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
21003 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
21004 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
21005 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
21009 @node Gnus Versions
21010 @subsection Gnus Versions
21012 @cindex September Gnus
21014 @cindex Quassia Gnus
21015 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
21019 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
21020 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
21021 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
21023 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
21024 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
21026 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
21027 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
21029 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
21030 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
21032 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
21033 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
21036 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
21038 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
21039 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
21040 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
21041 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
21042 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
21043 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
21046 @node Other Gnus Versions
21047 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
21050 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
21051 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
21052 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
21053 @sc{mime} capabilities.
21055 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
21056 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
21057 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
21058 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
21065 What's the point of Gnus?
21067 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
21068 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
21069 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
21070 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
21071 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
21072 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
21073 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
21074 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
21075 keep track of millions of people who post?
21077 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
21078 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
21079 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
21080 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
21081 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
21082 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
21083 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
21084 every one of you to explore and invent.
21086 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
21087 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
21090 @node Compatibility
21091 @subsection Compatibility
21093 @cindex compatibility
21094 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
21095 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
21096 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
21101 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
21105 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
21108 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
21111 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
21112 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
21113 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
21114 important variables have their values copied into their global
21115 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
21116 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
21118 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
21119 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
21120 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
21121 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
21122 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
21126 @cindex highlighting
21127 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
21128 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
21129 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
21130 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
21131 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
21132 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
21135 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
21136 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
21137 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
21138 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
21140 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
21141 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
21142 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
21143 to stop doing it the old way.
21145 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
21147 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
21149 @cindex reporting bugs
21151 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
21152 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
21153 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
21155 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
21156 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
21157 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
21158 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
21163 @subsection Conformity
21165 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
21166 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
21174 There are no known breaches of this standard.
21178 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
21180 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
21181 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
21182 We do have some breaches to this one.
21188 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
21189 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
21190 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
21191 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
21192 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
21197 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
21198 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
21199 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
21200 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
21202 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
21204 All the various @sc{mime} RFCs are supported.
21206 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
21207 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
21209 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
21212 RFC 1991 is the original PGP message specification, published as a
21213 Information RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now called Open PGP, and
21214 put on the Standards Track. Both document a non-@sc{mime} aware PGP
21215 format. Gnus supports both encoding (signing and encryption) and
21216 decoding (verification and decryption).
21218 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
21219 RFC 2015 (superceded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
21220 1991) describes the @sc{mime}-wrapping around the RF 1991/2440 format.
21221 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
21223 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
21224 RFC 2633 describes the @sc{s/mime} format.
21226 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
21227 RFC 1730 is @sc{imap} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060 (@sc{imap} 4
21228 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5 authentication for @sc{imap}. RFC
21229 2086 describes access control lists (ACLs) for @sc{imap}. RFC 2359
21230 describes a @sc{imap} protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper
21231 TLS integration (STARTTLS) with @sc{imap}. RFC 1731 describes the
21232 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @sc{imap}.
21236 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
21237 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
21242 @subsection Emacsen
21248 Gnus should work on :
21256 XEmacs 21.1.1 and up.
21260 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
21261 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
21262 Emacs versions. However, T-gnus does support ``Mule 2.3 based on Emacs
21263 19.34'' and possibly the versions of XEmacs prior to 21.1.1, e.g. 20.4.
21264 See the file ``README'' in the T-gnus distribution for more details.
21266 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
21267 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
21268 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
21272 @node Gnus Development
21273 @subsection Gnus Development
21275 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
21276 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
21277 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
21278 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
21279 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
21280 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
21281 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
21282 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
21284 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
21285 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
21286 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
21287 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
21288 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
21291 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
21292 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
21293 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
21294 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
21295 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
21297 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
21298 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
21299 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
21300 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
21301 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
21302 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
21303 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
21304 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
21305 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
21306 can't be assumed to do so.
21311 @subsection Contributors
21312 @cindex contributors
21314 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
21315 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
21316 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
21317 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
21318 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
21319 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
21320 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
21321 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
21322 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
21323 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
21325 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
21331 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
21334 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
21335 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
21336 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
21337 functionality and stuff.
21340 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
21341 well as numerous other things).
21344 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
21347 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
21350 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
21353 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
21356 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
21357 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
21360 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
21363 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
21364 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
21367 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
21370 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
21373 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
21376 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
21379 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
21380 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
21383 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
21386 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
21389 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
21392 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
21396 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
21399 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
21402 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
21405 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
21406 well as autoconf support.
21410 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
21411 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
21413 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
21422 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
21426 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
21436 Alexei V. Barantsev,
21451 Massimo Campostrini,
21456 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
21457 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
21461 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
21464 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
21470 Michael Welsh Duggan,
21475 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
21479 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
21487 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
21489 Michelangelo Grigni,
21493 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
21495 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
21497 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
21504 François Felix Ingrand,
21505 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
21506 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
21508 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
21519 Peter Skov Knudsen,
21520 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
21522 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
21523 Thor Kristoffersen,
21526 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
21544 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
21545 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
21552 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
21557 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
21561 John McClary Prevost,
21567 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
21572 Christian von Roques,
21575 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
21582 Philippe Schnoebelen,
21584 Randal L. Schwartz,
21598 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
21603 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
21619 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
21624 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
21625 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
21626 (550kB and counting).
21628 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
21631 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
21632 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
21636 @subsection New Features
21637 @cindex new features
21640 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
21641 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
21642 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
21643 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
21644 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
21647 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
21648 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
21649 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
21652 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
21654 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
21659 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
21660 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
21663 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
21664 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
21667 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
21670 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
21671 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
21672 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
21675 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
21676 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
21677 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
21678 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
21681 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
21682 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
21685 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
21686 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
21687 (@pxref{The Active File}).
21690 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
21691 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
21694 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
21695 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
21696 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
21699 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
21700 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
21701 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
21704 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
21705 the @file{.emacs} file.
21708 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
21709 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
21712 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
21713 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
21716 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
21717 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
21720 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
21721 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
21724 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
21725 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
21728 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
21731 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
21732 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
21735 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
21736 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
21739 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
21740 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
21743 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
21746 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
21747 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
21750 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
21754 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
21758 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
21759 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
21762 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
21768 @node September Gnus
21769 @subsubsection September Gnus
21773 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
21777 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
21782 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
21783 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
21787 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
21788 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
21792 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
21796 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
21797 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
21800 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
21804 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
21807 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
21810 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
21813 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
21817 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
21818 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
21821 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
21825 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
21829 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
21833 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
21837 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
21840 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
21841 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
21844 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
21848 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
21849 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
21852 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
21855 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
21856 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
21857 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
21860 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
21864 The Gnus cache is much faster.
21867 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
21871 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
21872 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
21875 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
21876 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
21879 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
21880 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
21883 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
21884 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
21885 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
21888 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
21889 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
21892 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
21895 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
21898 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
21901 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
21904 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
21905 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
21908 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
21912 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
21915 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
21920 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
21923 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
21927 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
21930 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
21934 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
21937 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
21940 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
21941 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
21944 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
21945 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
21949 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
21950 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
21953 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
21957 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
21958 buffer to allow easier treatment.
21961 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
21964 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
21968 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
21972 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
21973 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
21976 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
21980 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
21981 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
21984 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
21985 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
21988 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
21992 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
21995 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
21998 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
22004 @subsubsection Red Gnus
22006 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
22010 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
22017 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
22020 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
22021 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
22024 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
22025 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
22029 Article washing status can be displayed in the
22030 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
22033 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
22036 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
22037 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
22040 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
22044 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
22045 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
22049 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
22050 Server Internals}).
22053 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
22057 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
22060 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
22061 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
22064 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
22065 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
22066 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
22069 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
22070 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
22073 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
22074 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
22077 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
22081 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
22082 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
22085 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
22086 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
22089 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
22093 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
22096 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
22100 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
22101 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
22104 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
22105 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
22108 A new command for reading collections of documents
22109 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
22110 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
22113 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
22117 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
22118 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
22121 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
22122 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
22123 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
22126 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
22127 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
22131 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
22135 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
22139 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
22144 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
22148 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
22152 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
22153 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
22156 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
22162 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
22164 New features in Gnus 5.6:
22169 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
22170 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
22171 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
22174 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
22175 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
22176 group, which is created automatically.
22179 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
22183 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
22186 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
22187 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
22190 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
22194 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
22197 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
22198 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
22201 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
22204 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
22205 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
22208 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
22209 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
22212 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
22213 control over simplification.
22216 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
22219 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
22223 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
22226 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
22229 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
22230 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
22231 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
22234 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
22235 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
22238 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
22242 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
22243 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
22246 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
22247 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
22250 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
22254 A history of where mails have been split is available.
22257 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
22260 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
22261 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
22264 A new function for citing in Message has been
22265 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
22268 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
22271 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
22275 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
22276 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
22279 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
22280 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
22283 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
22286 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
22290 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
22291 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
22293 New features in Gnus 5.8:
22298 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
22299 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
22301 If you used procmail like in
22304 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
22305 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
22306 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
22307 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
22310 this now has changed to
22314 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
22318 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
22319 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
22322 Gnus is now a @sc{mime}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
22323 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
22326 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
22327 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
22330 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
22331 called to position point.
22334 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
22335 summary buffers and @sc{nov} files.
22338 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
22339 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
22342 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
22343 subtly different manner.
22346 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
22347 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
22348 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
22351 Gnus can now read @sc{imap} mail via @code{nnimap}.
22359 @section The Manual
22363 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
22364 either @code{texi2dvi}
22366 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
22367 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
22369 to get what you hold in your hands now.
22371 The following conventions have been used:
22376 This is a @samp{string}
22379 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
22382 This is a @file{file}
22385 This is a @code{symbol}
22389 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
22393 (setq flargnoze "yes")
22396 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
22399 (setq flumphel 'yes)
22402 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
22403 ever get them confused.
22407 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
22408 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
22409 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
22410 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
22411 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
22412 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
22413 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
22419 @node On Writing Manuals
22420 @section On Writing Manuals
22422 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
22423 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
22424 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
22425 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
22426 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
22427 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
22430 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
22431 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
22432 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
22435 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
22436 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
22441 @section Terminology
22443 @cindex terminology
22448 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
22449 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
22450 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
22451 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
22452 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
22456 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
22457 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
22458 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
22459 not posting, and replying is not following up.
22463 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
22467 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
22472 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of back ends, both news and mail
22473 back ends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
22474 is all done by the back ends.
22478 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
22479 default, way of getting news.
22483 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
22484 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
22489 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
22490 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
22494 A message that has been posted as news.
22497 @cindex mail message
22498 A message that has been mailed.
22502 A mail message or news article
22506 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
22511 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
22516 A line from the head of an article.
22520 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
22521 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
22525 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
22526 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
22527 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
22528 normal @sc{head} format.
22532 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
22533 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
22534 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
22535 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
22536 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
22537 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
22539 @item killed groups
22540 @cindex killed groups
22541 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
22542 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
22544 @item zombie groups
22545 @cindex zombie groups
22546 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
22549 @cindex active file
22550 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
22551 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
22552 is rather large, as you might surmise.
22555 @cindex bogus groups
22556 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
22557 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
22558 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
22561 @cindex activating groups
22562 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
22563 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
22564 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
22568 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
22570 @item select method
22571 @cindex select method
22572 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
22575 @item virtual server
22576 @cindex virtual server
22577 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
22578 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
22579 whole is a virtual server.
22583 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
22584 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
22587 @item ephemeral groups
22588 @cindex ephemeral groups
22589 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
22590 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
22591 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
22594 @cindex solid groups
22595 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
22596 group buffer are solid groups.
22598 @item sparse articles
22599 @cindex sparse articles
22600 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
22601 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
22605 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
22606 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
22610 @cindex thread root
22611 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
22612 articles in the thread.
22616 An article that has responses.
22620 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
22624 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
22625 specified by RFC 1153.
22631 @node Customization
22632 @section Customization
22633 @cindex general customization
22635 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
22636 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
22637 for some quite common situations.
22640 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
22641 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
22642 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
22643 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
22647 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
22648 @subsection Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
22650 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
22651 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
22652 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
22656 @item gnus-read-active-file
22657 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
22658 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
22659 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
22660 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
22661 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
22663 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
22664 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
22665 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
22666 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
22670 @node Slow Terminal Connection
22671 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
22673 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
22674 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
22675 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
22679 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
22680 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
22681 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
22682 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
22683 horizontal and vertical recentering.
22685 @item gnus-visible-headers
22686 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
22687 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
22688 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
22689 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
22691 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
22693 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
22694 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
22695 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
22698 @item gnus-use-full-window
22699 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
22700 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
22701 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
22702 want to read them anyway.
22704 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
22705 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
22709 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
22710 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
22711 lines, which might save some time.
22715 @node Little Disk Space
22716 @subsection Little Disk Space
22719 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
22720 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
22724 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
22725 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
22726 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
22727 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
22730 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
22731 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
22732 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
22733 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
22736 @item gnus-save-killed-list
22737 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
22738 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
22739 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
22740 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
22746 @subsection Slow Machine
22747 @cindex slow machine
22749 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
22750 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
22752 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
22753 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
22755 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
22756 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
22757 summary buffer faster.
22761 @node Troubleshooting
22762 @section Troubleshooting
22763 @cindex troubleshooting
22765 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
22773 Make sure your computer is switched on.
22776 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
22777 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
22781 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
22782 like @samp{T-gnus 6.15.* (based on Oort Gnus v0.*; for SEMI 1.1*, FLIM
22783 1.1*)} you have the right files loaded. If, on the other hand, you get
22784 something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp flee}, you have some old
22785 @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
22788 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
22792 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
22793 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
22794 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
22795 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
22796 something like that.
22799 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
22802 @cindex reporting bugs
22804 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
22806 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
22807 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
22808 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
22809 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
22811 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
22812 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
22813 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
22814 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
22817 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
22818 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
22819 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
22820 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
22821 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
22822 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
22824 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
22825 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
22826 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
22830 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
22831 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
22833 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
22834 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
22836 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
22837 @cindex ding mailing list
22838 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
22839 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
22843 @node Gnus Reference Guide
22844 @section Gnus Reference Guide
22846 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
22847 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
22848 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
22849 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
22852 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
22853 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
22854 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
22855 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
22856 and general methods of operation.
22859 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
22860 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
22861 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
22862 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
22863 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
22864 * Group Info:: The group info format.
22865 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
22866 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
22867 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
22871 @node Gnus Utility Functions
22872 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
22873 @cindex Gnus utility functions
22874 @cindex utility functions
22876 @cindex internal variables
22878 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
22879 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
22880 Below is a list of the most common ones.
22884 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
22885 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
22886 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
22888 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
22889 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
22890 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
22892 @item gnus-group-real-name
22893 @findex gnus-group-real-name
22894 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
22897 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
22898 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
22899 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
22900 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
22902 @item gnus-get-info
22903 @findex gnus-get-info
22904 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
22906 @item gnus-group-unread
22907 @findex gnus-group-unread
22908 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
22912 @findex gnus-active
22913 The active entry for @var{group}.
22915 @item gnus-set-active
22916 @findex gnus-set-active
22917 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
22919 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
22920 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
22921 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
22924 @item gnus-continuum-version
22925 @findex gnus-continuum-version
22926 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
22927 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
22930 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
22931 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
22932 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
22934 @item gnus-news-group-p
22935 @findex gnus-news-group-p
22936 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
22938 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
22939 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
22940 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
22942 @item gnus-server-to-method
22943 @findex gnus-server-to-method
22944 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
22946 @item gnus-server-equal
22947 @findex gnus-server-equal
22948 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
22950 @item gnus-group-native-p
22951 @findex gnus-group-native-p
22952 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
22954 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
22955 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
22956 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
22958 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
22959 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
22960 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
22962 @item group-group-find-parameter
22963 @findex group-group-find-parameter
22964 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
22965 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
22967 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
22968 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
22969 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
22971 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
22972 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
22973 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
22975 @item gnus-check-backend-function
22976 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
22977 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
22978 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
22981 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
22985 @item gnus-read-method
22986 @findex gnus-read-method
22987 Prompts the user for a select method.
22992 @node Back End Interface
22993 @subsection Back End Interface
22995 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
22996 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
22997 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
22998 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
22999 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
23000 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
23002 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
23003 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
23004 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
23005 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
23006 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
23007 been opened, the function should fail.
23009 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
23010 name. Take this example:
23014 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
23015 (nntp-port-number 4324))
23018 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
23019 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
23021 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
23022 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
23023 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
23025 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
23026 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
23027 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
23029 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
23030 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
23031 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
23032 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
23033 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
23034 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
23037 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
23038 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
23039 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
23040 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
23043 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
23044 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
23045 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
23046 possible for later articles to `re-use' older article numbers without
23047 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
23048 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
23049 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
23050 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
23051 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
23052 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
23054 The previous paragraph already mentions all the `hard' restrictions that
23055 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
23056 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
23057 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
23058 the `no-reuse' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
23059 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
23060 of numbers as long as possible.
23062 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
23065 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
23068 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
23069 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
23070 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
23071 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
23072 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
23073 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
23077 @node Required Back End Functions
23078 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
23082 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
23084 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
23085 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
23086 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
23087 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
23089 The result data should either be HEADs or @sc{nov} lines, and the result
23090 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
23091 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
23092 of HEADs and @sc{nov} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
23094 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
23095 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
23096 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
23097 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
23098 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
23099 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
23100 number, do maximum fetches.
23102 Here's an example HEAD:
23105 221 1056 Article retrieved.
23106 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
23107 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
23108 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
23109 Subject: Re: Something very droll
23110 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
23111 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
23113 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
23114 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
23115 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
23119 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
23120 these in the data buffer.
23122 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
23126 head = error / valid-head
23127 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
23128 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
23129 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
23130 header = <text> eol
23133 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
23134 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
23138 nov-buffer = *nov-line
23139 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
23140 field = <text except TAB>
23143 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
23147 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
23149 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
23150 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
23152 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
23153 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
23154 server. In fact, it should do so.
23156 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
23157 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
23160 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
23162 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
23163 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
23166 There should be no data returned.
23169 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
23171 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
23172 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
23173 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
23174 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
23176 There should be no data returned.
23179 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
23181 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
23182 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
23183 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
23184 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
23186 There should be no data returned.
23189 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
23191 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
23193 There should be no data returned.
23196 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
23198 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
23199 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
23200 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
23201 it would be nice if that were possible.
23203 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
23204 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
23205 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
23206 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
23207 into its article buffer.
23209 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
23210 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
23211 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
23212 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
23213 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
23214 on successful article retrieval.
23217 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
23219 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
23220 making @var{group} the current group.
23222 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
23225 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
23228 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
23231 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
23232 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
23233 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
23234 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
23235 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
23236 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
23237 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
23238 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
23239 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
23243 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
23244 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
23245 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
23249 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
23251 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
23252 a no-op on most back ends.
23254 There should be no data returned.
23257 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
23259 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
23262 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
23265 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
23266 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
23269 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
23270 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
23271 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
23272 and the highest as 0.
23275 active-file = *active-line
23276 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
23278 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
23281 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
23282 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
23283 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
23286 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
23288 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
23289 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
23290 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
23291 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
23292 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
23293 clear if the posting could not be completed.
23295 There should be no result data from this function.
23300 @node Optional Back End Functions
23301 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
23305 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
23307 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
23308 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
23309 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
23311 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
23312 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
23313 former is in the same format as the data from
23314 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
23315 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
23318 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
23322 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
23324 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
23325 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all the
23326 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
23327 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
23328 should return the (altered) group info.
23330 There should be no result data from this function.
23333 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
23335 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
23336 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
23337 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
23338 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
23339 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
23340 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
23341 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
23342 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
23344 There should be no result data from this function.
23347 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
23349 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
23350 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
23351 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
23352 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
23353 propagate the mark information to the server.
23355 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
23358 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
23361 RANGE is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. ACTION is
23362 @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove marks
23363 (preserving all marks not mentioned). MARK is a list of marks; where
23364 each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are @code{read},
23365 @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
23366 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
23367 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
23368 possible, not limit itself to these.
23370 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
23371 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
23372 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
23373 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
23375 An example action list:
23378 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
23379 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
23380 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
23383 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
23384 mark on (currently not used for anything).
23386 There should be no result data from this function.
23388 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
23390 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
23391 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
23392 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
23393 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
23394 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
23396 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
23397 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
23398 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
23401 There should be no result data from this function.
23404 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
23406 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
23407 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
23408 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query the
23409 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
23410 to be heeded---if the back end decides that it is too much work just
23411 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
23412 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
23414 There should be no result data from this function.
23417 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
23419 The result data from this function should be a description of
23423 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
23425 description = <text>
23428 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
23430 The result data from this function should be the description of all
23431 groups available on the server.
23434 description-buffer = *description-line
23438 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
23440 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
23441 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
23442 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
23443 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
23444 in the active buffer format.
23446 It is okay for this function to return `too many' groups; some back ends
23447 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
23448 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
23449 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
23450 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
23451 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
23452 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
23455 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
23457 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
23459 There should be no return data.
23462 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
23464 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
23465 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
23466 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
23467 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
23468 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
23471 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
23474 There should be no result data returned.
23477 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
23480 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
23481 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
23483 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
23484 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
23485 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
23486 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
23487 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
23488 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
23490 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
23491 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
23494 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
23495 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
23497 There should be no data returned.
23500 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
23502 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
23503 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
23504 this function in short order.
23506 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
23507 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
23509 There should be no data returned.
23512 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
23514 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
23515 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
23517 There should be no data returned.
23520 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
23522 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
23523 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
23524 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
23526 There should be no data returned.
23529 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
23531 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
23532 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
23534 There should be no data returned.
23539 @node Error Messaging
23540 @subsubsection Error Messaging
23542 @findex nnheader-report
23543 @findex nnheader-get-report
23544 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
23545 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
23546 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
23547 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
23548 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
23549 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
23552 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
23554 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
23557 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
23558 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
23559 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
23560 takes one argument---the server symbol.
23562 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
23563 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
23564 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
23567 @node Writing New Back Ends
23568 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
23570 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
23571 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
23572 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
23573 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
23574 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
23577 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
23578 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
23579 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
23581 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
23582 package called @code{nnoo}.
23584 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
23585 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
23591 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
23592 parameters. For instance:
23595 (nnoo-declare nndir
23599 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
23600 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
23603 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
23604 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
23605 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
23607 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
23608 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
23609 a function in those back ends.
23612 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
23613 "Where nndir will look for groups."
23614 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
23617 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
23618 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
23619 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
23621 @item nnoo-define-basics
23622 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
23626 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
23630 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
23631 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
23632 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
23634 @item nnoo-map-functions
23635 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
23636 functions from the parent back ends.
23639 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
23640 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
23641 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
23644 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
23645 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
23646 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
23647 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
23650 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
23651 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
23652 haven't already been defined.
23658 nnmh-request-newgroups)
23662 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
23663 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
23664 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
23669 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
23672 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
23673 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
23677 (require 'nnheader)
23681 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
23683 (nnoo-declare nndir
23686 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
23687 "Where nndir will look for groups."
23688 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
23690 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
23691 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
23694 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
23696 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
23697 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
23698 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
23700 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
23701 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
23703 ;;; Interface functions.
23705 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
23707 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
23708 (setq nndir-directory
23709 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
23711 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
23712 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
23713 (push `(nndir-current-group
23714 ,(file-name-nondirectory
23715 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
23717 (push `(nndir-top-directory
23718 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
23720 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
23722 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
23723 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
23724 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
23725 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
23726 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
23730 nnmh-status-message
23732 nnmh-request-newgroups))
23738 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
23739 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
23741 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
23742 @findex gnus-declare-backend
23743 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
23744 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
23745 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
23747 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
23748 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
23753 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
23756 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
23758 The abilities can be:
23762 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
23764 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
23766 This back end supports both mail and news.
23768 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
23771 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
23772 articles and groups.
23774 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
23775 true for almost all back ends.
23776 @item prompt-address
23777 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
23778 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
23779 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
23783 @node Mail-like Back Ends
23784 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
23786 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
23787 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
23788 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
23789 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
23792 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
23793 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
23794 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
23797 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
23798 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
23801 This function takes four parameters.
23805 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
23808 @item exit-function
23809 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
23811 @item temp-directory
23812 Where the temporary files should be stored.
23815 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
23816 performed for one group only.
23819 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
23820 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
23821 find the article number assigned to this article.
23823 The function also uses the following variables:
23824 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
23825 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
23826 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
23827 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
23831 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
23832 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
23836 @node Score File Syntax
23837 @subsection Score File Syntax
23839 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
23840 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
23841 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
23843 Here's a typical score file:
23847 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
23854 BNF definition of a score file:
23857 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
23858 element = rule / atom
23859 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
23860 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
23861 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
23862 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
23864 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
23865 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
23866 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
23867 date-header = "date"
23868 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
23869 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
23870 score = "nil" / <integer>
23871 date = "nil" / <natural number>
23872 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
23873 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
23874 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
23875 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
23876 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
23877 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
23878 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
23879 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
23880 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
23881 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
23882 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
23883 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
23884 exclude-files / read-only / touched
23885 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
23886 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
23887 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
23888 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
23889 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
23890 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
23891 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
23892 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
23893 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
23894 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
23895 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
23896 eval = "eval" space <form>
23897 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
23900 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
23903 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
23904 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
23905 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
23906 one looong line, then that's ok.
23908 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
23909 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
23913 @subsection Headers
23915 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
23916 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
23917 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
23918 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
23920 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
23921 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
23922 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
23923 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
23924 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
23925 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
23926 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
23928 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
23929 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
23930 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
23931 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
23932 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
23934 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
23935 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
23941 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
23942 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
23944 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
23945 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
23946 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
23947 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
23949 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
23953 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
23956 is transformed into
23959 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
23962 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
23963 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
23966 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
23969 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
23970 is slightly tricky:
23973 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
23979 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
23982 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
23988 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
23995 and is equal to the previous range.
23997 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
23998 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
23999 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
24003 range = simple-range / normal-range
24004 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
24005 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
24006 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
24007 number *[ " " contents ]
24010 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
24011 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
24012 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
24013 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
24014 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
24019 @subsection Group Info
24021 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
24022 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
24023 describes the group.
24025 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
24026 second is a more complex one:
24029 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
24031 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
24032 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
24034 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
24037 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
24038 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
24039 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
24040 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
24041 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
24042 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
24043 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
24044 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
24045 this section is about.
24047 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
24048 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
24049 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
24051 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
24054 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
24055 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
24056 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
24057 group = quote <string> quote
24058 ralevel = rank / level
24059 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
24060 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
24061 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
24063 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
24064 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
24065 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
24066 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
24069 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
24070 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
24073 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
24074 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
24077 @item gnus-info-group
24078 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
24079 @findex gnus-info-group
24080 @findex gnus-info-set-group
24081 Get/set the group name.
24083 @item gnus-info-rank
24084 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
24085 @findex gnus-info-rank
24086 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
24087 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
24089 @item gnus-info-level
24090 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
24091 @findex gnus-info-level
24092 @findex gnus-info-set-level
24093 Get/set the group level.
24095 @item gnus-info-score
24096 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
24097 @findex gnus-info-score
24098 @findex gnus-info-set-score
24099 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
24101 @item gnus-info-read
24102 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
24103 @findex gnus-info-read
24104 @findex gnus-info-set-read
24105 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
24107 @item gnus-info-marks
24108 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
24109 @findex gnus-info-marks
24110 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
24111 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
24113 @item gnus-info-method
24114 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
24115 @findex gnus-info-method
24116 @findex gnus-info-set-method
24117 Get/set the group select method.
24119 @item gnus-info-params
24120 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
24121 @findex gnus-info-params
24122 @findex gnus-info-set-params
24123 Get/set the group parameters.
24126 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
24127 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
24129 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
24130 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
24131 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
24132 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
24135 @node Extended Interactive
24136 @subsection Extended Interactive
24137 @cindex interactive
24138 @findex gnus-interactive
24140 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
24141 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
24142 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
24145 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
24146 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
24151 The best thing to do would have been to implement
24152 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
24153 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
24154 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
24155 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
24156 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
24157 @code{interactive}.
24159 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
24164 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
24165 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
24169 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
24170 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
24171 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
24174 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
24178 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
24182 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
24188 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
24189 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
24193 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
24194 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
24195 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
24197 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
24198 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
24199 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
24200 Gnus, that's very useful.
24202 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
24203 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
24204 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
24205 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
24206 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
24207 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
24208 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
24209 following function:
24212 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
24216 (,function ,@@args))
24220 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
24221 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
24222 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
24225 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
24226 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
24227 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
24229 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
24230 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
24231 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
24234 @node Various File Formats
24235 @subsection Various File Formats
24238 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
24239 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
24243 @node Active File Format
24244 @subsubsection Active File Format
24246 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
24247 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
24250 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
24253 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
24254 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
24255 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
24256 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
24257 no.general 1000 900 y
24260 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
24263 active = *group-line
24264 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
24265 group = <non-white-space string>
24267 high-number = <non-negative integer>
24268 low-number = <positive integer>
24269 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
24272 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
24273 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
24276 @node Newsgroups File Format
24277 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
24279 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
24280 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
24281 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
24284 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
24285 Here's the definition:
24289 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
24290 group = <non-white-space string>
24292 description = <string>
24297 @node Emacs for Heathens
24298 @section Emacs for Heathens
24300 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
24301 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
24302 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
24303 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
24304 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
24305 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
24306 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
24310 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
24311 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
24316 @subsection Keystrokes
24320 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
24323 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
24326 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
24327 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
24328 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
24329 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
24330 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
24331 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
24333 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
24334 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
24335 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
24336 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
24337 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
24338 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
24339 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
24341 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
24342 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
24343 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
24344 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
24345 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
24346 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
24347 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
24349 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
24350 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
24351 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
24352 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
24353 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
24359 @subsection Emacs Lisp
24361 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
24362 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
24363 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
24364 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
24366 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
24367 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
24368 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
24369 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
24370 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
24371 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
24372 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
24375 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
24376 write the following:
24379 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
24382 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
24383 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
24384 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
24387 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
24388 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
24389 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
24390 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
24391 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
24393 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
24394 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
24395 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
24399 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
24403 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
24406 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
24407 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
24410 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
24413 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
24414 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
24417 @include gnus-faq.texi
24437 @c Local Variables:
24439 @c coding: iso-8859-1
24441 % LocalWords: BNF mucho detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
24442 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
24443 % LocalWords: nnmbox newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
24444 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
24445 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref