4 @settitle T-gnus 6.15 Manual
10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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282 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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291 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
293 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
296 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
297 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
298 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
299 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
300 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
301 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
302 License'' in the Emacs manual.
304 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
305 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
306 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
308 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
309 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
310 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
311 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
319 This file documents gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
321 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
322 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
324 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
325 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
326 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
327 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
328 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
329 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
330 License'' in the Emacs manual.
332 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
333 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
334 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
336 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
337 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
338 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
339 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
345 @title T-gnus 6.15 Manual
347 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
350 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
351 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
353 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
355 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
356 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
357 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
358 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
359 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
360 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
361 License'' in the Emacs manual.
363 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
364 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
365 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
367 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
368 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
369 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
370 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
379 @top The gnus Newsreader
383 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using gnus. The news
384 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
385 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
388 T-gnus provides @sc{mime} features based on @sc{semi} API. So T-gnus
389 supports your right to read strange messages including big images or
390 other various kinds of formats. T-gnus also supports
391 internationalization/localization and multiscript features based on MULE
392 API. So T-gnus does not discriminate various language communities.
393 Oh, if you are a Klingon, please wait Unicode Next Generation.
395 This manual corresponds to T-gnus 6.15.
406 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
407 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
409 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
410 being accused of plagiarism:
412 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
413 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
414 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
415 can even read news with it!
417 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
418 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
419 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend gnus to make it behave
420 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
421 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
427 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
428 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
429 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
430 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
431 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
432 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
433 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
434 * Various:: General purpose settings.
435 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
436 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
437 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
438 * Key Index:: Key Index.
440 Other related manuals
442 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
443 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; MIME-specific parts.
444 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
445 * PGG:(pgg). PGP/MIME with Gnus.
448 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
452 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
453 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
454 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
455 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
456 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
457 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
458 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
459 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
460 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
461 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
462 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
466 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
467 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
468 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
472 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
473 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
474 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
475 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
476 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
477 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
478 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
479 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
480 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
481 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
482 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
483 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
484 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
485 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
486 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
487 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
488 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
492 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
493 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
494 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
498 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
499 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
500 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
501 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
502 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
506 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
507 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
508 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
509 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
510 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
514 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
515 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
516 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
517 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
518 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
519 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
520 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
521 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
522 * Threading:: How threads are made.
523 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
524 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
525 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
526 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
527 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
528 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
529 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
530 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
531 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
532 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
533 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
534 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
535 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
536 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
537 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
538 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
539 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
540 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
541 or reselecting the current group.
542 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
543 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
544 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
545 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
547 Summary Buffer Format
549 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
550 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
551 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
552 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
556 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
557 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
559 Reply, Followup and Post
561 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
562 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
563 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
564 * Canceling and Superseding::
568 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
569 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
570 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
572 * Generic Marking Commands::
573 * Setting Process Marks::
577 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
578 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
579 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
583 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
584 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
586 Customizing Threading
588 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
589 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
590 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
591 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
595 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
596 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
597 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
598 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
599 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
600 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
604 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
605 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
606 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
610 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
611 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
612 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
613 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
614 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
615 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
616 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
617 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
618 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
619 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
621 Alternative Approaches
623 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
624 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
626 Various Summary Stuff
628 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
629 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
630 * Summary Generation Commands::
631 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
635 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
636 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
637 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
638 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
639 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
643 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
644 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
645 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
646 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
647 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
648 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
649 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
650 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
654 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
655 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
656 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
657 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
658 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
659 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
660 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
661 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
665 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
666 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
667 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
668 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
669 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
670 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
671 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
675 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
676 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
680 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
681 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
682 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
686 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
687 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
688 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
689 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
690 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
691 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
692 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
693 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
694 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
695 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
696 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
697 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
698 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
702 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
703 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
704 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
706 Choosing a Mail Back End
708 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
709 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
710 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
711 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
712 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
713 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
718 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
719 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
720 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
721 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
722 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
723 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
727 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
728 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
729 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
730 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
731 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
735 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
736 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
737 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
738 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
739 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
743 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
747 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
748 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
749 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
753 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
754 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
758 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
759 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
760 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
761 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
762 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
763 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
764 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
765 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
766 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
767 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
768 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
772 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
773 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
774 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
778 * Group Agent Commands::
779 * Summary Agent Commands::
780 * Server Agent Commands::
784 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
785 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
786 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
787 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
788 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
789 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
790 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
791 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
792 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
793 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
794 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
795 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
796 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
797 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
798 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
799 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
800 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
804 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
805 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
806 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
807 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
811 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
812 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
813 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
817 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
818 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
819 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
820 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
821 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
822 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
823 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
824 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
825 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
826 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
827 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
828 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
829 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
830 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
831 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
832 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
833 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
834 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
835 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
839 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
840 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
841 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
842 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
843 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
844 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
845 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
846 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
850 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
851 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
852 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
853 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
854 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
858 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
859 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
860 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
861 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
862 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
866 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
867 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
868 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
869 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
870 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
871 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
875 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
876 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
877 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
878 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
879 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
880 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
881 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
882 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
883 * Frequently Asked Questions::
887 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
888 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
889 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
890 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
891 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
892 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
893 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
894 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
895 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
899 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
900 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
901 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
902 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
903 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
907 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
908 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
909 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
910 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
914 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
915 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
916 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
917 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
918 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
919 * Group Info:: The group info format.
920 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
921 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
922 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
926 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
927 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
928 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
929 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
930 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
931 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
935 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
936 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
940 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
941 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
947 @chapter Starting gnus
952 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting gnus
953 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
956 @findex gnus-other-frame
957 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
958 If you want to start gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
959 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
961 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
962 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
963 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
965 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
966 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
969 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
970 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
971 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
972 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
973 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
974 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
975 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
976 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
977 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
978 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
979 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
983 @node Finding the News
984 @section Finding the News
987 @vindex gnus-select-method
989 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where gnus should look for
990 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
991 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
992 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
995 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
996 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
999 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
1002 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
1005 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
1008 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
1009 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
1010 server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1012 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1014 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
1015 If this variable is not set, gnus will take a look at the
1016 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1017 gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1018 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
1019 that fails as well, gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
1021 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1022 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1023 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1024 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1026 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1027 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1028 You can also make gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1029 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1030 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), gnus will let you choose between the servers
1031 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1032 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1033 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1034 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1037 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1039 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
1040 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1041 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1042 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1043 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1044 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1046 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1048 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1049 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1050 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1051 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1052 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1053 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1056 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1057 you would typically set this variable to
1060 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1064 @node The First Time
1065 @section The First Time
1066 @cindex first time usage
1068 If no startup files exist, gnus will try to determine what groups should
1069 be subscribed by default.
1071 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1072 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, gnus
1073 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1074 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1077 Since she hasn't, gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1078 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1079 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1081 You'll also be subscribed to the gnus documentation group, which should
1082 help you with most common problems.
1084 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, gnus will just
1085 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1089 @node The Server is Down
1090 @section The Server is Down
1091 @cindex server errors
1093 If the default server is down, gnus will understandably have some
1094 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1095 the news groups, you may want to start gnus anyway.
1097 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1098 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1099 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1100 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1101 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1102 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1103 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1105 @findex gnus-no-server
1106 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1108 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1109 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1110 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start gnus. That might come in handy
1111 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1112 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1113 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1114 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1118 @section Slave Gnusae
1121 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one gnus at the
1122 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1123 are using the two different gnusae to read from two different servers),
1124 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1126 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1127 @code{.newsrc} file.
1129 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the gnus
1130 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1131 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1132 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1133 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1134 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1135 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1137 Anyway, you start one gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1138 however you do it). Each subsequent slave gnusae should be started with
1139 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1140 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1141 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master gnus
1142 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1143 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1144 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1146 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1147 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
1149 If the @code{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1150 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1151 file. If you answer "yes", the unsaved changes to the master will be
1152 incorporated into the slave. If you answer "no", the slave may see some
1153 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1155 @node Fetching a Group
1156 @section Fetching a Group
1157 @cindex fetching a group
1159 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1160 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1161 group and I don't care whether gnus has been started or not''. This is
1162 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1163 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1164 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1170 @cindex subscription
1172 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1173 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1174 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1175 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1176 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1177 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1178 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1179 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1180 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1183 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1184 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1185 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1189 @node Checking New Groups
1190 @subsection Checking New Groups
1192 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1193 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1194 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1195 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, gnus will ask the
1196 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1197 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1198 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1199 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1200 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1201 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1203 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1204 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1205 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1206 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1207 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1208 work. I could write a function to make gnus guess whether the server
1209 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1210 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1211 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1212 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1213 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1215 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, gnus will
1216 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1217 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1218 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1219 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1220 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1223 @node Subscription Methods
1224 @subsection Subscription Methods
1226 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1227 What gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1228 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1230 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1231 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1233 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1237 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1238 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1239 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1240 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1241 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1243 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1244 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1245 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1246 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1248 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1249 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1250 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1252 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1253 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1254 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1255 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1256 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1257 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1258 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1259 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1260 up. Or something like that.
1262 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1263 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1264 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that gnus will ask
1265 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1266 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1268 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1269 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1270 Kill all new groups.
1272 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1273 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1274 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1275 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1276 topic parameter that looks like
1282 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1285 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1290 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1291 A closely related variable is
1292 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1293 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will ask you in a
1294 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1295 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1298 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1299 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1300 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1301 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1304 @node Filtering New Groups
1305 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1307 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1308 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1309 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1312 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1315 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1316 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1317 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1318 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1319 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1320 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1321 subscribing these groups.
1322 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1323 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1325 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1326 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1327 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1328 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1329 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1330 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1331 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1332 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1334 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1335 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1336 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1337 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1338 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1339 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1340 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1341 that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1342 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1343 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1346 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1347 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1350 @node Changing Servers
1351 @section Changing Servers
1352 @cindex changing servers
1354 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1355 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1356 very flaky and you want to use another.
1358 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1359 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1363 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1364 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1365 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1366 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1369 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1370 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1371 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1372 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1374 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1375 @findex gnus-change-server
1376 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1377 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1378 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1379 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1380 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1382 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1383 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1384 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1385 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1386 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1388 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1389 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1390 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1391 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1392 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1393 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1395 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1396 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1397 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1398 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1400 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1401 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1402 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1403 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1404 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1405 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1406 cache for all groups).
1410 @section Startup Files
1411 @cindex startup files
1416 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1417 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1419 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1420 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1421 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1422 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1423 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1424 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1425 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1427 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1428 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1429 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1430 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1431 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1432 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1434 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1435 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1436 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1437 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1438 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from gnus faster.
1439 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1440 gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1441 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes gnus ignore the
1442 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1443 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1445 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1446 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1447 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1448 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1449 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1450 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1451 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1452 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1453 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1454 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1455 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1456 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1458 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1459 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1460 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1461 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1463 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1464 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1465 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1466 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1467 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1468 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1469 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1470 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1471 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1472 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1475 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1476 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1478 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1479 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1482 @vindex gnus-init-file
1483 When gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1484 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1485 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1486 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1487 @file{site-init} files with gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1488 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1489 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1490 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1491 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1497 @cindex dribble file
1500 Whenever you do something that changes the gnus data (reading articles,
1501 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1502 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1503 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1504 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1507 If gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1508 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1511 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1512 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, gnus won't create and
1513 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1515 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1516 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1517 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, gnus will dribble
1518 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1519 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1520 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
1522 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1523 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1524 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1527 @node The Active File
1528 @section The Active File
1530 @cindex ignored groups
1532 When gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1533 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1534 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1536 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1537 Before examining the active file, gnus deletes all lines that match the
1538 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1539 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make gnus
1540 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1541 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1542 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1545 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1546 @c if you set it to anything else.
1548 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1550 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1551 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent gnus from
1552 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1554 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1555 you actually subscribe to.
1557 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1558 variable to @code{nil} will probably make gnus slower, not faster. At
1559 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow gnus down
1560 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1562 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1563 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1564 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1565 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1566 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1567 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1569 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1570 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1571 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1574 If this variable is @code{nil}, gnus will ask for group info in total
1575 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1576 @sc{nntp} server, gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1577 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1578 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1579 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1581 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1582 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1584 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1585 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1587 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1588 secondary select methods.
1591 @node Startup Variables
1592 @section Startup Variables
1596 @item gnus-load-hook
1597 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1598 A hook run while gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1599 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1600 times you start gnus.
1602 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1603 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1604 A hook run after starting up gnus successfully.
1606 @item gnus-startup-hook
1607 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1608 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1610 @item gnus-started-hook
1611 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1612 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1615 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1616 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1617 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1618 generating the group buffer.
1620 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1621 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1622 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1623 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1624 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1625 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1626 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1627 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1629 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1630 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1631 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1632 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1633 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1634 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1636 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1637 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1638 Message displayed by gnus when no groups are available.
1640 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1641 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1642 If non-@code{nil}, play the gnus jingle at startup.
1644 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1645 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1646 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1647 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1653 @chapter Group Buffer
1654 @cindex group buffer
1656 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1658 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1659 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1660 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1661 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1662 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1663 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1664 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1665 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1666 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1667 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1668 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1669 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1670 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1671 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1672 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1673 @c human rights at 9...
1676 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1677 is the first buffer shown when gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1678 long as gnus is active.
1682 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1683 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1684 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1685 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1686 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1687 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1688 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1689 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1695 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1696 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1697 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1698 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1699 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1700 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1701 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1702 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1703 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1704 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1705 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1706 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1707 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1708 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1709 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1710 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1711 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1715 @node Group Buffer Format
1716 @section Group Buffer Format
1719 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1720 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1721 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1725 @node Group Line Specification
1726 @subsection Group Line Specification
1727 @cindex group buffer format
1729 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1730 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1732 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1735 25: news.announce.newusers
1736 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1741 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1742 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1743 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1744 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1746 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1747 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1748 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1749 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1750 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1751 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1753 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1755 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1756 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1757 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1758 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1759 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1761 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1762 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1763 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1765 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1770 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1773 Whether the group is subscribed.
1776 Level of subscribedness.
1779 Number of unread articles.
1782 Number of dormant articles.
1785 Number of ticked articles.
1788 Number of read articles.
1791 Number of unseen articles.
1794 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1795 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1797 Gnus uses this estimation because the @sc{nntp} protocol provides
1798 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1799 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1800 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1801 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1802 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1803 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1804 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1807 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1810 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1819 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1820 comment element in the group parameters.
1823 Newsgroup description.
1826 @samp{m} if moderated.
1829 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1835 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1841 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1845 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1848 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1849 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1850 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1851 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1852 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1855 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1857 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1861 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1864 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1868 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1869 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1870 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1871 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1872 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1873 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1878 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1879 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1880 group, or a bogus native group.
1883 @node Group Modeline Specification
1884 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1885 @cindex group modeline
1887 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1888 The mode line can be changed by setting
1889 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1890 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1894 The native news server.
1896 The native select method.
1900 @node Group Highlighting
1901 @subsection Group Highlighting
1902 @cindex highlighting
1903 @cindex group highlighting
1905 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1906 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1907 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1908 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1909 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1911 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1915 (cond (window-system
1916 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1917 (defface my-group-face-1
1918 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1919 (defface my-group-face-2
1920 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1921 (defface my-group-face-3
1922 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1923 (defface my-group-face-4
1924 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1925 (defface my-group-face-5
1926 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1928 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1929 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1930 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1931 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1932 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1933 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1936 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1938 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1945 The number of unread articles in the group.
1949 Whether the group is a mail group.
1951 The level of the group.
1953 The score of the group.
1955 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1957 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1958 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1960 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1961 topic being inserted.
1964 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1965 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal gnus
1966 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1968 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1969 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1970 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1971 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1972 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1975 @node Group Maneuvering
1976 @section Group Maneuvering
1977 @cindex group movement
1979 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1980 expected, hopefully.
1986 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1987 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1988 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1994 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1995 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1996 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
2000 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2001 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2005 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2006 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2010 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
2011 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
2012 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2016 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2017 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2018 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2021 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2027 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2028 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2029 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2034 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2035 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2036 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2040 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2041 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2042 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2045 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2046 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2047 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2048 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2052 @node Selecting a Group
2053 @section Selecting a Group
2054 @cindex group selection
2059 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2060 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2061 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2062 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2063 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2064 this command, gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2065 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
2066 determines the number of articles gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
2067 positive, gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
2068 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
2070 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2071 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2072 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2074 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2075 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2080 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2081 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2082 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2083 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2084 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2088 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2089 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2090 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2091 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2092 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2093 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2094 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2095 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2096 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2097 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2100 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2101 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2102 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2103 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2104 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2107 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2108 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2109 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2110 doing any processing of its contents
2111 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2112 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2113 manner will have no permanent effects.
2117 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2118 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what gnus should consider
2119 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
2120 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, gnus will query the user
2121 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2122 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2123 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2124 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2127 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2128 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2129 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2130 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2131 Which article this is is controlled by the
2132 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2138 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2141 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2144 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2146 @item unseen-or-unread
2147 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2148 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2152 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2156 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2157 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2159 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2160 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2161 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2162 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2166 @node Subscription Commands
2167 @section Subscription Commands
2168 @cindex subscription
2176 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2177 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2178 Toggle subscription to the current group
2179 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2185 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2186 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2187 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2188 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2194 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2195 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2196 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2202 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2203 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2206 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2207 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2208 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2209 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2210 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2216 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2217 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2221 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2222 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2225 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2226 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2227 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2228 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2229 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2230 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2231 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2232 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2233 @file{.newsrc} file.
2237 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2247 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2248 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2249 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2250 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2251 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2252 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2257 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2258 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2259 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2263 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2264 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2265 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2267 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2268 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2269 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2270 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2271 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2272 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2279 @section Group Levels
2283 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2284 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2285 can ask gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2286 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2287 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2289 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2295 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2296 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2297 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2298 prompted for a level.
2301 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2302 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2303 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2304 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2305 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2306 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2307 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2308 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2309 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2310 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2311 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2312 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2313 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2314 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2315 reasons of efficiency.
2317 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2318 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2320 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2321 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2322 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2323 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2324 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2325 groups are hidden, in a way.
2327 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2328 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2329 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2330 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2331 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2332 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2334 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2335 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2336 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2337 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2338 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2339 list of killed groups.)
2341 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2342 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2343 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2345 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2346 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2347 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2348 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2349 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2350 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2351 relevant valid ranges.
2353 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2354 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2355 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2356 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2357 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2358 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2361 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2362 one with the best level.
2364 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2365 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2366 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2369 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2370 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2371 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2372 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2375 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2376 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2377 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2378 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2380 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2381 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2382 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2383 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2384 to 5. The default is 6.
2388 @section Group Score
2393 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2394 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2395 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2398 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2399 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2400 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2401 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2402 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2403 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2404 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2405 least significant part.))
2407 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2408 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2409 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2410 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2411 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2412 action after each summary exit, you can add
2413 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2414 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2415 slow things down somewhat.
2418 @node Marking Groups
2419 @section Marking Groups
2420 @cindex marking groups
2422 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2423 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2424 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2425 bidding on those groups.
2427 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2428 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2429 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2437 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2438 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2444 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2445 Remove the mark from the current group
2446 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2450 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2451 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2455 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2456 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2460 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2461 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2465 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2466 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2467 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2470 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2472 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2473 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2474 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2475 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2476 the command to be executed.
2479 @node Foreign Groups
2480 @section Foreign Groups
2481 @cindex foreign groups
2483 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2484 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2485 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2486 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2493 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2494 @cindex making groups
2495 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2496 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2497 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2501 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2502 @cindex renaming groups
2503 Rename the current group to something else
2504 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2505 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2511 @findex gnus-group-customize
2512 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2516 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2517 @cindex renaming groups
2518 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2519 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2523 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2524 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2525 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2529 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2530 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2531 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2535 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2537 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2538 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2543 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2544 Make the gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2548 @cindex (ding) archive
2549 @cindex archive group
2550 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2551 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2552 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2553 Make a gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2554 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2555 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2556 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2560 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2562 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2563 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2564 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2565 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2569 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2571 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2572 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2573 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2577 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2578 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2580 Make a group based on some file or other
2581 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2582 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2583 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2584 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2585 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2586 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2587 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2588 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2589 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2593 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2594 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2595 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2596 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2600 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2604 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2605 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2606 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2607 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2608 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2609 @xref{Web Searches}.
2611 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2612 to a particular group by using a match string like
2613 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2616 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2617 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2618 This function will delete the current group
2619 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2620 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2621 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2622 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2623 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2627 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2628 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2629 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2633 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2634 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2635 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2638 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2641 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2642 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2643 gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2644 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2645 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2646 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2650 @node Group Parameters
2651 @section Group Parameters
2652 @cindex group parameters
2654 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2655 Here's an example group parameter list:
2658 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2662 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2663 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2664 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2665 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2667 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2668 is an alist of regexps and values.
2670 The following group parameters can be used:
2675 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2678 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2681 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2682 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2683 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2684 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2685 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2687 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2688 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2689 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2690 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2691 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2692 list address instead.
2694 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2698 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2701 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2704 It is totally ignored
2705 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2706 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2708 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2709 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2710 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2711 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2712 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2714 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2715 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2716 sending the message.
2718 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2719 @cindex Mail List Groups
2720 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2721 entering summary buffer.
2723 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2728 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2729 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2730 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2731 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2732 headers for your posts to these lists. Look here @pxref{(message)Mailing
2733 Lists} for a complete treatment of available MFT support.
2735 See also @code{gnus-find-subscribed-addresses}, the function that
2736 directly uses this group parameter.
2740 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2741 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2742 of whether it has any unread articles.
2744 @item broken-reply-to
2745 @cindex broken-reply-to
2746 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2747 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2748 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2749 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2750 broken behavior. So there!
2754 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2755 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2759 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, gnus
2760 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2761 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2766 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2767 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2768 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2769 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2770 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2771 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2772 (@pxref{Archived Messages}). CAVEAT:: It yields an error putting
2773 @code{(gcc-self . t)} in groups of a @code{nntp} server or so, because
2774 a @code{nntp} server doesn't accept articles.
2778 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2779 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2780 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2782 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2785 @cindex total-expire
2786 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2787 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2788 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2789 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2792 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2796 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2797 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2798 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2799 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2800 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2801 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2802 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2805 @cindex score file group parameter
2806 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2807 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2808 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2811 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2812 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2813 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2814 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2817 @cindex admin-address
2818 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2819 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2820 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2821 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2825 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2826 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2830 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2833 Display the last INTEGER articles in the group. This is the same as
2834 entering the group with C-u INTEGER.
2837 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2841 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2843 Here are some examples:
2847 Display only unread articles.
2850 Display everything except expirable articles.
2852 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2853 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2857 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2858 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2859 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2860 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2861 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
2865 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2866 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2867 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2871 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2872 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
2873 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
2877 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2878 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2879 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2881 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2883 @item ignored-charsets
2884 @cindex ignored-charset
2885 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2886 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2887 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2889 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2892 @cindex posting-style
2893 You can store additional posting style information for this group
2894 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2895 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2896 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2897 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2899 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2900 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2901 like this in the group parameters:
2906 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
2907 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2912 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2913 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2917 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2918 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2919 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2920 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2921 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2925 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
2926 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
2927 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
2928 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
2930 For example, if the INBOX.list.sieve group has the @code{(sieve
2931 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
2932 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
2933 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
2936 if address \"sender\" \"sieve-admin@@extundo.com\" @{
2937 fileinto \"INBOX.list.sieve\";
2941 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, , Top, sieve,
2944 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2945 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2946 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2947 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2948 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2949 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2950 @code{eval}ed there.
2952 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
2953 A use for this feature, is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
2954 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
2955 @samp{nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps} has the tag
2956 @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this tag can be
2957 removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for the group by
2958 putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")} into the group
2959 parameters for the group.
2962 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2963 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2964 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2965 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2966 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2970 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2971 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2972 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2973 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2974 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2976 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
2977 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
2981 (setq gnus-parameters
2983 (gnus-show-threads nil)
2984 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
2985 (gnus-summary-line-format
2986 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
2990 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
2994 (gnus-use-scoring t))
2998 (broken-reply-to . t))))
3001 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
3002 the @code{to-group} example shows.
3005 @node Listing Groups
3006 @section Listing Groups
3007 @cindex group listing
3009 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3017 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3018 List all groups that have unread articles
3019 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3020 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3021 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
3022 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3029 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3030 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3031 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3032 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3033 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3034 unsubscribed groups).
3038 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3039 List all unread groups on a specific level
3040 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3041 with no unread articles.
3045 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3046 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3047 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3048 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3053 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3054 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3058 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3059 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3060 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3064 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3065 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3069 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3070 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3071 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3072 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3073 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3074 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3075 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3076 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3080 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3081 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3082 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3086 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3087 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3088 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3092 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3093 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3097 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3098 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3102 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3103 List groups limited within the current selection
3104 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3108 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3109 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3113 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3114 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3118 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3119 @cindex visible group parameter
3120 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3121 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3122 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3123 get the same effect.
3125 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3126 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3127 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3128 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3129 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3132 @node Sorting Groups
3133 @section Sorting Groups
3134 @cindex sorting groups
3136 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3137 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3138 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3139 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3140 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3141 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3146 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3147 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3148 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3150 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3151 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3152 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3154 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3155 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3156 Sort by group level.
3158 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3159 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3160 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3162 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3163 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3164 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3165 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3167 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3168 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3169 Sort by number of unread articles.
3171 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3172 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3173 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3175 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3176 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3177 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3182 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3183 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3187 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3188 some sorting criteria:
3192 @kindex G S a (Group)
3193 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3194 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3195 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3198 @kindex G S u (Group)
3199 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3200 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3201 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3204 @kindex G S l (Group)
3205 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3206 Sort the group buffer by group level
3207 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3210 @kindex G S v (Group)
3211 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3212 Sort the group buffer by group score
3213 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3216 @kindex G S r (Group)
3217 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3218 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3219 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3222 @kindex G S m (Group)
3223 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3224 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name
3225 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3228 @kindex G S n (Group)
3229 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3230 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3231 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3235 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3236 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3238 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3239 commands will sort in reverse order.
3241 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3245 @kindex G P a (Group)
3246 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3247 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3248 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3251 @kindex G P u (Group)
3252 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3253 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3254 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3257 @kindex G P l (Group)
3258 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3259 Sort the groups by group level
3260 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3263 @kindex G P v (Group)
3264 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3265 Sort the groups by group score
3266 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3269 @kindex G P r (Group)
3270 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3271 Sort the groups by group rank
3272 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3275 @kindex G P m (Group)
3276 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3277 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name
3278 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3281 @kindex G P n (Group)
3282 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3283 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3284 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3287 @kindex G P s (Group)
3288 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3289 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3293 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3297 @node Group Maintenance
3298 @section Group Maintenance
3299 @cindex bogus groups
3304 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3305 Find bogus groups and delete them
3306 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3310 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3311 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3312 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3313 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3314 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3318 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3319 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3320 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3321 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3322 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3323 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3326 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3327 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3328 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3329 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3334 @node Browse Foreign Server
3335 @section Browse Foreign Server
3336 @cindex foreign servers
3337 @cindex browsing servers
3342 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3343 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3344 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3345 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3348 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3349 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3350 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3351 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3353 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3358 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3359 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3363 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3364 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3367 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3368 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3369 Enter the current group and display the first article
3370 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3373 @kindex RET (Browse)
3374 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3375 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3379 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3380 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3381 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3387 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3388 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3392 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3393 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3397 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3398 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3399 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3404 @section Exiting gnus
3405 @cindex exiting gnus
3407 Yes, gnus is ex(c)iting.
3412 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3413 Suspend gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit gnus,
3414 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3415 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3419 @findex gnus-group-exit
3420 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3421 Quit gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3425 @findex gnus-group-quit
3426 Quit gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3427 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3430 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3431 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3432 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend gnus and
3433 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit gnus, while
3434 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3439 If you wish to completely unload gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3440 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3441 trying to customize meta-variables.
3446 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3447 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3448 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3454 @section Group Topics
3457 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3458 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3459 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3460 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3461 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3462 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3466 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3467 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3478 2: alt.religion.emacs
3481 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3483 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3484 13: comp.sources.unix
3487 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3489 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3490 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3491 is a toggling command.)
3493 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3494 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and
3495 now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3496 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3499 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3500 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3501 @file{~/.gnus} file:
3504 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3508 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3509 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3510 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3511 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3512 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3516 @node Topic Commands
3517 @subsection Topic Commands
3518 @cindex topic commands
3520 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3521 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3522 definitions slightly.
3524 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3525 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3526 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3527 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3528 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3529 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3531 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3538 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3539 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3540 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3544 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3546 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3547 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3548 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3549 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3552 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3553 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3554 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3555 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3559 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3560 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3561 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3562 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3568 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3569 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3570 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3574 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3575 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3576 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3579 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3580 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the `cut' part of cut and paste. Then,
3581 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the `Gnus'
3582 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the `paste' part of cut and
3583 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3585 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3586 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3590 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3591 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3598 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3600 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3601 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3602 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3603 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3604 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3605 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3609 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3615 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3616 Move the current group to some other topic
3617 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3618 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3622 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3623 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3627 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3628 Copy the current group to some other topic
3629 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3630 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3634 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3635 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3636 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3640 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3641 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3642 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3646 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3647 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3648 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3649 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3650 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3651 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3652 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3655 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3656 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3660 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3661 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3662 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3666 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3667 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3668 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3672 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3673 Toggle hiding empty topics
3674 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3678 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3679 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3680 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
3683 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3684 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3685 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3686 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
3689 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3690 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3691 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3692 expiry process (if any)
3693 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3697 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3698 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3701 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3702 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3703 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3707 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3708 List all groups that gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3709 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3712 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3713 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3714 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3717 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3718 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3719 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3723 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3724 @cindex group parameters
3725 @cindex topic parameters
3727 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3728 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3733 @node Topic Variables
3734 @subsection Topic Variables
3735 @cindex topic variables
3737 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3738 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3740 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3741 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3742 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3755 Number of groups in the topic.
3757 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3759 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3762 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3763 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3764 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3767 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3768 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3770 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3771 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3772 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3776 @subsection Topic Sorting
3777 @cindex topic sorting
3779 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3785 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3786 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3787 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3788 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3791 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3792 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3793 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3794 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3797 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3798 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3799 Sort the current topic by group level
3800 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3803 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3804 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3805 Sort the current topic by group score
3806 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3809 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3810 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3811 Sort the current topic by group rank
3812 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3815 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3816 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3817 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
3818 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3821 @kindex T S e (Topic)
3822 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
3823 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
3824 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
3828 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
3829 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
3830 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
3831 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
3835 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
3836 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
3840 @node Topic Topology
3841 @subsection Topic Topology
3842 @cindex topic topology
3845 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3851 2: alt.religion.emacs
3854 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3856 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3857 13: comp.sources.unix
3860 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3861 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3862 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3867 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3868 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3872 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3873 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3874 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3875 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3876 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3877 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3879 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3880 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3881 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3884 @node Topic Parameters
3885 @subsection Topic Parameters
3886 @cindex topic parameters
3888 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3889 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3890 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3892 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3897 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3898 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3899 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3902 @item subscribe-level
3903 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
3904 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
3905 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
3909 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3910 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3911 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3912 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3918 2: alt.religion.emacs
3922 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3924 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3925 13: comp.sources.unix
3929 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3930 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3931 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3932 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3933 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3934 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3936 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3937 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3938 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3939 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3940 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3942 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3943 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3944 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3945 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3946 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3947 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3948 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3949 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3952 @node Misc Group Stuff
3953 @section Misc Group Stuff
3956 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3957 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3958 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3959 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3960 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
3967 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3968 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3969 @xref{Server Buffer}.
3973 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3974 Start composing a message (a news by default)
3975 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
3976 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
3977 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
3978 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
3979 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3983 @findex gnus-group-mail
3984 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
3985 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
3986 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
3987 @xref{Composing Messages}.
3991 @findex gnus-group-news
3992 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
3993 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
3994 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3996 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
3997 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
3998 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
3999 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
4000 for this to work though.
4004 Variables for the group buffer:
4008 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
4009 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
4010 is called after the group buffer has been
4013 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
4014 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4015 is called after the group buffer is
4016 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
4019 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
4020 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4021 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
4022 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
4024 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4025 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4026 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
4027 whether they are empty or not.
4029 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4030 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4031 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
4032 non-ASCII group names.
4036 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4037 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4040 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4041 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4042 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4043 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names. It
4044 is used to show non-ASCII group names. @code{((".*" utf-8))} is the
4045 default value if UTF-8 is supported, otherwise the default is nil.
4049 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4050 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
4055 @node Scanning New Messages
4056 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4057 @cindex new messages
4058 @cindex scanning new news
4064 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4065 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4066 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4067 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4068 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4069 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4074 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4075 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4076 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4077 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4078 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4079 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4080 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4082 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4083 @cindex activating groups
4085 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4086 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4091 @findex gnus-group-restart
4092 Restart gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4093 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4094 gnus variables, and then starts gnus all over again.
4098 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4099 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4101 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4102 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4106 @node Group Information
4107 @subsection Group Information
4108 @cindex group information
4109 @cindex information on groups
4116 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4117 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4120 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
4121 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
4122 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
4123 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
4124 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4125 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
4126 for fetching the file.
4128 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, gnus will attempt to go
4129 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4133 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
4134 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
4136 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
4137 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
4140 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
4141 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
4142 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
4146 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
4147 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
4148 @cindex control message
4149 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
4150 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
4151 group if given a prefix argument.
4153 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-nil, Gnus
4154 will open the control messages in a browser using @code{browse-url}.
4155 Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp} and displayed in an
4158 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
4159 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode}
4160 (@pxref{(emacs)Compressed Files}).
4164 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4166 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4167 @cindex describing groups
4168 @cindex group description
4169 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4170 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4171 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4175 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4176 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4177 prefix, force gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4184 @findex gnus-version
4185 Display current gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4189 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4190 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4193 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4196 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4197 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4201 @node Group Timestamp
4202 @subsection Group Timestamp
4204 @cindex group timestamps
4206 It can be convenient to let gnus keep track of when you last read a
4207 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4208 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4211 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4214 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4216 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4217 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4220 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4221 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4224 This will result in lines looking like:
4227 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4228 0: custom 19961002T012713
4231 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4232 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4236 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4237 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4240 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4241 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4245 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4246 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4247 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4248 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4250 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4256 @subsection File Commands
4257 @cindex file commands
4263 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4264 @vindex gnus-init-file
4265 @cindex reading init file
4266 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4267 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4271 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4272 @cindex saving .newsrc
4273 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4274 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4275 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4278 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4279 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4280 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4285 @node Sieve Commands
4286 @subsection Sieve Commands
4287 @cindex group sieve commands
4289 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4290 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4291 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4292 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4293 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4295 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4296 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4297 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4298 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4299 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4300 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4301 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4302 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4303 regenerate the Sieve script.
4305 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4306 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4307 is generated. If it is non-nil (the default) articles is placed in
4308 all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article is only
4309 placed in the group with the first matching rule. For example, the
4310 group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4311 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4312 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is nil. (When
4313 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-nil, it looks the same except that
4314 the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4317 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4318 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4323 @xref{Top, ,Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4329 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4330 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4331 @cindex generating sieve script
4332 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4333 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4337 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4338 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4339 @cindex updating sieve script
4340 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4341 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4342 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4347 @node Summary Buffer
4348 @chapter Summary Buffer
4349 @cindex summary buffer
4351 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4352 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4354 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4355 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4357 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4360 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4361 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4362 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4363 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4364 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4365 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4366 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4367 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4368 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4369 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4370 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4371 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4372 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4373 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4374 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4375 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4376 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4377 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4378 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4379 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4380 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4381 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4382 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4383 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4384 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4385 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4386 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4387 or reselecting the current group.
4388 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4389 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4390 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4391 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4395 @node Summary Buffer Format
4396 @section Summary Buffer Format
4397 @cindex summary buffer format
4401 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4402 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4403 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4409 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4410 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4411 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4412 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4415 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4416 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4417 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4418 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4419 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4420 @code{From} header. Three pre-defined functions exist:
4421 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4422 fast, and too simplistic solution;
4423 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works nicely, but is
4424 slower; and @code{std11-extract-address-components}, which works very
4425 nicely, but is slower. The default function will return the wrong
4426 answer in 5% of the cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the
4427 other function instead:
4430 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4431 'mail-extract-address-components)
4434 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4435 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4436 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4437 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4440 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4441 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4443 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4444 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4445 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4446 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4447 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4449 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4450 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4451 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4452 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4453 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4454 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4456 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4458 The following format specification characters and extended format
4459 specification(s) are understood:
4465 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4466 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4468 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4469 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4470 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4472 Full @code{From} header.
4474 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4476 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4479 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4480 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4481 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4482 may be more thorough.
4484 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4487 Number of lines in the article.
4489 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4490 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4492 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4493 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4495 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4497 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4500 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4501 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4503 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4504 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4506 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4507 for adopted articles.
4509 One space for each thread level.
4511 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4513 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4516 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4517 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4518 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4521 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4523 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4524 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4525 default level. If the difference between
4526 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4527 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4535 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4537 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4543 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4544 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4546 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4547 article has any children.
4553 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4554 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4556 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4557 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4558 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4559 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4560 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4561 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4564 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4565 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4566 There can only be one such area.
4568 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4569 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, gnus will
4570 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4571 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4572 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4573 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4575 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4576 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4578 This restriction may disappear in later versions of gnus.
4581 @node To From Newsgroups
4582 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4586 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4587 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4588 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4589 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4590 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4594 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4595 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4596 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4600 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4601 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4604 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4605 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4608 @findex gnus-extra-header
4609 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4610 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4611 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4614 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4618 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4619 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4620 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4621 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4622 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4623 headers are used instead.
4627 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4628 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4629 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
4630 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
4631 this variable, by entering the server buffer using `^', and then `g' on
4632 the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause regeneration.
4634 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4635 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4636 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4637 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4639 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4643 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4645 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4646 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4647 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4648 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4652 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
4655 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
4656 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
4659 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4660 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4661 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
4667 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4668 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4671 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4672 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4674 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4675 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4676 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4677 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4679 Here are the elements you can play with:
4685 Unprefixed group name.
4687 Current article number.
4689 Current article score.
4693 Number of unread articles in this group.
4695 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4698 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4699 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4700 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4701 and no unselected ones.
4703 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4704 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4706 Subject of the current article.
4708 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4710 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4712 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4714 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4716 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4718 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4722 @node Summary Highlighting
4723 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4727 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4728 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4729 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4730 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4731 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4733 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4734 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4735 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4736 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4738 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4739 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4740 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4741 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4743 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4744 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4745 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4746 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4747 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4748 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4751 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4752 ((> score default) . bold))
4754 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4755 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4759 @node Summary Maneuvering
4760 @section Summary Maneuvering
4761 @cindex summary movement
4763 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4764 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4766 None of these commands select articles.
4771 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4772 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4773 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4774 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4775 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4779 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4780 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4781 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4782 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4783 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4786 @kindex G g (Summary)
4787 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4788 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4789 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4792 If gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4793 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4794 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4795 to the group buffer.
4797 Variables related to summary movement:
4801 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4802 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4803 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4804 no more unread articles after the current one, gnus will offer to go to
4805 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4806 empty, gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4807 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, gnus will select the
4808 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
4809 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
4810 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
4811 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
4812 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
4813 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
4814 @pxref{Group Levels}.
4816 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4817 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4818 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4819 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4820 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4821 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4822 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4824 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4826 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4827 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4828 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4829 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4830 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4832 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4833 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4834 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4835 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4836 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4837 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4838 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4839 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4842 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4843 the given number of lines from the top.
4848 @node Choosing Articles
4849 @section Choosing Articles
4850 @cindex selecting articles
4853 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4854 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4858 @node Choosing Commands
4859 @subsection Choosing Commands
4861 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4862 and they all select and display an article.
4864 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4865 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4869 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4870 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4871 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4872 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4877 @kindex G n (Summary)
4878 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4879 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4880 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4885 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4886 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4887 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4892 @kindex G N (Summary)
4893 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4894 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4899 @kindex G P (Summary)
4900 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4901 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4904 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4905 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4906 Go to the next article with the same subject
4907 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4910 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4911 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4912 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4913 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4917 @kindex G f (Summary)
4919 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4920 Go to the first unread article
4921 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4925 @kindex G b (Summary)
4927 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4928 Go to the unread article with the highest score
4929 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
4930 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
4935 @kindex G l (Summary)
4936 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4937 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4940 @kindex G o (Summary)
4941 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4943 @cindex article history
4944 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4945 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4946 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4947 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
4948 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
4949 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
4954 @kindex G j (Summary)
4955 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
4956 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
4957 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
4962 @node Choosing Variables
4963 @subsection Choosing Variables
4965 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
4968 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4969 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4970 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
4971 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
4972 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
4973 the server and display it in the article buffer.
4975 @item gnus-select-article-hook
4976 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
4977 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
4978 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article. If you wish
4979 that the Agent saves all articles you read, putting
4980 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this hook should do it.
4982 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
4983 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
4984 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
4985 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
4986 @findex gnus-unread-mark
4987 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
4988 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
4989 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
4990 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
4991 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
4992 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
4993 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
4994 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
4995 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
5000 @node Paging the Article
5001 @section Scrolling the Article
5002 @cindex article scrolling
5007 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5008 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5009 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
5010 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
5011 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5014 @kindex DEL (Summary)
5015 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
5016 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
5019 @kindex RET (Summary)
5020 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
5021 Scroll the current article one line forward
5022 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
5025 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
5026 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
5027 Scroll the current article one line backward
5028 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5032 @kindex A g (Summary)
5034 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5035 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5036 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5037 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
5038 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
5039 the way it came from the server.
5041 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5042 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5043 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5046 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5051 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5056 @kindex A < (Summary)
5057 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5058 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5059 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5064 @kindex A > (Summary)
5065 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5066 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5070 @kindex A s (Summary)
5072 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5073 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5074 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5078 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5079 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5084 @node Reply Followup and Post
5085 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5088 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5089 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5090 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5091 * Canceling and Superseding::
5095 @node Summary Mail Commands
5096 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5098 @cindex composing mail
5100 Commands for composing a mail message:
5106 @kindex S r (Summary)
5108 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5109 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5110 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5111 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5112 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5117 @kindex S R (Summary)
5118 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5119 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5120 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5121 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5122 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5125 @kindex S w (Summary)
5126 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5127 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5128 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5129 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5130 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
5133 @kindex S W (Summary)
5134 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5135 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5136 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5137 the process/prefix convention.
5140 @kindex S v (Summary)
5141 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5142 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5143 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5144 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5145 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5146 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5149 @kindex S V (Summary)
5150 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5151 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5152 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5153 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5156 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5157 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5158 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5159 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5162 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5163 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5164 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5165 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5166 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5170 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5171 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5172 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5173 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5174 Forward the current article to some other person
5175 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5176 headers of the forwarded article.
5181 @kindex S m (Summary)
5182 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5183 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5184 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5185 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5186 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5191 @kindex S i (Summary)
5192 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5193 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5194 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5195 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5197 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5198 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
5199 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5200 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5201 for this to work though.
5204 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5205 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5206 @cindex bouncing mail
5207 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5208 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5209 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5210 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5211 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5212 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, gnus will try to fetch
5213 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5214 very well fail, though.
5217 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5218 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5219 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5220 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5221 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5222 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5223 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5224 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5225 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5226 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5228 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5229 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5230 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5231 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5232 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5234 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5235 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5238 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5239 @findex gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward
5240 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5241 result using mail (@code{gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward}). This
5242 command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5245 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5246 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5247 @cindex crossposting
5248 @cindex excessive crossposting
5249 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5250 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5252 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5253 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5254 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5255 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5256 command understands the process/prefix convention
5257 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5261 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5262 Manual}, for more information.
5265 @node Summary Post Commands
5266 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5268 @cindex composing news
5270 Commands for posting a news article:
5276 @kindex S p (Summary)
5277 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5278 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5279 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5280 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5281 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5286 @kindex S f (Summary)
5287 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5288 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5289 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5293 @kindex S F (Summary)
5295 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5296 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5297 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5298 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5299 process/prefix convention.
5302 @kindex S n (Summary)
5303 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5304 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5305 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5308 @kindex S N (Summary)
5309 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5310 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5311 message through mail and include the original message
5312 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5313 the process/prefix convention.
5316 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5317 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5318 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5319 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5320 headers of the forwarded article.
5323 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5324 @findex gnus-summary-digest-post-forward
5326 @cindex making digests
5327 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5328 (@code{gnus-summary-digest-post-forward}). This command uses the
5329 process/prefix convention.
5332 @kindex S u (Summary)
5333 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5334 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5335 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5336 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5339 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5340 Manual}, for more information.
5343 @node Summary Message Commands
5344 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5348 @kindex S y (Summary)
5349 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5350 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5351 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5352 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5353 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5358 @node Canceling and Superseding
5359 @subsection Canceling Articles
5360 @cindex canceling articles
5361 @cindex superseding articles
5363 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5364 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5366 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5368 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5370 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5371 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5372 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5373 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5374 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5375 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5377 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5378 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5381 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5382 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5383 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5385 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5386 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5387 your original article.
5389 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5391 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5392 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5393 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5396 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5397 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5398 have posted almost the same article twice.
5400 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5401 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5402 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5403 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5404 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5405 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5406 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5407 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5408 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5409 canceled/superseded.
5411 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5413 @node Delayed Articles
5414 @section Delayed Articles
5415 @cindex delayed sending
5416 @cindex send delayed
5418 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5419 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5420 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5421 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5424 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5427 @findex gnus-delay-article
5428 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5429 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5430 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5431 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5435 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5436 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5437 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5438 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5441 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5442 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5443 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5446 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5447 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5448 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5449 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5450 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5451 that means a time tomorrow.
5454 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5455 couple of variables:
5458 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5459 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5460 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5461 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5463 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5464 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5465 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5466 formats described above.
5468 @item gnus-delay-group
5469 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5470 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5471 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5472 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5474 @item gnus-delay-header
5475 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5476 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5477 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5478 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5481 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5482 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5483 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5484 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5485 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5487 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5488 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5489 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5490 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5491 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5492 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5495 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5496 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5498 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5499 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
5500 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-nil,
5501 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
5502 argument is ignored.
5504 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
5505 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
5506 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
5510 @node Marking Articles
5511 @section Marking Articles
5512 @cindex article marking
5513 @cindex article ticking
5516 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5518 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5519 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5520 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5522 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5525 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5526 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5527 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
5531 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
5535 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
5536 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
5537 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
5541 @node Unread Articles
5542 @subsection Unread Articles
5544 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5549 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5550 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5552 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5553 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5554 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5555 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5556 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5557 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5558 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5561 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5562 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5564 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5565 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5566 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5567 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5571 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5572 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5574 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5579 @subsection Read Articles
5580 @cindex expirable mark
5582 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5587 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5588 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5589 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5592 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5593 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5596 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5597 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5598 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5601 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5602 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5605 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5606 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5609 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5610 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5613 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5614 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5617 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5618 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5621 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5622 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5625 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5626 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5630 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5631 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5632 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5636 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5637 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5639 One more special mark, though:
5643 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5644 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5646 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5647 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5648 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5649 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by gnus at
5655 @subsection Other Marks
5656 @cindex process mark
5659 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5665 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5666 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5667 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5668 in the article, and gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5669 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5672 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5673 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5674 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5675 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5678 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5679 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5680 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5683 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5684 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5685 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5688 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5689 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5690 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5691 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5694 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5695 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
5696 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
5697 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
5698 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
5699 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
5702 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5703 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
5704 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5705 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
5708 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
5709 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, some articles might not
5710 have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you are
5711 offline (unplugged). These articles get the @samp{@@} mark in the
5712 first column. (The variable @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls
5713 which character to use.)
5716 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
5717 The Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics} downloads some articles
5718 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
5719 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
5720 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
5721 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
5725 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5726 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5727 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5728 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5729 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5732 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5733 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5734 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5735 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5736 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5737 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5741 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5742 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5743 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5745 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5746 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5747 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5751 @subsection Setting Marks
5752 @cindex setting marks
5754 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5759 @kindex M c (Summary)
5760 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5761 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5762 @cindex mark as unread
5763 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5764 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5770 @kindex M t (Summary)
5771 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5772 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5773 @xref{Article Caching}.
5778 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5779 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5780 Mark the current article as dormant
5781 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5785 @kindex M d (Summary)
5787 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5788 Mark the current article as read
5789 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5793 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5794 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5795 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5800 @kindex M k (Summary)
5801 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5802 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5803 and then select the next unread article
5804 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5808 @kindex M K (Summary)
5809 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5810 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5811 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5812 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5815 @kindex M C (Summary)
5816 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5817 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5818 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5821 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5822 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5823 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5824 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5827 @kindex M H (Summary)
5828 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5829 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
5830 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5833 @kindex M h (Summary)
5834 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
5835 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
5836 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
5839 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5840 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5841 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5842 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5845 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5846 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5847 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5848 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5852 @kindex M e (Summary)
5854 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5855 Mark the current article as expirable
5856 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5859 @kindex M b (Summary)
5860 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5861 Set a bookmark in the current article
5862 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5865 @kindex M B (Summary)
5866 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5867 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5868 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5871 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5872 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5873 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5874 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5877 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5878 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5879 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5880 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5883 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5884 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5885 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5886 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5887 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5890 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5891 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5892 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5893 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5894 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5895 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5896 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5897 The default is @code{t}.
5900 @node Generic Marking Commands
5901 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5903 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5904 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5905 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5906 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5907 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5910 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
5911 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5914 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5915 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5916 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5917 to list in this manual.
5919 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5920 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5921 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5922 article, you could say something like:
5925 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5926 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5927 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
5933 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5934 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
5938 @node Setting Process Marks
5939 @subsection Setting Process Marks
5940 @cindex setting process marks
5942 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
5943 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
5944 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
5945 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
5946 commands into the cache. For more information,
5947 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
5954 @kindex M P p (Summary)
5955 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
5956 Mark the current article with the process mark
5957 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
5958 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
5962 @kindex M P u (Summary)
5963 @kindex M-# (Summary)
5964 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
5965 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
5968 @kindex M P U (Summary)
5969 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
5970 Remove the process mark from all articles
5971 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
5974 @kindex M P i (Summary)
5975 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
5976 Invert the list of process marked articles
5977 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
5980 @kindex M P R (Summary)
5981 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
5982 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5983 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
5986 @kindex M P G (Summary)
5987 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
5988 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5989 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
5992 @kindex M P r (Summary)
5993 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
5994 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
5998 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
5999 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6002 @kindex M P t (Summary)
6003 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6004 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6005 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6008 @kindex M P T (Summary)
6009 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6010 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6011 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6014 @kindex M P v (Summary)
6015 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
6016 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
6017 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
6020 @kindex M P s (Summary)
6021 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
6022 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6025 @kindex M P S (Summary)
6026 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
6027 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
6028 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
6031 @kindex M P a (Summary)
6032 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
6033 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6036 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6037 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6038 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6039 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6042 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6043 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6044 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6045 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6048 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6049 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6050 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6051 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6054 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6055 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6056 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6057 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6061 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
6062 set process marks based on article body contents.
6069 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6070 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6071 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6074 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
6075 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
6076 additional articles.
6082 @kindex / / (Summary)
6083 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6084 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6085 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6089 @kindex / a (Summary)
6090 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6091 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6092 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6096 @kindex / x (Summary)
6097 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6098 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6099 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6100 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6105 @kindex / u (Summary)
6107 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6108 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6109 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6110 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6111 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6114 @kindex / m (Summary)
6115 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6116 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6117 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6120 @kindex / t (Summary)
6121 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6122 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6123 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6124 articles younger than that number of days.
6127 @kindex / n (Summary)
6128 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6129 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
6130 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
6131 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6134 @kindex / w (Summary)
6135 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6136 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6137 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6141 @kindex / . (Summary)
6142 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6143 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6144 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6147 @kindex / v (Summary)
6148 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6149 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6150 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6153 @kindex / p (Summary)
6154 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6155 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6156 group parameter predicate
6157 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). See @pxref{Group
6158 Parameters} for more on this predicate.
6162 @kindex M S (Summary)
6163 @kindex / E (Summary)
6164 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6165 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6166 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6169 @kindex / D (Summary)
6170 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6171 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6172 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6175 @kindex / * (Summary)
6176 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6177 Include all cached articles in the limit
6178 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6181 @kindex / d (Summary)
6182 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6183 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6184 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6187 @kindex / M (Summary)
6188 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6189 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6192 @kindex / T (Summary)
6193 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6194 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6197 @kindex / c (Summary)
6198 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6199 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
6200 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6203 @kindex / C (Summary)
6204 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6205 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6206 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6207 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6210 @kindex / N (Summary)
6211 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6212 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6213 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6216 @kindex / o (Summary)
6217 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6218 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6219 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6227 @cindex article threading
6229 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6230 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6231 hierarchical fashion.
6233 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6234 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6235 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6236 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6237 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6238 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6239 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
6241 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6245 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6248 A tree-like article structure.
6251 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6254 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6255 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6256 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6257 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6258 called loose threads.
6260 @item thread gathering
6261 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6263 @item sparse threads
6264 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6265 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6271 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6272 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6276 @node Customizing Threading
6277 @subsection Customizing Threading
6278 @cindex customizing threading
6281 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6282 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6283 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6284 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
6289 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6292 @cindex loose threads
6295 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6296 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6297 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6298 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6299 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6300 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6302 When there is no real root of a thread, gnus will have to fudge
6303 something. This variable says what fudging method gnus should use.
6304 There are four possible values:
6308 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6309 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6310 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6311 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6312 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6317 @cindex adopting articles
6322 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6323 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6324 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6325 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6328 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6329 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6330 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6331 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6332 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6333 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6334 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6335 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6336 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6337 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to t.
6340 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6341 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6342 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6346 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6347 display them after one another.
6350 Don't gather loose threads.
6353 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6354 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6355 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6356 variable is @code{nil}, gnus requires an exact match between the
6357 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6358 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6359 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6360 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6361 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6362 variable to a really low number, you'll find that gnus will gather
6363 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6365 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6366 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, gnus will
6367 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6370 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6371 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6372 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6373 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6374 simplification is used.
6376 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6377 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6378 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6379 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6381 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6383 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6389 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6390 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6391 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6392 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6397 (mapconcat 'identity
6398 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6400 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6403 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6406 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6407 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6408 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6409 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6410 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6411 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6413 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6416 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6417 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6418 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6420 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6421 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6424 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6425 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6426 Remove excessive whitespace.
6428 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6429 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6430 Remove all whitespace.
6433 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6436 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6437 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6438 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6439 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6440 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6441 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6442 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6443 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6445 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6446 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6447 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6448 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6449 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6450 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6451 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6452 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6453 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6457 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6458 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6459 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6460 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6462 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6463 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6464 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6467 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6471 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6472 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6478 @node Filling In Threads
6479 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6482 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6483 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6484 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6485 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
6486 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
6487 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
6488 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
6489 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
6490 fetching old headers only works if the back end you are using carries
6491 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
6492 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
6493 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do
6496 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
6497 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
6498 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
6500 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
6501 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
6502 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
6503 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
6504 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
6505 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
6506 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where gnus guesses that an article
6507 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
6508 lines. If you select a gap, gnus will try to fetch the article in
6509 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, gnus will display all these
6510 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
6511 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, gnus won't cut
6512 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
6513 @code{nil} by default.
6515 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
6516 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
6517 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
6518 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
6519 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
6520 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
6521 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
6523 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
6524 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
6525 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
6530 @node More Threading
6531 @subsubsection More Threading
6534 @item gnus-show-threads
6535 @vindex gnus-show-threads
6536 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
6537 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
6538 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
6539 slower and more awkward.
6541 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6542 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6543 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
6546 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
6547 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
6548 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}).
6553 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6554 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
6555 gnus-article-unseen-p))
6558 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
6559 unread, but you get my drift.)
6562 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
6563 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
6564 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
6565 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
6566 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
6567 threads are expunged.
6569 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
6570 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
6571 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
6574 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6575 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6576 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
6577 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
6578 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
6579 result in a new thread.
6581 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
6582 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
6583 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
6586 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6587 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6588 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
6589 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
6590 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
6591 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
6592 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
6593 Setting this variable to an alternate value
6594 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
6595 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
6596 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
6601 @node Low-Level Threading
6602 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
6606 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
6607 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
6608 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
6609 @code{(gnus-set-summary-default-charset)}, which sets up local value of
6610 @code{default-mime-charset} in summary buffer based on variable
6611 @code{gnus-newsgroup-default-charset-alist}.
6613 @item gnus-alter-header-function
6614 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
6615 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
6616 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
6617 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
6618 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
6619 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
6620 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
6621 meaningful. Here's one example:
6624 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
6626 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
6627 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
6629 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
6631 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6638 @node Thread Commands
6639 @subsection Thread Commands
6640 @cindex thread commands
6646 @kindex T k (Summary)
6647 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
6648 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6649 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6650 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6651 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6656 @kindex T l (Summary)
6657 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
6658 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6659 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6660 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6663 @kindex T i (Summary)
6664 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6665 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6666 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6669 @kindex T # (Summary)
6670 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6671 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6672 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6675 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6676 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6677 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
6678 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6681 @kindex T T (Summary)
6682 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
6683 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
6686 @kindex T s (Summary)
6687 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
6688 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
6689 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
6692 @kindex T h (Summary)
6693 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
6694 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
6697 @kindex T S (Summary)
6698 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
6699 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
6702 @kindex T H (Summary)
6703 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
6704 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
6707 @kindex T t (Summary)
6708 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6709 Re-thread the current article's thread
6710 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6711 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6714 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6715 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6716 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6717 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6721 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6722 understand the numeric prefix.
6727 @kindex T n (Summary)
6729 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
6731 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6732 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6733 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6736 @kindex T p (Summary)
6738 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
6740 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6741 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6742 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6745 @kindex T d (Summary)
6746 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6747 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6750 @kindex T u (Summary)
6751 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6752 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6755 @kindex T o (Summary)
6756 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6757 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6760 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6761 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6762 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6763 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6764 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6765 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6766 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6767 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6768 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6769 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6770 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6771 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6775 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6776 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6778 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6779 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6780 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6781 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6782 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6783 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6784 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
6785 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6786 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-thread
6787 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6788 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6789 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6790 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6792 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6793 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6794 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6795 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
6796 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
6797 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
6798 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
6799 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6801 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6802 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6803 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6805 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6806 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6807 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6808 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6809 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6810 ascending article order.
6812 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6813 by number, you could do something like:
6816 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6817 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6818 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6819 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6822 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6823 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6824 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6825 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6826 which the articles arrived.
6828 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6832 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6834 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6835 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6838 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6839 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6840 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6841 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6844 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6845 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6846 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6847 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6848 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6849 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
6850 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6851 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
6852 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
6853 variable. It is very similar to the
6854 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
6855 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
6856 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6857 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
6858 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
6859 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
6860 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6862 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6866 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6867 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6868 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6873 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6874 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6875 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6876 @cindex article pre-fetch
6879 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6880 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6881 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6882 article appears. Why can't gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6883 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6885 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6886 article fetching, especially the way gnus does it.
6888 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6889 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6890 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6891 article 3, but since gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6892 connection is blocked.
6894 To avoid these situations, gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6895 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6896 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6897 extra connection takes some time, so gnus startup will be slower.
6899 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6900 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6901 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6902 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6905 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
6908 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6909 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6910 happen automatically.
6912 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6913 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6914 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6915 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
6916 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
6917 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6918 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6920 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6921 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6922 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6923 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
6924 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
6925 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
6926 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
6927 data structure as the only parameter.
6929 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
6932 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
6933 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
6934 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
6935 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
6938 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
6941 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
6942 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down gnus too much.
6943 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
6945 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
6946 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
6947 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
6948 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
6952 Remove articles when they are read.
6955 Remove articles when exiting the group.
6958 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
6960 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
6961 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
6962 @c from the next group.
6965 @node Article Caching
6966 @section Article Caching
6967 @cindex article caching
6970 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
6971 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
6972 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
6973 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
6974 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
6976 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
6978 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6979 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
6980 @vindex gnus-use-cache
6981 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
6982 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
6983 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
6984 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
6985 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
6987 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
6988 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
6989 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
6990 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
6991 as dormant, and don't worry.
6993 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
6995 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
6996 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
6997 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
6998 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
6999 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
7000 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
7001 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
7002 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
7003 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
7004 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
7006 @findex gnus-jog-cache
7007 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
7008 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
7009 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
7010 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
7011 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
7012 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
7013 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
7014 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
7015 not then be downloaded by this command.
7017 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
7018 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
7019 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
7020 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
7021 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
7022 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
7024 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
7025 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
7026 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
7027 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
7028 variables, the group is not cached.
7030 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
7031 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
7032 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
7033 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
7034 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
7035 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, gnus
7036 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7037 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
7038 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7041 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7042 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7043 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7044 where, isn't that cool?
7046 @node Persistent Articles
7047 @section Persistent Articles
7048 @cindex persistent articles
7050 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7051 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7052 useful in my opinion.
7054 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7055 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7056 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7057 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7058 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7059 the expiry going on at the news server.
7061 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7062 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7063 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7069 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7070 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7073 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7074 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7075 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7076 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7080 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7082 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7083 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7084 interested in persistent articles:
7087 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7091 @node Article Backlog
7092 @section Article Backlog
7094 @cindex article backlog
7096 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7097 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7098 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where gnus will buffer
7099 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7100 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7101 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7102 that, turning the backlog on will slow gnus down a little bit, and
7103 increase memory usage some.
7105 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7106 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, gnus will store
7107 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7108 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, gnus will store
7109 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7110 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7111 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7113 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
7116 @node Saving Articles
7117 @section Saving Articles
7118 @cindex saving articles
7120 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7121 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7122 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7123 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7124 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7126 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7127 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7128 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7130 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7131 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, gnus will not delete
7132 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7134 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7135 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7136 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7137 deleted before saving.
7143 @kindex O o (Summary)
7145 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7146 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7147 Save the current article using the default article saver
7148 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7151 @kindex O m (Summary)
7152 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7153 Save the current article in mail format
7154 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7157 @kindex O r (Summary)
7158 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7159 Save the current article in rmail format
7160 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7163 @kindex O f (Summary)
7164 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7165 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7166 Save the current article in plain file format
7167 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7170 @kindex O F (Summary)
7171 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7172 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7173 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7176 @kindex O b (Summary)
7177 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7178 Save the current article body in plain file format
7179 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7182 @kindex O h (Summary)
7183 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7184 Save the current article in mh folder format
7185 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7188 @kindex O v (Summary)
7189 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7190 Save the current article in a VM folder
7191 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7195 @kindex O p (Summary)
7197 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7198 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7199 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7200 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
7201 complete headers in the piped output.
7204 @kindex O P (Summary)
7205 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7206 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7207 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7208 external program Muttprint (see
7209 @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/}). The program name and
7210 options to use is controlled by the variable
7211 @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}. (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7215 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7216 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7217 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7218 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7219 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7220 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7221 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7222 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7223 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7224 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7225 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7226 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7230 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7231 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7232 gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
7233 functions below, or you can create your own.
7237 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7238 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7239 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7240 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7241 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
7242 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7243 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7245 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7246 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7247 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7248 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7249 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7250 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7252 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7253 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7254 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7255 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7256 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7257 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7258 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7260 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7261 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7262 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7263 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7264 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7265 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7267 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7268 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7269 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7270 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7271 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7273 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7274 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7275 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7276 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7277 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7280 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7281 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7282 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7283 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7284 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7286 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7287 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7288 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7289 reader to use this setting.
7292 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7293 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7294 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7295 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7298 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7299 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7300 available functions that generate names:
7304 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7305 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7306 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7308 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7309 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7310 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7312 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7313 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7314 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7316 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7317 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7318 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7320 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7321 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7322 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7325 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7326 You can have gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7327 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7328 save articles related to gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7329 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7333 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7334 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7335 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7336 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7339 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7340 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
7341 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
7342 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
7343 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
7344 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
7345 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
7346 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
7347 called returns a string or a list of strings.
7349 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
7350 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
7351 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
7352 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
7354 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
7355 means that gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
7356 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
7359 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
7360 lots of mail groups called things like
7361 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
7362 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
7363 following will do just that:
7366 (defun my-save-name (group)
7367 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
7368 (substring group (match-end 0))))
7370 (setq gnus-split-methods
7371 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
7376 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7377 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
7378 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
7379 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
7380 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
7381 all the files in the top level directory
7382 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
7383 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
7384 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
7385 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
7387 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
7388 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
7389 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
7390 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
7391 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
7394 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
7398 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
7399 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
7400 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
7403 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
7404 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
7405 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
7406 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
7409 @node Decoding Articles
7410 @section Decoding Articles
7411 @cindex decoding articles
7413 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
7414 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
7417 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
7418 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
7419 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
7420 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
7421 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
7422 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
7426 @cindex article series
7427 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
7428 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
7429 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
7430 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
7431 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
7433 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
7434 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
7435 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
7437 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, gnus
7438 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
7439 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
7441 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
7442 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
7443 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
7446 @node Uuencoded Articles
7447 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
7449 @cindex uuencoded articles
7454 @kindex X u (Summary)
7455 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
7456 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
7457 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
7460 @kindex X U (Summary)
7461 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
7462 Uudecodes and saves the current series
7463 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7466 @kindex X v u (Summary)
7467 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
7468 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
7471 @kindex X v U (Summary)
7472 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
7473 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
7474 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
7478 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
7479 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
7480 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
7481 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
7482 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7484 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
7485 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
7486 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
7487 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
7490 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
7491 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
7492 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
7493 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
7494 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
7495 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
7499 @node Shell Archives
7500 @subsection Shell Archives
7502 @cindex shell archives
7503 @cindex shared articles
7505 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
7506 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
7507 some commands to deal with these:
7512 @kindex X s (Summary)
7513 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
7514 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
7517 @kindex X S (Summary)
7518 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
7519 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
7522 @kindex X v s (Summary)
7523 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
7524 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
7527 @kindex X v S (Summary)
7528 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
7529 Unshars, views and saves the current series
7530 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
7534 @node PostScript Files
7535 @subsection PostScript Files
7541 @kindex X p (Summary)
7542 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
7543 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
7546 @kindex X P (Summary)
7547 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
7548 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
7549 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
7552 @kindex X v p (Summary)
7553 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
7554 View the current PostScript series
7555 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
7558 @kindex X v P (Summary)
7559 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
7560 View and save the current PostScript series
7561 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
7566 @subsection Other Files
7570 @kindex X o (Summary)
7571 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
7572 Save the current series
7573 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
7576 @kindex X b (Summary)
7577 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
7578 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
7579 doesn't really work yet.
7583 @node Decoding Variables
7584 @subsection Decoding Variables
7586 Adjective, not verb.
7589 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
7590 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
7591 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
7595 @node Rule Variables
7596 @subsubsection Rule Variables
7597 @cindex rule variables
7599 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
7600 variables are of the form
7603 (list '(regexp1 command2)
7610 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7611 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7613 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
7614 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
7617 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7618 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
7621 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7622 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7623 This variable is consulted if gnus couldn't make any matches from the
7624 user and default view rules.
7626 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7627 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7628 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
7633 @node Other Decode Variables
7634 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
7637 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7639 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7640 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
7641 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
7642 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
7643 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
7647 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
7648 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
7651 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
7652 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
7653 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
7656 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7657 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7658 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
7659 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
7660 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
7663 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7664 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7665 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
7667 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7668 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7669 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
7670 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
7671 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
7674 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7675 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7676 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
7678 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7679 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7680 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
7681 looking for files to display.
7683 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
7684 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
7685 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
7688 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7689 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7690 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
7693 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7694 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7695 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
7698 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7699 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7700 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
7703 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7704 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7705 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
7706 decoded articles as unread.
7708 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7709 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7710 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
7711 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
7713 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7714 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7715 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
7717 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7718 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7720 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
7721 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
7722 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
7723 @code{metamail} for viewing.
7725 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7726 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7727 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
7728 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
7729 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
7730 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
7731 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
7732 simply dropped them.
7737 @node Uuencoding and Posting
7738 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
7742 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7743 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7744 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
7745 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
7746 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7747 for you when you post the article.
7749 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7750 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7751 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7752 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7754 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7755 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7756 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7757 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7758 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7759 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7760 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
7762 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7763 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7764 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7765 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7766 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7767 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7768 Default is @code{t}.
7774 @subsection Viewing Files
7775 @cindex viewing files
7776 @cindex pseudo-articles
7778 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, gnus will attempt
7779 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7780 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7781 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, gnus will
7782 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7783 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7784 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7786 Finally, gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7787 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
7788 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
7789 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
7791 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7792 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7793 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7795 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7796 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7797 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7798 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7799 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7801 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7802 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7803 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7804 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7805 a list of parameters to that command.
7807 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7808 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7809 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7811 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7812 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7813 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7816 @node Article Treatment
7817 @section Article Treatment
7819 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7820 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7821 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7822 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7823 these articles easier.
7826 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7827 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7828 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7829 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7830 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
7831 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7832 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7833 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
7834 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7835 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7839 @node Article Highlighting
7840 @subsection Article Highlighting
7841 @cindex highlighting
7843 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7844 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7849 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7850 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7851 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7852 Do much highlighting of the current article
7853 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7854 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7857 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7858 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7859 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7860 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7861 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7862 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7863 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7864 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7865 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7866 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7867 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7868 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7871 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7872 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7873 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7875 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7878 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7880 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7881 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7882 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7884 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7885 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7886 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7888 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7889 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7890 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7891 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7892 gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7893 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7895 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7896 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7897 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
7899 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7900 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7901 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
7903 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7904 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7905 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7906 that it's a citation.
7908 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7909 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7910 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7912 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7913 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7914 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7916 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7917 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7918 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7919 cited text belonging to the attribution.
7925 @kindex W H s (Summary)
7926 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7927 @vindex gnus-signature-face
7928 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
7929 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
7930 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
7931 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
7932 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
7937 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
7940 @node Article Fontisizing
7941 @subsection Article Fontisizing
7943 @cindex article emphasis
7945 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
7946 @kindex W e (Summary)
7947 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
7948 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
7949 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
7950 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
7952 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
7953 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
7954 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
7955 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
7956 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
7957 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
7958 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
7959 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
7963 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
7964 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
7965 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
7974 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
7975 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
7976 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
7977 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
7978 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
7979 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
7980 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
7981 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
7982 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
7983 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
7984 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
7985 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
7986 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
7988 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
7989 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
7990 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
7994 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
7997 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
7999 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
8000 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
8001 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
8002 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
8004 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
8007 @node Article Hiding
8008 @subsection Article Hiding
8009 @cindex article hiding
8011 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
8012 too much cruft in most articles.
8017 @kindex W W a (Summary)
8018 @findex gnus-article-hide
8019 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
8020 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
8021 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
8024 @kindex W W h (Summary)
8025 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
8026 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
8030 @kindex W W b (Summary)
8031 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8032 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
8033 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
8036 @kindex W W s (Summary)
8037 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
8038 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8042 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8043 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8044 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8045 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8046 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8047 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8048 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8049 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8053 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8054 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8055 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8056 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8061 @kindex W W p (Summary)
8062 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
8063 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
8064 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
8065 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
8066 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
8067 articles that have signatures in them do:
8069 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
8071 (setq gnus-treat-strip-pgp t)
8073 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
8074 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
8076 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
8079 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
8084 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8085 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8086 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8087 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8090 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8091 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8092 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8093 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8096 @cindex stripping advertisements
8097 @cindex advertisements
8098 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8099 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8100 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8101 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8102 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8103 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8104 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8105 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8106 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8107 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8110 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8111 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8112 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8116 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8117 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8118 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8119 @code{(ADDRESS . BANNER)}, where ADDRESS is a regexp matching a mail
8120 address in the From header, BANNER is one of a symbol @code{signature},
8121 an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}, a regexp and @code{nil}.
8122 If ADDRESS matches author's mail address, it will remove things like
8123 advertisements. For example, if a sender has the mail address
8124 @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a banner something like
8125 @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he sends, you can use the
8126 following element to remove them:
8129 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" . "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8135 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8136 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8137 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8138 customizing the hiding:
8142 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8143 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8144 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8145 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8146 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8147 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8148 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8153 Starting point of the hidden text.
8155 Ending point of the hidden text.
8157 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8159 Number of lines of hidden text.
8162 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8163 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8164 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8165 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8166 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8171 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8172 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8174 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8175 following two variables:
8178 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8179 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8180 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8181 50), hide the cited text.
8183 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8184 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8185 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8190 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8191 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8192 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8193 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8194 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8195 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8199 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8200 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8201 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8203 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8204 citation customization.
8206 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8210 @node Article Washing
8211 @subsection Article Washing
8213 @cindex article washing
8215 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8216 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8218 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8219 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8222 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8223 articles by default.
8228 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8229 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8233 @kindex W l (Summary)
8234 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8235 Remove page breaks from the current article
8236 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8240 @kindex W r (Summary)
8241 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8242 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8243 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8244 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8245 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8246 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8248 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8249 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8250 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8251 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8254 @kindex W m (Summary)
8255 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8256 @c @icon{gnus-summary-morse-message}
8257 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8261 @kindex W t (Summary)
8263 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8264 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8265 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8268 @kindex W v (Summary)
8269 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8270 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8271 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8274 @kindex W m (Summary)
8275 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
8276 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
8277 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
8280 @kindex W o (Summary)
8281 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8282 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8285 @kindex W d (Summary)
8286 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8287 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8289 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8291 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8292 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8293 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8294 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8297 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8298 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8299 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8300 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8303 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
8304 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8305 @cindex Outlook Express
8306 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
8307 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
8308 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8311 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
8312 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
8313 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
8314 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
8315 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
8316 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the miminum and
8317 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
8318 (@code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8321 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
8322 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
8323 Repair a broken attribution line.
8324 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
8327 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
8328 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
8329 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
8330 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
8333 @kindex W w (Summary)
8334 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
8335 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
8337 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
8341 @kindex W Q (Summary)
8342 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
8343 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
8346 @kindex W C (Summary)
8347 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
8348 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
8349 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
8352 @kindex W c (Summary)
8353 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
8354 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
8355 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
8356 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
8357 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
8360 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
8361 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
8362 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
8363 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
8364 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is usually done
8365 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8366 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
8368 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8371 @kindex W Z (Summary)
8372 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
8373 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
8374 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
8375 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
8378 @kindex W u (Summary)
8379 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
8380 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
8381 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
8382 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
8383 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
8386 @kindex W h (Summary)
8387 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
8388 Treat @sc{html} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
8389 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8390 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @sc{html}.
8392 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8394 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
8395 The default is to use the function specified by
8396 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{(emacs-mime)Display
8397 Customization}) to convert the @sc{html}, but this is controlled by
8398 the @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions
8399 you can use include:
8406 Use emacs-w3m (see @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/} for more
8410 Use Links (see @uref{http://artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mikulas/links/}).
8413 Use Lynx (see @uref{http://lynx.browser.org/}).
8416 Use html2text -- a simple @sc{html} converter included with Gnus.
8421 @kindex W b (Summary)
8422 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
8423 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
8424 @xref{Article Buttons}.
8427 @kindex W B (Summary)
8428 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
8429 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
8430 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
8433 @kindex W p (Summary)
8434 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
8435 Verify a signed control message (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}).
8436 Control messages such as @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are
8437 usually signed by the hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the PGP
8438 public key of the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
8439 message.@footnote{PGP keys for many hierarchies are available at
8440 @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
8443 @kindex W s (Summary)
8444 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
8445 Verify a signed (PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}) message
8446 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
8449 @kindex W a (Summary)
8450 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
8451 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
8452 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
8455 @kindex W E l (Summary)
8456 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
8457 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
8458 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
8461 @kindex W E m (Summary)
8462 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8463 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
8464 lines with a single empty line.
8465 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
8468 @kindex W E t (Summary)
8469 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
8470 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
8471 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
8474 @kindex W E a (Summary)
8475 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
8476 Do all the three commands above
8477 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
8480 @kindex W E A (Summary)
8481 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
8482 Remove all blank lines
8483 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
8486 @kindex W E s (Summary)
8487 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
8488 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
8489 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
8492 @kindex W E e (Summary)
8493 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
8494 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
8495 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
8499 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
8502 @node Article Header
8503 @subsection Article Header
8505 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
8510 @kindex W G u (Summary)
8511 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
8512 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
8515 @kindex W G n (Summary)
8516 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
8517 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
8518 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
8521 @kindex W G f (Summary)
8522 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
8523 Fold all the message headers
8524 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
8528 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
8529 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
8530 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
8535 @node Article Buttons
8536 @subsection Article Buttons
8539 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
8540 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
8541 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
8542 button on these references.
8544 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8545 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
8546 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links and man pages.
8547 This is controlled by two variables, one that handles article bodies and
8548 one that handles article heads:
8552 @item gnus-button-alist
8553 @vindex gnus-button-alist
8554 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
8557 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8563 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
8564 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
8565 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
8566 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
8567 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}.
8570 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
8571 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
8572 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
8575 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
8576 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
8577 avoid false matches.
8580 This function will be called when you click on this button.
8583 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
8584 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
8588 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
8591 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
8594 @item gnus-header-button-alist
8595 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
8596 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
8597 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
8598 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
8601 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8604 @var{header} is a regular expression.
8606 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
8607 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
8608 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
8609 default values of the variables above.
8611 @item gnus-article-button-face
8612 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
8613 Face used on buttons.
8615 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
8616 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
8617 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
8621 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
8625 @subsection Article Date
8627 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
8628 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
8629 when the article was sent.
8634 @kindex W T u (Summary)
8635 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
8636 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
8637 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
8640 @kindex W T i (Summary)
8641 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
8643 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
8644 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
8647 @kindex W T l (Summary)
8648 @findex gnus-article-date-local
8649 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
8652 @kindex W T p (Summary)
8653 @findex gnus-article-date-english
8654 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
8655 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
8658 @kindex W T s (Summary)
8659 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
8660 @findex gnus-article-date-user
8661 @findex format-time-string
8662 Display the date using a user-defined format
8663 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
8664 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
8665 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
8666 for a list of possible format specs.
8669 @kindex W T e (Summary)
8670 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
8671 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
8672 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
8673 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
8674 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
8677 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
8680 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
8681 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
8684 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
8685 into wonderful absurdities.
8687 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
8690 (gnus-start-date-timer)
8693 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
8694 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
8698 @kindex W T o (Summary)
8699 @findex gnus-article-date-original
8700 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
8701 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
8702 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
8703 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
8704 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
8708 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
8709 preferred format automatically.
8712 @node Article Display
8713 @subsection Article Display
8718 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
8719 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
8721 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
8722 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
8724 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
8725 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
8727 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
8728 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
8730 All these functions are toggles--if the elements already exist,
8735 @kindex W D x (Summary)
8736 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
8737 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
8738 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
8741 @kindex W D d (Summary)
8742 @findex gnus-article-display-face
8743 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
8744 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
8747 @kindex W D s (Summary)
8748 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
8749 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
8752 @kindex W D f (Summary)
8753 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
8754 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
8757 @kindex W D m (Summary)
8758 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
8759 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
8760 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
8763 @kindex W D n (Summary)
8764 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
8765 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
8766 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
8769 @kindex W D D (Summary)
8770 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
8771 Remove all images from the article buffer
8772 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
8778 @node Article Signature
8779 @subsection Article Signature
8781 @cindex article signature
8783 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8784 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
8785 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
8786 that says what is to be considered a signature is
8787 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
8788 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
8789 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
8790 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
8791 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
8794 (setq gnus-signature-separator
8795 '("^-- $" ; The standard
8796 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
8797 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
8798 ; line of dashes. Shame!
8799 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
8800 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
8801 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
8804 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
8807 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
8808 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
8809 signature when displaying articles.
8813 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
8816 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
8819 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
8820 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
8822 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
8823 in question is not a signature.
8826 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
8827 listed above. Here's an example:
8830 (setq gnus-signature-limit
8831 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
8834 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
8835 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
8836 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
8837 signature after all.
8840 @node Article Miscellania
8841 @subsection Article Miscellania
8845 @kindex A t (Summary)
8846 @findex gnus-article-babel
8847 Translate the article from one language to another
8848 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
8854 @section MIME Commands
8855 @cindex MIME decoding
8857 @cindex viewing attachments
8859 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
8860 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
8866 @kindex K v (Summary)
8867 View the @sc{mime} part.
8870 @kindex K o (Summary)
8871 Save the @sc{mime} part.
8874 @kindex K c (Summary)
8875 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
8878 @kindex K e (Summary)
8879 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
8882 @kindex K i (Summary)
8883 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
8886 @kindex K | (Summary)
8887 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
8890 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
8895 @kindex K b (Summary)
8896 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
8897 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
8901 @kindex K m (Summary)
8902 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
8903 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
8904 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
8905 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
8906 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
8909 @kindex X m (Summary)
8910 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
8911 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
8912 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
8913 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8916 @kindex M-t (Summary)
8917 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
8918 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
8919 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
8922 @kindex W M w (Summary)
8923 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
8924 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
8925 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
8928 @kindex W M c (Summary)
8929 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
8930 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
8931 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
8933 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
8934 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
8935 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
8936 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
8937 include @sc{mime} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
8938 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
8941 @kindex W M v (Summary)
8942 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
8943 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
8944 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
8951 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
8952 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
8953 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8954 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
8957 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
8960 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
8964 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
8965 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
8966 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't required the @samp{MIME-Version} header
8967 before interpreting the message as a @sc{mime} message. This helps
8968 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
8969 default is @code{nil}.
8971 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
8972 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
8973 There are other, non-@sc{mime} encoding methods used. The most common
8974 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
8975 This variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
8976 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
8977 Gnus @sc{mime} machinery. The default is @code{t}.
8979 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8980 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8981 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8982 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
8983 displayed or this variable is overridden by
8984 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
8985 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
8986 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is nil.
8988 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
8989 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
8990 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8991 this list will have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
8992 displayed. This variable overrides
8993 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
8994 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
8997 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
8998 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
8999 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
9001 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9002 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9003 If this is non-nil, then all @sc{mime} parts get buttons. The default
9004 value is @code{nil}.
9006 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
9007 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
9008 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
9009 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
9010 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
9011 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
9012 save all jpegs into some directory).
9014 Here's an example function the does the latter:
9017 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
9018 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
9020 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
9021 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
9022 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
9023 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
9024 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
9027 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9028 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9029 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
9031 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9032 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9033 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @sc{mime} parts.
9034 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
9036 Ready-made functions include@*
9037 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
9038 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
9039 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
9040 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
9041 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
9042 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
9043 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
9044 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
9045 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9046 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9047 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9048 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9050 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
9051 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
9053 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
9054 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
9055 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
9058 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9059 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9060 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9061 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
9065 to your @file{.gnus.el} file.
9074 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
9075 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
9076 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
9077 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
9078 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
9079 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
9080 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
9082 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
9083 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
9084 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
9085 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
9087 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
9088 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
9089 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
9090 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
9091 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
9092 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
9093 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
9094 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
9096 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
9097 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
9098 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
9099 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
9100 quoted-printable header encoding.
9102 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
9103 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
9104 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
9108 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
9111 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
9112 means encode all charsets),
9114 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
9115 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
9116 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
9123 @cindex coding system aliases
9124 @cindex preferred charset
9126 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
9128 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
9129 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
9132 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
9133 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
9136 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
9137 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
9139 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
9142 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
9145 This will almost do the right thing.
9147 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
9151 (codepage-setup 1251)
9152 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
9156 @node Article Commands
9157 @section Article Commands
9164 @kindex A P (Summary)
9165 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
9166 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
9167 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
9168 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
9169 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
9170 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
9175 @node Summary Sorting
9176 @section Summary Sorting
9177 @cindex summary sorting
9179 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
9180 can't really see why you'd want that.
9185 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
9186 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
9187 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
9190 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
9191 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
9192 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
9195 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
9196 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
9197 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
9200 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
9201 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
9202 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
9205 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
9206 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
9207 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
9210 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
9211 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
9212 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
9215 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
9216 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
9217 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
9220 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
9221 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
9222 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
9225 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
9226 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
9227 Sort using the default sorting method
9228 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
9231 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
9232 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
9233 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
9234 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
9235 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
9239 @node Finding the Parent
9240 @section Finding the Parent
9241 @cindex parent articles
9242 @cindex referring articles
9247 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
9248 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
9249 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
9250 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
9251 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
9252 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
9253 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
9254 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
9255 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
9257 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
9258 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
9259 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, gnus will fetch the parent, the
9260 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
9261 @kbd{-3 ^}, gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
9265 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
9266 @kindex A R (Summary)
9267 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
9268 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
9271 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
9272 @kindex A T (Summary)
9273 Display the full thread where the current article appears
9274 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
9275 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
9276 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
9277 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
9278 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
9279 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
9281 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
9282 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
9283 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
9284 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
9285 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
9286 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
9289 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
9290 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
9292 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
9293 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
9294 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
9295 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
9296 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
9297 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
9298 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
9301 The current select method will be used when fetching by
9302 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
9303 by giving this command a prefix.
9305 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
9306 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
9307 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
9308 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
9309 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
9310 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
9313 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
9314 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
9315 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
9318 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
9319 then ask Google if that fails:
9322 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
9324 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
9327 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
9328 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
9329 @code{nnbabyl}, and @code{nnmaildir} are able to locate articles from
9330 any groups, while @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
9331 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current group.
9332 (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not
9333 support this at all.
9336 @node Alternative Approaches
9337 @section Alternative Approaches
9339 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
9340 gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
9343 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
9344 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
9349 @subsection Pick and Read
9350 @cindex pick and read
9352 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
9353 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
9354 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
9355 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
9357 @findex gnus-pick-mode
9358 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
9359 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
9360 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
9361 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
9362 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
9364 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
9369 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
9370 Pick the article or thread on the current line
9371 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9372 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
9373 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
9374 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
9375 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
9376 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
9379 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
9380 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
9381 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
9382 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
9386 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
9387 Unpick the thread or article
9388 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9389 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
9390 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
9391 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
9392 the thread or article at that line.
9396 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
9397 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
9398 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
9399 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
9400 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
9401 will still be visible when you are reading.
9405 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
9406 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
9407 which is mapped to the same function
9408 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
9410 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
9413 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
9416 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
9417 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
9419 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
9420 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
9421 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
9423 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
9424 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
9425 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
9426 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
9427 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
9428 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
9429 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
9433 @subsection Binary Groups
9434 @cindex binary groups
9436 @findex gnus-binary-mode
9437 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
9438 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
9439 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
9440 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
9441 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
9442 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
9445 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
9446 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
9447 command, when you have turned on this mode
9448 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
9450 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
9451 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
9455 @section Tree Display
9458 @vindex gnus-use-trees
9459 If you don't like the normal gnus summary display, you might try setting
9460 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
9461 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
9464 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
9467 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
9468 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
9469 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
9471 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9472 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9473 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
9474 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
9475 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
9477 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
9478 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
9479 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
9480 default is @code{modeline}.
9482 @item gnus-tree-line-format
9483 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
9484 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
9485 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
9486 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
9487 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
9488 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
9494 The name of the poster.
9496 The @code{From} header.
9498 The number of the article.
9500 The opening bracket.
9502 The closing bracket.
9507 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
9509 Variables related to the display are:
9512 @item gnus-tree-brackets
9513 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
9514 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
9515 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
9516 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
9517 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
9519 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9520 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9521 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
9522 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
9526 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
9527 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
9528 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will try to keep the tree
9529 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other gnus
9530 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
9531 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
9532 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
9533 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
9534 other windows displayed next to it.
9536 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
9540 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
9541 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
9544 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
9545 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
9546 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9547 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
9548 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
9549 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
9550 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
9554 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
9557 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
9567 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
9571 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
9572 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
9574 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
9576 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
9581 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
9582 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
9583 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
9586 (setq gnus-use-trees t
9587 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9588 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
9589 (gnus-add-configuration
9593 (summary 0.75 point)
9598 @xref{Window Layout}.
9601 @node Mail Group Commands
9602 @section Mail Group Commands
9603 @cindex mail group commands
9605 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
9606 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
9608 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
9609 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9614 @kindex B e (Summary)
9615 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
9616 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
9617 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
9618 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
9619 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
9622 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
9623 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
9624 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
9625 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
9626 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
9627 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
9630 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
9631 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
9632 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
9633 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
9634 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
9635 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
9638 @kindex B m (Summary)
9640 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
9641 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
9642 Move the article from one mail group to another
9643 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9644 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9647 @kindex B c (Summary)
9649 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
9650 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
9651 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
9652 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9653 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9656 @kindex B B (Summary)
9657 @cindex crosspost mail
9658 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
9659 Crosspost the current article to some other group
9660 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
9661 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
9662 be properly updated.
9665 @kindex B i (Summary)
9666 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
9667 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
9668 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
9669 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9672 @kindex B I (Summary)
9673 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
9674 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
9675 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
9676 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9679 @kindex B r (Summary)
9680 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
9681 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
9682 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
9683 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
9684 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
9685 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
9686 (which is the default).
9690 @kindex B w (Summary)
9692 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
9693 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
9694 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
9695 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
9696 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
9697 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
9698 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, gnus won't re-highlight the article.
9701 @kindex B q (Summary)
9702 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
9703 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
9704 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
9705 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
9708 @kindex B t (Summary)
9709 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
9710 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
9711 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
9714 @kindex B p (Summary)
9715 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
9716 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
9717 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
9718 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
9719 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
9720 article from your news server (or rather, from
9721 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
9722 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
9723 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
9724 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
9725 just not have arrived yet.
9728 @kindex K E (Summary)
9729 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
9730 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
9731 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
9732 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
9733 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
9737 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
9738 @cindex moving articles
9739 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have gnus
9740 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
9741 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
9742 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
9743 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
9744 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
9745 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
9748 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
9749 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
9750 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
9751 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
9755 @node Various Summary Stuff
9756 @section Various Summary Stuff
9759 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
9760 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
9761 * Summary Generation Commands::
9762 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
9766 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
9767 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
9768 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
9770 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
9771 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
9772 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
9773 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
9774 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
9775 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
9778 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9779 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9780 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
9781 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
9782 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
9784 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9785 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9786 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
9789 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9790 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9791 When gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
9792 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
9793 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
9794 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
9795 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), gnus will rename the
9796 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
9797 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
9798 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
9800 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9801 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9802 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
9803 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
9804 list of articles to be selected.
9806 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
9807 the list in one particular group:
9810 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
9811 (if (string= group "some.group")
9812 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
9816 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
9817 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
9818 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
9819 variables and their default values (when the default values are not
9820 nil), that should be made global while the summary buffer is active.
9821 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
9822 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
9823 buffers. For example:
9826 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
9827 '(message-use-followup-to
9828 (gnus-visible-headers .
9829 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
9835 @node Summary Group Information
9836 @subsection Summary Group Information
9841 @kindex H f (Summary)
9842 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
9843 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
9844 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
9845 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
9846 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
9847 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
9848 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
9849 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
9850 be used for fetching the file.
9853 @kindex H d (Summary)
9854 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
9855 Give a brief description of the current group
9856 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
9857 rereading the description from the server.
9860 @kindex H h (Summary)
9861 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
9862 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
9863 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
9866 @kindex H i (Summary)
9867 @findex gnus-info-find-node
9868 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
9872 @node Searching for Articles
9873 @subsection Searching for Articles
9878 @kindex M-s (Summary)
9879 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
9880 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
9881 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
9884 @kindex M-r (Summary)
9885 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
9886 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
9887 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
9891 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
9892 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
9893 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
9894 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
9895 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
9896 search backward instead.
9898 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
9899 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
9902 @kindex M-& (Summary)
9903 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
9904 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
9905 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
9908 @node Summary Generation Commands
9909 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
9914 @kindex Y g (Summary)
9915 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
9916 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
9919 @kindex Y c (Summary)
9920 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
9921 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
9922 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
9925 @kindex Y d (Summary)
9926 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
9927 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
9928 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
9933 @node Really Various Summary Commands
9934 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
9940 @kindex C-d (Summary)
9941 @kindex A D (Summary)
9942 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
9943 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
9944 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
9945 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
9946 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
9947 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
9948 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
9949 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
9953 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
9954 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
9955 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
9956 several documents into one biiig group
9957 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
9958 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
9959 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
9960 command understands the process/prefix convention
9961 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9964 @kindex C-t (Summary)
9965 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
9966 Toggle truncation of summary lines
9967 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
9968 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
9969 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
9973 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
9974 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
9975 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
9978 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
9979 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
9980 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
9981 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
9984 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
9985 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
9986 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
9987 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
9992 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
9993 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
9994 @cindex summary exit
9995 @cindex exiting groups
9997 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
9998 group and return you to the group buffer.
10004 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
10005 @kindex q (Summary)
10006 @findex gnus-summary-exit
10007 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
10008 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
10009 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
10010 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
10011 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
10012 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
10013 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
10014 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
10015 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
10016 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
10020 @kindex Z E (Summary)
10021 @kindex Q (Summary)
10022 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
10023 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
10024 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
10028 @kindex Z c (Summary)
10029 @kindex c (Summary)
10030 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
10031 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
10032 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
10033 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
10036 @kindex Z C (Summary)
10037 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
10038 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
10039 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
10042 @kindex Z n (Summary)
10043 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
10044 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
10045 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
10048 @kindex Z R (Summary)
10049 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
10050 Exit this group, and then enter it again
10051 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
10052 all articles, both read and unread.
10056 @kindex Z G (Summary)
10057 @kindex M-g (Summary)
10058 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
10059 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
10060 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
10061 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
10062 articles, both read and unread.
10065 @kindex Z N (Summary)
10066 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
10067 Exit the group and go to the next group
10068 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
10071 @kindex Z P (Summary)
10072 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
10073 Exit the group and go to the previous group
10074 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
10077 @kindex Z s (Summary)
10078 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
10079 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
10080 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
10081 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
10082 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
10085 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
10086 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
10087 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
10088 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
10090 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
10091 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
10092 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
10093 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
10094 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
10095 If you do that, gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
10096 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
10097 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
10098 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
10099 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
10100 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
10101 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
10103 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
10105 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
10106 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
10107 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
10108 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
10109 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
10110 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
10111 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
10112 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
10113 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
10116 @node Crosspost Handling
10117 @section Crosspost Handling
10121 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
10122 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
10123 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
10124 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
10125 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
10126 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
10129 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
10130 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
10131 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
10132 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
10133 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
10135 @cindex cross-posting
10138 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
10139 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
10140 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
10141 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
10142 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
10143 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
10144 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
10145 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
10146 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
10147 the cross reference mechanism.
10149 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
10150 @cindex overview.fmt
10151 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
10152 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
10153 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
10154 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
10155 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
10156 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
10159 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
10160 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
10161 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
10166 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
10169 @node Duplicate Suppression
10170 @section Duplicate Suppression
10172 By default, gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
10173 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
10174 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
10175 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
10180 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
10181 is evil and not very common.
10184 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
10185 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
10188 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
10189 different @sc{nntp} servers.
10192 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
10195 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
10196 well, but these four are the most common situations.
10198 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
10199 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
10200 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
10201 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
10202 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
10203 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
10204 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
10207 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
10208 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
10209 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
10210 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
10211 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
10212 saw the article in.
10215 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
10216 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
10217 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
10219 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
10220 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
10221 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
10222 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
10223 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single gnus
10224 session are suppressed.
10226 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
10227 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
10228 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
10229 suppression list. The default is 10000.
10231 @item gnus-duplicate-file
10232 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
10233 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
10234 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
10237 If you have a tendency to stop and start gnus often, setting
10238 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
10239 you leave gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
10240 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
10241 so that means that if you stop and start gnus often, you should set
10242 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
10243 to you to figure out, I think.
10248 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
10249 The formats that are supported are PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} and @sc{s/mime},
10250 however you need some external programs to get things to work:
10254 To handle PGP and PGP/MIME messages, you have to install an OpenPGP
10255 implementation such as GnuPG. The lisp interface to GnuPG included
10256 with Gnus is called PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg, PGG Manual}), but
10257 Mailcrypt and gpg.el are also supported.
10260 To handle @sc{s/mime} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
10261 or newer is recommended.
10265 More information on how to set things up can be found in the message
10266 manual (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
10269 @item mm-verify-option
10270 @vindex mm-verify-option
10271 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
10272 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
10273 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10275 @item mm-decrypt-option
10276 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
10277 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
10278 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
10279 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10282 @vindex mml1991-use
10283 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for PGP
10284 messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but @code{mailcrypt} and
10285 @code{gpg} are also supported although deprecated.
10288 @vindex mml2015-use
10289 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10290 PGP/MIME messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but @code{mailcrypt}
10291 and @code{gpg} are also supported although deprecated.
10296 @section Mailing List
10298 @kindex A M (summary)
10299 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
10300 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
10301 either add a `to-list' group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
10302 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
10303 summary buffer, or say:
10306 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-mailing-list-mode)
10309 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
10314 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
10315 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
10316 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
10319 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
10320 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
10321 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
10324 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
10325 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
10326 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
10330 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
10331 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
10332 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
10335 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
10336 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10337 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
10340 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
10341 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10342 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
10346 @node Article Buffer
10347 @chapter Article Buffer
10348 @cindex article buffer
10350 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
10351 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
10352 tell gnus otherwise.
10355 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
10356 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
10357 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
10358 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
10359 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
10363 @node Hiding Headers
10364 @section Hiding Headers
10365 @cindex hiding headers
10366 @cindex deleting headers
10368 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
10369 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
10371 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
10372 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
10373 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
10374 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
10375 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
10376 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
10377 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
10378 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
10379 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
10381 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
10385 @item gnus-visible-headers
10386 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
10387 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
10388 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
10389 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
10391 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
10392 the article and the subject, you'd say:
10395 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
10398 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10401 @item gnus-ignored-headers
10402 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
10403 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
10404 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
10405 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
10406 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
10408 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} field
10409 and the @code{Xref} field, you might say:
10412 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
10415 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10418 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
10419 variable will have no effect.
10423 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
10424 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
10425 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
10426 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
10427 the headers are to be displayed.
10429 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
10430 and then the subject, you might say something like:
10433 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
10436 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
10437 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
10439 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
10440 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
10441 You can hide further boring headers by setting
10442 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
10443 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
10444 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
10445 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
10448 These conditions are:
10451 Remove all empty headers.
10453 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
10454 @code{Newsgroups} header.
10456 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
10457 @code{From} header.
10459 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
10462 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10463 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
10465 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
10468 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
10470 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
10473 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
10476 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
10477 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
10480 This is also the default value for this variable.
10484 @section Using MIME
10487 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
10488 while people stand around yawning.
10490 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
10491 while all newsreaders die of fear.
10493 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
10494 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
10495 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
10497 @vindex gnus-show-mime
10498 @vindex gnus-article-display-method-for-mime
10499 @findex gnus-article-display-mime-message
10500 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
10501 @code{gnus-article-display-method-for-mime}, which is
10502 @code{gnus-article-display-mime-message} by default. This function
10503 calls the @sc{semi} MIME-View program to actually do the work. For more
10504 information on @sc{semi} MIME-View, see its manual page (however it is
10505 not existed yet, sorry).
10507 Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
10508 @sc{mime} all the time. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime} set, then
10509 you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article buffer.
10510 These can't be avoided.
10512 In GNUS or Gnus, it might be best to just use the toggling functions
10513 from the summary buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance,
10514 you enter the group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it,
10515 @sc{mime} has decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible
10516 sing-a-long song comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find
10517 the volume button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to
10518 look at you, and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you
10519 can't find the program to control the volume, and everybody else in the
10520 room suddenly decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel
10523 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
10525 To avoid such kind of situation, gnus stops to use
10526 @code{metamail-buffer}. So now, you can set @code{gnus-show-mime} to
10527 non-@code{nil} every-time, then you can push button in the article
10528 buffer when there are nobody else.
10530 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
10533 @node Customizing Articles
10534 @section Customizing Articles
10535 @cindex article customization
10537 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
10538 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
10539 called automatically when you select the articles.
10541 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
10542 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
10543 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
10544 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
10546 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
10547 for sensible values.
10551 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
10554 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
10557 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
10560 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
10563 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
10567 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
10568 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
10569 regexps in the list.
10572 A list where the first element is not a string:
10574 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
10575 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
10576 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
10580 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
10584 @code{mime}: Do this treatment if the value of @code{gnus-show-mime}' is
10589 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
10590 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
10591 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
10592 considered to contain just a single part.
10594 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
10595 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
10596 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
10597 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
10598 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
10599 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
10600 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
10602 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
10603 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
10604 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
10605 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
10608 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
10609 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
10611 @xref{Article Buttons}.
10613 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
10614 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
10615 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
10616 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
10617 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
10618 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
10619 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
10620 @item gnus-treat-strip-pgp (t, last, integer)
10621 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
10622 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
10623 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
10624 @item gnus-treat-decode-article-as-default-mime-charset (t, integer)
10626 @xref{Article Washing}.
10628 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
10629 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
10630 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
10631 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
10632 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
10633 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
10634 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
10636 @xref{Article Date}.
10638 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
10639 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
10640 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
10644 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
10646 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
10648 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
10649 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
10650 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
10654 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
10658 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
10659 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
10660 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
10661 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
10662 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
10663 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
10664 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
10665 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
10667 @xref{Article Hiding}.
10669 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
10670 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
10671 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
10673 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
10675 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
10676 @item gnus-treat-translate
10677 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
10679 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
10680 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
10681 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
10682 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
10684 @xref{Article Header}.
10689 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
10690 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
10691 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
10692 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
10693 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
10697 @node Article Keymap
10698 @section Article Keymap
10700 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
10701 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
10702 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
10703 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
10706 A few additional keystrokes are available:
10711 @kindex SPACE (Article)
10712 @findex gnus-article-next-page
10713 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
10716 @kindex DEL (Article)
10717 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
10718 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
10721 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
10722 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
10723 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
10724 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
10725 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
10728 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
10729 @findex gnus-article-mail
10730 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
10731 given a prefix, include the mail.
10734 @kindex s (Article)
10735 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
10736 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
10737 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
10740 @kindex ? (Article)
10741 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
10742 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
10743 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
10746 @kindex TAB (Article)
10747 @findex gnus-article-next-button
10748 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
10749 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
10752 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
10753 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
10754 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
10757 @kindex R (Article)
10758 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
10759 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
10760 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If given a prefix, make a
10761 wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10765 @kindex F (Article)
10766 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
10767 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
10768 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If given a prefix, make
10769 a wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10777 @section Misc Article
10781 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
10782 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
10783 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
10784 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
10787 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
10788 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
10790 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
10791 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
10793 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
10794 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
10795 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
10796 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
10797 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
10798 the contents of the article buffer.
10800 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
10801 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
10802 Hook called in article mode buffers.
10804 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10805 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10806 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
10807 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
10809 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
10810 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
10811 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
10812 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
10813 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
10819 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
10820 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
10821 performed. The characters and their meaning:
10826 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
10829 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
10832 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
10833 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
10834 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
10837 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
10840 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
10843 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
10848 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
10852 @vindex gnus-break-pages
10854 @item gnus-break-pages
10855 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
10856 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
10857 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
10858 paging will not be done.
10860 @item gnus-page-delimiter
10861 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
10862 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
10867 @node Composing Messages
10868 @chapter Composing Messages
10869 @cindex composing messages
10872 @cindex sending mail
10877 @cindex using s/mime
10878 @cindex using smime
10880 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
10881 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
10882 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
10883 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
10884 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
10885 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
10888 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
10889 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
10890 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
10891 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
10892 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
10893 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
10894 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
10895 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
10898 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
10899 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
10905 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
10908 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
10909 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
10910 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
10911 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
10912 @code{nil} include all headers.
10914 @item gnus-add-to-list
10915 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
10916 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
10917 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
10919 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
10920 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
10921 This can also be a function receiving the group name as the only
10922 parameter which should return non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is
10923 needed, or a regular expression matching group names, where
10924 confirmation is should be asked for.
10926 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
10927 press R anyway, this variable might be for you.
10929 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
10930 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
10931 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
10932 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
10933 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
10938 @node Posting Server
10939 @section Posting Server
10941 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
10942 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
10944 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
10946 It can be quite complicated.
10948 @vindex gnus-post-method
10949 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
10950 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
10951 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
10952 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
10953 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
10954 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
10955 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
10956 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
10957 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
10960 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
10963 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
10964 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
10965 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
10966 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
10968 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
10969 gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
10971 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
10972 If that's the case, gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
10975 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
10976 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
10978 When sending mail, Message invokes @code{message-send-mail-function}.
10979 The default function, @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, pipes
10980 your article to the @code{sendmail} binary for further queuing and
10981 sending. When your local system is not configured for sending mail
10982 using @code{sendmail}, and you have access to a remote @sc{smtp}
10983 server, you can set @code{message-send-mail-function} to
10984 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and make sure to setup the @code{smtpmail}
10985 package correctly. An example:
10988 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
10989 smtpmail-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
10990 ;; The following variable needs to be set because of the FLIM version of
10991 ;; smtpmail.el. Which smtpmail.el is used depends on the `load-path'.
10992 (setq smtp-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
10995 To the thing similar to this, there is @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}.
10996 It is useful if your ISP requires the POP-before-SMTP authentication.
10997 See the documentation for the function @code{mail-source-touch-pop}.
10999 Other possible choices for @code{message-send-mail-function} includes
11000 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
11001 and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
11003 @node Mail and Post
11004 @section Mail and Post
11006 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
11010 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
11011 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
11012 @cindex mailing lists
11014 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
11015 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
11016 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
11017 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
11018 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
11019 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
11020 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
11021 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
11022 still a pain, though.
11026 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
11027 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
11028 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
11031 @findex ispell-message
11033 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
11036 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
11037 you're in, you could say something like the following:
11040 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
11044 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
11045 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
11047 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
11050 Modify to suit your needs.
11053 @node Archived Messages
11054 @section Archived Messages
11055 @cindex archived messages
11056 @cindex sent messages
11058 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
11059 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
11060 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
11061 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
11064 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
11065 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
11068 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
11069 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server gnus is to
11070 use to store sent messages. The default is:
11073 (nnfolder "archive"
11074 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
11075 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
11076 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
11077 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
11080 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
11081 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
11082 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
11083 directory chosen, you could say something like:
11086 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
11087 '(nnfolder "archive"
11088 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
11089 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
11090 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
11093 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
11095 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
11096 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
11097 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
11099 This variable can be used to do the following:
11104 Messages will be saved in that group.
11106 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
11107 message will not be stored in the select method given by
11108 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
11109 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
11110 has the default value shown above. Then setting
11111 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
11112 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
11113 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
11117 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
11119 an alist of regexps, functions and forms
11120 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
11123 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
11128 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
11130 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
11133 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
11135 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
11138 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
11140 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11141 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
11142 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
11143 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
11146 More complex stuff:
11148 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11149 '((if (message-news-p)
11154 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
11155 messages in one file per month:
11158 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11159 '((if (message-news-p)
11161 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
11164 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
11165 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
11167 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
11168 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
11169 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
11170 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
11171 gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
11172 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
11173 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
11174 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
11175 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
11176 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
11178 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
11179 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
11180 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
11181 this will disable archiving.
11184 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
11185 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
11186 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
11187 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
11188 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
11191 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
11192 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
11193 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
11196 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
11197 but the latter is the preferred method.
11199 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11200 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11201 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
11203 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11204 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11205 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
11206 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
11207 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
11208 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
11209 changed in the future.
11214 @node Posting Styles
11215 @section Posting Styles
11216 @cindex posting styles
11219 All them variables, they make my head swim.
11221 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
11222 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
11223 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
11226 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
11227 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
11228 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
11229 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
11230 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
11235 (signature "Peace and happiness")
11236 (organization "What me?"))
11238 (signature "Death to everybody"))
11239 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
11240 (organization "Emacs is it")))
11243 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
11244 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
11245 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
11246 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
11247 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
11248 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
11249 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
11250 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
11252 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
11253 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
11254 If it is the form @code{(header MATCH REGEXP)}, then Gnus will look in
11255 the original article for a header whose name is MATCH and compare that
11256 REGEXP. MATCH and REGEXP are strings. (There original article is the
11257 one you are replying or following up to. If you are not composing a
11258 reply or a followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
11259 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with no
11260 arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
11261 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
11262 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
11265 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
11266 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
11267 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
11268 @code{x-face-file}, @code{address} (overriding
11269 @code{user-mail-address}), @code{name} (overriding
11270 @code{(user-full-name)}) or @code{body}. The attribute name can also
11271 be a string or a symbol. In that case, this will be used as a header
11272 name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the article; if
11273 the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed. If the
11274 attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the result
11277 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
11278 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
11279 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
11280 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
11281 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
11282 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
11283 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
11284 references chars lines xref extra.
11286 @vindex message-reply-headers
11288 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
11289 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
11290 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
11292 @findex message-mail-p
11293 @findex message-news-p
11295 So here's a new example:
11298 (setq gnus-posting-styles
11300 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11302 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11303 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11305 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
11306 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; A form
11307 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
11308 (message-news-p ;; A function symbol
11309 (signature my-news-signature))
11310 (window-system ;; A value symbol
11311 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
11312 ;; If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.
11313 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
11314 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
11315 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; A user defined function
11316 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
11317 (address "user@@bar.foo")
11318 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
11319 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
11321 (From (save-excursion
11322 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
11323 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
11325 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
11328 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
11329 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
11330 if you fill many roles.
11332 Setting the @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} variable will make
11333 posting-styles allow to have distinctive names. You can specify an
11334 arbitrary posting-style when article posting with @kbd{S P} in the
11335 summary buffer. @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} is an alist which maps
11336 the names to styles. Once a posting-style is added to the alist, we can
11337 import it from @code{gnus-posting-styles}. If an attribute whose name
11338 is @code{import} is found, Gnus will look for the attribute value in
11339 @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} and expand it in place.
11344 (setq gnus-named-posting-styles
11346 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11348 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11349 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11352 (organization "The Church of Emacs"))))
11355 The posting-style named "Emacs" will inherit all the attributes from
11356 "Default" except @code{organization}.
11363 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
11364 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
11365 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
11366 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
11367 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
11369 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
11370 some sort using the gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
11371 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
11372 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
11373 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
11377 @vindex nndraft-directory
11378 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
11379 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
11380 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
11381 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
11382 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
11383 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
11385 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
11386 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
11389 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
11390 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
11391 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
11392 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
11393 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
11394 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
11395 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
11396 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
11397 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
11398 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
11399 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
11400 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
11401 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
11402 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
11404 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
11405 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
11406 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
11408 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
11409 @kindex D e (Draft)
11410 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
11411 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
11412 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
11414 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
11417 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
11418 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
11419 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
11420 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
11421 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
11422 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
11423 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
11426 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
11427 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
11428 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
11431 @node Rejected Articles
11432 @section Rejected Articles
11433 @cindex rejected articles
11435 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
11436 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
11437 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
11438 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
11440 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of gnus.
11441 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
11442 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
11443 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So gnus saves these
11444 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
11446 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
11447 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
11448 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
11450 @node Signing and encrypting
11451 @section Signing and encrypting
11453 @cindex using s/mime
11454 @cindex using smime
11456 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla PGP
11457 format or @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}. For decoding such messages,
11458 see the @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} options
11459 (@pxref{Security}).
11461 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
11462 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
11463 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
11464 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
11465 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
11466 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
11467 automatically encrypted messages.
11469 Instructing MML to perform security operations on a @sc{mime} part is
11470 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c
11471 C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
11476 @kindex C-c C-m s s
11477 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
11479 Digitally sign current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11482 @kindex C-c C-m s o
11483 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11485 Digitally sign current message using PGP.
11488 @kindex C-c C-m s p
11489 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11491 Digitally sign current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11494 @kindex C-c C-m c s
11495 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
11497 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11500 @kindex C-c C-m c o
11501 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
11503 Digitally encrypt current message using PGP.
11506 @kindex C-c C-m c p
11507 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
11509 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11512 @kindex C-c C-m C-n
11513 @findex mml-unsecure-message
11514 Remove security related MML tags from message.
11518 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
11520 @node Select Methods
11521 @chapter Select Methods
11522 @cindex foreign groups
11523 @cindex select methods
11525 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
11526 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
11527 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
11528 personal mail group.
11530 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
11531 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
11532 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
11533 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
11534 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
11535 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
11537 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
11538 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
11540 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
11543 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
11544 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
11545 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
11546 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
11547 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
11549 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
11552 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
11553 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
11554 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
11555 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
11556 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
11557 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
11558 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
11559 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
11563 @node Server Buffer
11564 @section Server Buffer
11566 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
11567 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
11568 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
11569 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
11570 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
11571 back end represents a virtual server.
11573 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
11574 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
11575 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
11576 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
11578 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
11579 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
11580 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
11581 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
11582 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
11583 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
11584 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
11586 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
11587 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
11590 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
11591 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
11592 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
11593 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
11594 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
11595 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
11596 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
11599 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
11600 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
11603 @node Server Buffer Format
11604 @subsection Server Buffer Format
11605 @cindex server buffer format
11607 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
11608 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
11609 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
11610 variable, with some simple extensions:
11615 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
11618 The name of this server.
11621 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
11624 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
11627 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
11628 The mode line can also be customized by using the
11629 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
11630 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
11640 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
11643 @node Server Commands
11644 @subsection Server Commands
11645 @cindex server commands
11651 @findex gnus-server-add-server
11652 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
11656 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
11657 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
11660 @kindex SPACE (Server)
11661 @findex gnus-server-read-server
11662 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
11666 @findex gnus-server-exit
11667 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
11671 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
11672 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
11676 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
11677 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
11681 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
11682 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
11686 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
11687 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
11691 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
11692 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
11693 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
11698 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
11699 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
11700 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
11701 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
11706 @node Example Methods
11707 @subsection Example Methods
11709 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
11712 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
11715 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
11721 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
11722 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
11725 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
11726 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
11728 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
11729 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
11733 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
11736 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
11737 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
11739 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
11740 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
11741 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
11745 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
11748 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
11751 Here's the method for a public spool:
11755 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
11756 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
11762 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
11763 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
11764 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
11765 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
11766 should probably look something like this:
11770 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
11771 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
11772 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
11773 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11776 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
11777 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
11778 configuration to the example above:
11781 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
11784 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}.
11786 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
11787 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
11788 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
11792 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
11793 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
11794 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
11795 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11798 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
11799 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
11800 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
11801 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
11804 @node Creating a Virtual Server
11805 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
11807 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
11808 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
11810 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
11811 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
11812 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
11814 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
11816 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
11817 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
11818 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
11819 will contain the following:
11829 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
11830 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
11831 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
11834 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
11835 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
11836 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
11839 @node Server Variables
11840 @subsection Server Variables
11842 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
11843 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
11844 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
11845 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
11846 won't change the "derived" variables.
11848 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
11849 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
11850 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
11851 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
11852 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
11853 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
11854 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
11855 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
11856 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
11860 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
11861 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
11862 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
11866 @node Servers and Methods
11867 @subsection Servers and Methods
11869 Wherever you would normally use a select method
11870 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
11871 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
11872 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
11876 @node Unavailable Servers
11877 @subsection Unavailable Servers
11879 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
11880 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
11881 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
11882 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
11883 actually the case or not.
11885 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
11886 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
11887 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
11888 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
11889 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
11890 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
11891 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
11892 it will regard that server as ``down''.
11894 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
11895 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
11897 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
11898 with the following commands:
11904 @findex gnus-server-open-server
11905 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
11906 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
11910 @findex gnus-server-close-server
11911 Close the connection (if any) to the server
11912 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
11916 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
11917 Mark the current server as unreachable
11918 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
11921 @kindex M-o (Server)
11922 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
11923 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
11924 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
11927 @kindex M-c (Server)
11928 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
11929 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
11930 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
11934 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
11935 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
11936 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
11940 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
11941 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
11947 @section Getting News
11948 @cindex reading news
11949 @cindex news back ends
11951 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
11952 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
11953 or it can read from a local spool.
11956 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
11957 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
11965 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
11966 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
11967 server as the, uhm, address.
11969 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
11970 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
11971 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
11972 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
11974 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
11975 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
11976 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
11978 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
11983 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
11984 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
11985 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
11987 @cindex authentification
11988 @cindex nntp authentification
11989 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
11990 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
11991 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
11992 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
11993 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
11994 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
11995 present in this hook.
11997 @item nntp-authinfo-function
11998 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
11999 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12000 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
12001 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
12002 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
12003 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
12004 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
12005 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
12006 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
12007 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
12008 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
12012 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
12015 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
12017 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
12018 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
12019 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
12020 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
12021 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
12022 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
12023 @samp{force} is explained below.
12027 Here's an example file:
12030 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
12031 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
12034 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
12035 have to be first, for instance.
12037 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
12038 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
12039 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
12040 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
12041 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
12042 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
12043 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
12045 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
12046 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
12052 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
12053 previously mentioned.
12055 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
12057 @item nntp-server-action-alist
12058 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
12059 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
12060 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
12061 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
12064 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
12065 '(("innd" (ding))))
12068 You probably don't want to do that, though.
12070 The default value is
12073 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
12074 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
12075 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
12078 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
12079 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
12081 @item nntp-maximum-request
12082 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
12083 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this back end
12084 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
12085 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
12086 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
12087 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
12088 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
12090 @item nntp-connection-timeout
12091 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
12092 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
12093 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
12094 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
12095 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
12096 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
12097 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
12098 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
12099 no timeouts are done.
12101 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
12102 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
12103 @c @cindex PPP connections
12104 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
12105 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
12106 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
12107 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
12108 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
12109 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
12110 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
12111 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
12112 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
12113 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
12115 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
12116 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
12117 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
12118 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
12119 @c described above.
12121 @item nntp-server-hook
12122 @vindex nntp-server-hook
12123 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
12126 @item nntp-buggy-select
12127 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
12128 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
12130 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
12131 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
12132 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
12133 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
12136 @item nntp-xover-commands
12137 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
12140 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
12141 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
12145 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
12146 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
12147 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
12148 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
12149 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
12150 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
12151 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
12152 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
12153 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
12154 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
12155 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
12157 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
12158 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
12159 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
12161 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12162 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12163 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
12164 server closes connection.
12166 @item nntp-record-commands
12167 @vindex nntp-record-commands
12168 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
12169 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
12170 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
12171 that doesn't seem to work.
12173 @item nntp-open-connection-function
12174 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
12175 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
12176 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
12177 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
12178 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
12179 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
12180 indirect ones (two pre-made).
12182 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
12183 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
12184 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
12185 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
12186 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
12187 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
12188 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
12191 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
12194 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
12195 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
12197 @item nntp-list-options
12198 @vindex nntp-list-options
12199 List of newsgroup name used for a option of the LIST command to restrict
12200 the listing output to only the specified newsgroups. Each newsgroup name
12201 can be a shell-style wildcard, for instance, @dfn{fj.*}, @dfn{japan.*},
12202 etc. Fortunately, if the server can accept such a option, it will
12203 probably make gnus run faster. You may use it as a server variable as
12207 (setq gnus-select-method
12208 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12209 (nntp-list-options ("fj.*" "japan.*"))))
12212 @item nntp-options-subscribe
12213 @vindex nntp-options-subscribe
12214 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will be subscribed
12215 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12216 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12217 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12218 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12221 (setq gnus-select-method
12222 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12223 (nntp-options-subscribe "^fj\\.\\|^japan\\.")))
12226 @item nntp-options-not-subscribe
12227 @vindex nntp-options-not-subscribe
12228 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will not be subscribed
12229 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12230 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12231 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12232 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12235 (setq gnus-select-method
12236 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12237 (nntp-options-not-subscribe "\\.binaries\\.")))
12242 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
12243 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
12244 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
12248 @node Direct Functions
12249 @subsubsection Direct Functions
12250 @cindex direct connection functions
12252 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
12253 between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server. The behavior of these
12254 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
12255 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12258 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
12259 @item nntp-open-network-stream
12260 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
12263 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
12264 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
12265 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12266 this you must have OpenSSL (@uref{http://www.openssl.org}) or SSLeay
12267 installed (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also
12268 need @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distribution, for instance). You then
12269 define a server as follows:
12272 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
12274 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
12275 ;; however, openssl s_client -port doesn't like named ports
12277 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12278 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
12279 (nntp-port-number 563)
12280 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12283 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
12284 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
12285 Opens a connection to an @sc{nntp} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
12286 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
12287 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
12288 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
12289 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
12290 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
12294 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12295 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
12296 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
12299 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
12300 session, which is not a good idea.
12304 @node Indirect Functions
12305 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
12306 @cindex indirect connection functions
12308 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
12309 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @sc{nntp} server.
12310 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
12311 the "via" family of connection: they're all prefixed with "via" to make
12312 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
12313 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12316 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12317 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12318 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
12319 to the real @sc{nntp} server from there. This is useful for instance if
12320 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
12322 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12325 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
12326 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
12327 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
12328 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
12330 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12331 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12332 List of strings to be used as the switches to
12333 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
12334 @samp{ssh} for `nntp-via-rlogin-command', you may set this to
12335 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
12336 this to @samp{("-t")} or @samp{("-C" "-t")} if the telnet command
12337 requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate host.
12340 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12341 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12342 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
12343 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
12345 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12348 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
12349 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
12350 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
12353 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
12354 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
12355 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
12356 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
12358 @item nntp-via-user-password
12359 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
12360 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
12362 @item nntp-via-envuser
12363 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
12364 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
12365 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
12366 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
12368 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
12369 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
12370 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
12371 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
12378 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
12383 @item nntp-via-user-name
12384 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
12385 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
12387 @item nntp-via-address
12388 @vindex nntp-via-address
12389 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
12394 @node Common Variables
12395 @subsubsection Common Variables
12397 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
12398 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
12403 @item nntp-pre-command
12404 @vindex nntp-pre-command
12405 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native connection
12406 function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream} and
12407 @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is where you would put a @samp{SOCKS}
12408 wrapper for instance.
12411 @vindex nntp-address
12412 The address of the @sc{nntp} server.
12414 @item nntp-port-number
12415 @vindex nntp-port-number
12416 Port number to connect to the @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{nntp}.
12417 If you use @sc{nntp} over @sc{ssl}, you may want to use integer ports rather
12418 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews}), because
12419 external SSL tools may not work with named ports.
12421 @item nntp-end-of-line
12422 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
12423 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
12424 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
12425 using a non native connection function.
12427 @item nntp-telnet-command
12428 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
12429 Command to use when connecting to the @sc{nntp} server through
12430 @samp{telnet}. This is NOT for an intermediate host. This is just for
12431 the real @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{telnet}.
12433 @item nntp-telnet-switches
12434 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
12435 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
12442 @subsection News Spool
12446 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
12447 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
12448 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
12451 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
12452 anything else) as the address.
12454 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
12455 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
12456 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
12457 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
12461 @item nnspool-inews-program
12462 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
12463 Program used to post an article.
12465 @item nnspool-inews-switches
12466 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
12467 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
12469 @item nnspool-spool-directory
12470 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
12471 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
12472 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
12474 @item nnspool-nov-directory
12475 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
12476 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
12477 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
12479 @item nnspool-lib-dir
12480 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
12481 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
12483 @item nnspool-active-file
12484 @vindex nnspool-active-file
12485 The name of the active file.
12487 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
12488 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
12489 The name of the group descriptions file.
12491 @item nnspool-history-file
12492 @vindex nnspool-history-file
12493 The name of the news history file.
12495 @item nnspool-active-times-file
12496 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
12497 The name of the active date file.
12499 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
12500 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
12501 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
12504 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12505 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12507 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
12508 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
12509 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
12515 @section Getting Mail
12516 @cindex reading mail
12519 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
12523 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
12524 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
12525 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
12526 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
12527 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
12528 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
12529 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
12530 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
12531 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
12532 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
12533 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
12534 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
12535 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
12539 @node Mail in a Newsreader
12540 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
12542 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
12543 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
12544 of a culture shock.
12546 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
12547 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
12549 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
12550 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
12551 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
12552 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
12554 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
12556 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
12557 deleted? How awful!
12559 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
12560 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
12561 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
12562 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
12565 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
12566 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
12567 they want to treat a message.
12569 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
12570 via @sc{smtp}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
12571 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
12572 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
12573 archived somewhere else.
12575 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
12576 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
12577 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
12578 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
12579 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
12581 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
12582 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
12583 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
12585 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
12586 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
12589 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
12590 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
12591 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
12592 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
12593 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
12595 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
12596 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
12597 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
12598 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
12599 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
12600 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
12604 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
12605 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
12607 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
12608 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
12609 and things will happen automatically.
12611 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
12612 mail" back end), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
12615 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
12618 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
12619 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
12620 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
12621 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
12622 like any other group.
12624 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
12627 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12628 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12629 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12633 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
12634 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
12635 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
12638 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
12639 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
12640 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
12643 @node Splitting Mail
12644 @subsection Splitting Mail
12645 @cindex splitting mail
12646 @cindex mail splitting
12648 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
12649 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
12650 to be split into groups.
12653 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12654 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12655 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12656 ("mail.other" "")))
12659 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
12660 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
12661 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
12662 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
12663 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
12664 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
12665 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
12668 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
12671 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
12672 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
12673 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
12674 mail belongs in that group.
12676 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
12677 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
12678 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
12679 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
12680 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
12681 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
12683 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
12684 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
12685 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
12686 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
12687 thinks should carry this mail message.
12689 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
12690 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
12691 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
12692 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
12694 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
12695 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
12696 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
12697 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
12698 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
12700 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
12703 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
12704 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
12705 links. If that's the case for you, set
12706 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
12707 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
12709 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
12710 @kindex nnmail-split-history
12711 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
12712 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
12713 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
12714 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
12717 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
12718 Header lines longer than the value of
12719 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
12722 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
12723 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
12724 By default the splitting codes MIME decodes headers so you can match
12725 on non-ASCII strings. The @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset}
12726 variable specifies the default charset for decoding. The behaviour
12727 can be turned off completely by binding
12728 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} to nil, which is useful if you
12729 want to match articles based on the raw header data.
12731 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
12732 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If
12733 you specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable
12734 @code{mail-sources} @pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}, however, then
12735 splitting does @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
12736 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-nil value to make splitting
12737 happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on other kinds
12740 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
12741 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
12742 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
12743 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
12744 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
12745 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
12746 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
12747 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
12748 month's rent money.
12752 @subsection Mail Sources
12754 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
12755 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
12759 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
12760 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
12761 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
12765 @node Mail Source Specifiers
12766 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
12768 @cindex mail server
12771 @cindex mail source
12773 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
12774 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
12779 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
12782 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
12783 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
12784 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
12787 The following mail source types are available:
12791 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
12797 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
12798 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
12799 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
12802 An example file mail source:
12805 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
12808 Or using the default file name:
12814 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
12815 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
12816 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
12819 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
12823 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
12826 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
12830 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
12833 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
12835 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
12838 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
12842 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
12843 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
12844 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files. That is,
12845 there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that directory and
12846 groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool} will be put in
12847 the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix to be used instead
12848 of @code{.spool}.) Setting
12849 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil forces Gnus to
12850 scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful if you want
12851 to scan mail groups at a specified level.
12853 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
12854 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
12855 that to a non-nil value, then the normal splitting process is applied
12856 to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
12862 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
12866 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
12870 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
12871 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
12872 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
12873 predicate are considered.
12877 Script run before/after fetching mail.
12881 An example directory mail source:
12884 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
12889 Get mail from a POP server.
12895 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
12896 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
12899 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
12900 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
12901 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
12902 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
12903 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
12906 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
12910 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
12914 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
12915 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
12918 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
12921 The valid format specifier characters are:
12925 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
12926 included in this string.
12929 The name of the server.
12932 The port number of the server.
12935 The user name to use.
12938 The password to use.
12941 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
12942 corresponding keywords.
12945 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
12946 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
12949 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
12950 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
12953 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
12954 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
12957 @item :authentication
12958 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
12959 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
12963 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this can be the symbol
12964 @code{ssl}, the symbol @code{tls} or others. The default is @code{nil}
12965 and use insecure connections. Note that for SSL/TLS, you need external
12966 programs and libraries:
12970 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL@. Requires OpenSSL (the program
12971 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
12972 library @samp{ssl.el}.
12974 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to SSL)@.
12975 Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
12980 Non-@code{nil} if mail is to be left on the server and UIDL used for
12981 message retrieval. The default is @code{nil}.
12985 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
12986 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
12988 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
12989 default user name, and default fetcher:
12995 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
12998 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
12999 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
13002 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
13005 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
13009 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
13010 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
13011 contains exactly one mail.
13017 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
13018 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
13021 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
13022 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
13024 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
13025 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
13026 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
13029 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
13030 from locking problems).
13034 Two example maildir mail sources:
13037 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
13038 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
13042 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
13047 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
13048 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
13049 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
13050 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
13053 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, SSL/TLS and STARTTLS support you
13054 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
13060 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
13061 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13064 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
13065 @samp{993} for SSL/TLS connections.
13068 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
13072 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
13076 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
13077 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
13078 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{ssl},
13079 @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
13081 @item :authentication
13082 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
13083 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
13084 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
13085 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
13088 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
13089 mapped into the `imap-shell-program' variable. This should be a
13090 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
13096 The valid format specifier characters are:
13100 The name of the server.
13103 User name from `imap-default-user'.
13106 The port number of the server.
13109 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13110 corresponding keywords.
13113 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
13114 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
13117 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
13118 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
13119 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
13120 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
13121 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
13122 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
13125 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
13126 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
13127 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
13128 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
13131 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
13132 after finishing the fetch.
13136 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
13139 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
13141 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
13145 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{www.hotmail.com},
13146 @uref{webmail.netscape.com}, @uref{www.netaddress.com},
13147 @uref{mail.yahoo..com}.
13149 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
13150 required for url "4.0pre.46".
13152 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
13158 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
13159 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
13162 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
13166 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
13170 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
13171 folder after finishing the fetch.
13175 An example webmail source:
13178 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
13180 :password "secret")
13185 @item Common Keywords
13186 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
13192 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
13193 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
13197 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
13202 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
13203 useful when you use local mail and news.
13208 @subsubsection Function Interface
13210 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
13211 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
13212 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
13213 consider the following mail-source setting:
13216 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
13217 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
13220 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
13221 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
13222 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
13223 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
13224 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
13226 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
13229 @node Mail Source Customization
13230 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
13232 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
13233 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
13237 @item mail-source-crash-box
13238 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
13239 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
13240 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
13242 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
13243 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
13244 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
13246 @item mail-source-directory
13247 @vindex mail-source-directory
13248 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
13249 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
13250 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
13253 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13254 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13255 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
13256 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
13257 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
13258 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
13260 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
13261 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
13262 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
13264 @item mail-source-movemail-program
13265 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
13266 If non-nil, name of program for fetching new mail. If nil,
13267 @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
13272 @node Fetching Mail
13273 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
13275 @vindex mail-sources
13276 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
13277 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
13278 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
13279 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
13281 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
13282 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
13285 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
13286 mail server, you'd say something like:
13291 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13292 :password "secret")))
13295 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
13299 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
13300 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13303 :password "secret")))
13307 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
13308 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
13309 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
13310 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
13311 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
13312 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
13316 @node Mail Back End Variables
13317 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
13319 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
13323 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13324 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13325 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
13326 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
13328 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
13329 @item nnmail-split-hook
13330 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
13331 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
13332 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
13333 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
13334 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
13335 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
13336 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
13337 in the buffer will show up in any files.
13338 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
13341 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13342 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13343 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13344 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13345 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
13346 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
13347 starting to handle the new mail) and
13348 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
13349 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
13350 default file modes the new mail files get:
13353 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13354 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
13356 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13357 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
13360 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
13361 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
13362 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
13363 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
13364 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
13365 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
13366 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
13368 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
13369 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
13370 @findex delete-file
13371 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
13373 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13374 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13375 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
13376 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
13377 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
13379 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13380 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13381 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
13382 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
13383 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
13385 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
13386 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
13387 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
13392 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
13393 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
13394 @cindex mail splitting
13395 @cindex fancy mail splitting
13397 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
13398 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
13399 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
13400 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
13401 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
13402 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
13404 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
13407 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
13408 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
13409 ;; from real errors.
13410 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
13412 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
13413 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
13414 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
13415 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
13416 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
13417 ;; Other mailing lists...
13418 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
13419 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
13420 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
13421 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
13422 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
13423 ;; message was really cross-posted.
13424 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
13425 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
13427 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
13428 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
13432 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
13433 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
13434 the five possible split syntaxes:
13439 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
13440 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
13444 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
13445 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
13446 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
13447 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
13448 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
13449 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
13450 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
13451 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
13454 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13455 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
13456 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
13457 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
13460 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13461 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
13464 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
13465 (i.e., delete) this message. Use with extreme caution.
13468 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
13469 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
13470 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
13471 function should return a @var{split}.
13474 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
13475 body of the messages:
13478 (defun split-on-body ()
13480 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
13481 (goto-char (point-min))
13482 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
13486 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
13487 when the @code{:} function is run.
13490 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13491 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
13492 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
13496 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
13500 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
13501 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
13502 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
13503 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
13504 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
13506 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
13507 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
13508 are expanded as specified by the variable
13509 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
13510 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
13513 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
13514 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
13515 when all this splitting is performed.
13517 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
13518 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
13519 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
13522 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
13525 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
13526 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
13528 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
13529 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
13530 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
13531 groupings 1 through 9.
13533 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
13534 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
13535 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
13536 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
13537 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
13538 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
13539 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
13540 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
13541 it once per thread.
13543 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} and
13544 @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-nil value. And then
13545 you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon
13548 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; or 'delete
13549 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
13551 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
13552 ;; other splits go here
13556 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
13557 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
13558 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
13559 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
13560 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
13561 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
13562 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
13563 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
13564 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name
13565 unless the group name matches the regexp
13566 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is recommended
13567 that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a somewhat higher
13568 number than the default so that the message ids are still in the cache.
13569 (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300 kBytes in size.)
13570 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13571 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
13572 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
13573 messages goes into the new group.
13575 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
13576 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
13577 outgoing messages are written to an `outgoing' group, you could set
13578 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
13579 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
13583 @node Group Mail Splitting
13584 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
13585 @cindex mail splitting
13586 @cindex group mail splitting
13588 @findex gnus-group-split
13589 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
13590 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
13591 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
13592 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
13593 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
13594 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
13595 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
13596 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
13598 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
13599 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
13600 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
13601 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
13603 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
13604 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
13605 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
13606 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
13607 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
13608 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
13609 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
13611 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
13612 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
13613 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
13614 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
13615 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
13616 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
13617 @code{gnus-group-split}.
13619 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
13620 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
13621 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
13622 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
13623 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
13624 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
13625 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
13626 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
13627 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
13628 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
13629 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
13630 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
13631 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
13633 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
13638 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
13639 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
13641 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
13642 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
13643 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
13644 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
13646 ((split-spec . catch-all))
13649 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
13650 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
13651 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
13654 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
13655 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
13656 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
13660 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
13661 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
13662 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
13666 (: gnus-group-split-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
13669 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
13670 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
13671 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
13672 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
13673 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
13674 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
13675 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
13676 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
13677 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
13679 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
13680 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
13681 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
13682 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
13683 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
13684 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
13685 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
13686 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
13687 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
13689 @findex gnus-group-split-update
13690 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
13691 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
13692 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
13693 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
13694 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus.el}:
13697 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
13700 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
13701 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
13702 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
13703 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
13704 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
13707 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
13708 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
13709 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
13710 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
13712 @node Incorporating Old Mail
13713 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
13714 @cindex incorporating old mail
13715 @cindex import old mail
13717 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
13718 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
13719 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
13722 Doing so can be quite easy.
13724 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
13725 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
13726 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
13727 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
13728 your @code{nnml} groups.
13734 Go to the group buffer.
13737 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
13738 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13741 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
13744 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
13745 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
13748 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
13749 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
13752 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
13753 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
13754 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
13755 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
13756 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
13758 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
13759 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
13760 using the new mail back end.
13763 @node Expiring Mail
13764 @subsection Expiring Mail
13765 @cindex article expiry
13767 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
13768 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
13769 different approach to mail reading.
13771 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
13772 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
13773 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
13774 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
13775 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
13776 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
13779 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
13780 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default keybindings, this means
13781 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
13782 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
13783 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
13784 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
13785 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
13786 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
13787 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
13789 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
13790 two features, called `auto-expire' and `total-expire', that can help you
13791 with this. In a nutshell, `auto-expire' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
13792 for you when you select an article. And `total-expire' means that Gnus
13793 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
13794 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
13795 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
13798 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
13799 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
13800 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
13801 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
13802 into its own group.)
13804 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
13805 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
13806 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
13807 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
13808 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
13809 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
13810 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring @pxref{Adaptive
13811 Scoring}. Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
13814 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13815 Groups that match the regular expression
13816 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
13817 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
13818 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
13820 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
13821 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
13822 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
13823 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
13824 @file{.gnus.el} file:
13826 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
13828 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
13829 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
13830 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
13833 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
13834 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
13835 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
13836 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
13837 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
13839 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
13840 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
13843 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13844 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
13847 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
13848 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
13850 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
13851 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
13852 don't really mix very well.
13854 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
13855 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
13856 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
13857 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
13860 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
13861 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
13862 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
13863 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
13866 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13868 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13870 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
13872 ((string= group "mail.junk")
13874 ((string= group "important")
13880 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
13881 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
13883 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
13884 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
13885 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
13888 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
13889 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
13891 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
13892 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
13893 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
13894 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
13895 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
13896 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
13897 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
13898 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
13899 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
13900 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
13901 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
13902 from as its parameter) which should return a target -- either a group
13903 name or @code{delete}.
13905 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
13907 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
13910 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
13911 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
13912 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
13913 expire mail to groups according to the variable
13914 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
13917 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
13918 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
13919 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
13920 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
13921 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
13924 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
13925 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
13926 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
13927 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
13928 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
13929 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
13931 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
13932 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
13933 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
13934 easier for procmail users.
13936 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
13937 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
13938 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
13939 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
13940 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
13941 caution. Even more dangerous is the
13942 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
13943 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
13944 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
13945 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
13946 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
13947 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
13948 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
13951 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
13953 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
13954 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
13955 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
13956 auto-expire turned on.
13960 @subsection Washing Mail
13961 @cindex mail washing
13962 @cindex list server brain damage
13963 @cindex incoming mail treatment
13965 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
13966 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
13967 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
13968 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
13969 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
13970 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
13972 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
13973 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
13974 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
13977 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
13978 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
13979 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
13980 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
13983 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
13984 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
13985 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
13986 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
13987 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
13990 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
13991 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
13992 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
13993 Emacs running on MS machines.
13997 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
13998 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
13999 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
14000 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
14003 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14004 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14005 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
14006 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
14008 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
14009 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
14010 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
14011 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
14012 into a feature by documenting it.)
14014 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14015 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14016 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
14017 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
14018 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
14019 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
14020 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
14023 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
14024 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
14027 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
14028 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
14031 This can also be done non-destructively with
14032 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
14034 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
14035 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
14036 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
14038 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14039 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14041 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
14042 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
14043 @code{References} headers.
14047 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14048 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14049 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
14053 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
14054 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
14055 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
14062 @subsection Duplicates
14064 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
14065 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
14066 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
14067 @cindex duplicate mails
14068 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
14069 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
14070 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
14071 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
14072 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
14073 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
14074 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
14075 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
14076 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
14077 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
14078 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
14079 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
14080 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
14082 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
14083 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
14084 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
14085 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
14087 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
14090 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
14091 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
14095 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
14096 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
14097 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
14098 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
14099 (any mail "mail.misc")
14106 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14107 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
14112 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
14113 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
14114 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
14115 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
14116 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
14119 @node Not Reading Mail
14120 @subsection Not Reading Mail
14122 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
14123 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
14124 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
14126 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
14127 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
14128 mail, which should help.
14130 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14131 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14132 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14133 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14134 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14135 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
14136 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
14137 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
14138 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
14139 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
14140 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
14142 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
14143 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
14147 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
14148 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
14150 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
14151 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
14152 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
14154 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
14155 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
14156 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
14157 Spool}). You might notice that only five back ends are listed below;
14158 @code{nnmaildir}'s documentation has not yet been completely
14159 incorporated into this manual. Until it is, you can find it at
14160 @uref{http://multivac.cwru.edu./nnmaildir/}.
14163 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
14164 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
14165 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
14166 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
14167 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
14168 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
14172 @node Unix Mail Box
14173 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
14175 @cindex unix mail box
14177 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14178 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14179 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
14180 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
14181 which group it belongs in.
14183 Virtual server settings:
14186 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
14187 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14188 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
14191 @item nnmbox-active-file
14192 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14193 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
14194 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
14196 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
14197 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14198 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
14199 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
14204 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
14208 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14209 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14210 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
14211 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
14212 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
14214 Virtual server settings:
14217 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
14218 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14219 The name of the rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
14221 @item nnbabyl-active-file
14222 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14223 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
14224 @file{~/.rmail-active}
14226 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14227 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14228 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
14234 @subsubsection Mail Spool
14236 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
14238 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
14239 format. It should be used with some caution.
14241 @vindex nnml-directory
14242 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
14243 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
14244 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
14245 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
14247 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
14250 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
14251 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
14252 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
14253 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
14254 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
14255 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
14256 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
14257 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
14259 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
14260 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
14261 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
14262 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
14264 @cindex self contained nnml servers
14266 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
14267 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14268 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14269 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
14270 for a group is usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
14271 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
14272 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
14273 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
14276 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
14277 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
14278 them next time it starts.
14280 Virtual server settings:
14283 @item nnml-directory
14284 @vindex nnml-directory
14285 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
14286 The default is the value of `message-directory' (whose default value is
14289 @item nnml-active-file
14290 @vindex nnml-active-file
14291 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
14292 @file{~/Mail/active"}.
14294 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
14295 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
14296 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14297 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}.
14299 @item nnml-get-new-mail
14300 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14301 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
14304 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
14305 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
14306 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14307 default is @code{nil}.
14309 @item nnml-nov-file-name
14310 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
14311 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
14313 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14314 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14315 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
14317 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
14318 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
14319 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14320 default is @code{nil}.
14322 @item nnml-marks-file-name
14323 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
14324 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
14326 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
14327 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
14328 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
14333 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
14334 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
14335 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
14336 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
14337 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
14338 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
14339 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
14344 @subsubsection MH Spool
14346 @cindex mh-e mail spool
14348 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
14349 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks file.
14350 This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than @code{nnml},
14351 but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
14353 Virtual server settings:
14356 @item nnmh-directory
14357 @vindex nnmh-directory
14358 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
14359 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14362 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
14363 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14364 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
14368 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
14369 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
14370 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
14371 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
14372 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
14373 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
14374 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
14379 @subsubsection Mail Folders
14381 @cindex mbox folders
14382 @cindex mail folders
14384 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a separate
14385 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
14386 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
14389 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
14391 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
14392 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14393 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14394 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
14395 Marks for a group is usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
14396 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
14397 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder} directory.
14398 Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to backup, use
14399 @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the
14400 @code{nnfolder} directory).
14402 Virtual server settings:
14405 @item nnfolder-directory
14406 @vindex nnfolder-directory
14407 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
14408 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14411 @item nnfolder-active-file
14412 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
14413 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
14415 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14416 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14417 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14418 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}
14420 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
14421 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14422 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
14425 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14426 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14427 @cindex backup files
14428 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
14429 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
14430 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
14431 your @file{.emacs} file:
14434 (defun turn-off-backup ()
14435 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
14437 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
14440 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14441 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14442 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
14443 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
14444 extract some information from it before removing it.
14446 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14447 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14448 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14449 default is @code{nil}.
14451 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14452 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14453 The extension for @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
14455 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
14456 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
14457 The directory where the @sc{nov} files should be stored. If nil,
14458 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14460 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14461 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14462 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14463 default is @code{nil}.
14465 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14466 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14467 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
14469 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
14470 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
14471 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If nil,
14472 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14477 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
14478 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
14479 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
14480 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
14481 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
14482 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
14485 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
14486 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
14488 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
14489 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
14490 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
14491 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
14492 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
14494 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
14495 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
14496 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
14497 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
14498 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
14499 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
14500 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
14501 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
14504 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
14505 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
14506 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
14507 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
14512 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
14513 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
14514 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
14515 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
14516 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
14517 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
14518 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
14519 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
14520 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
14521 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
14522 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
14523 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
14524 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
14529 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
14530 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
14531 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
14532 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
14533 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
14534 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
14535 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
14536 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
14537 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
14538 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
14539 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
14540 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
14541 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
14542 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
14544 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
14545 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
14550 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
14551 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
14552 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
14553 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
14554 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
14555 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
14556 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
14557 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
14558 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
14559 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
14560 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
14561 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
14562 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
14563 provided by the active file and overviews.
14565 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
14566 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
14567 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
14568 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
14569 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
14572 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
14573 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
14578 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
14579 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
14580 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
14581 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
14582 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
14583 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
14584 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
14588 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
14589 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
14590 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
14591 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
14592 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
14593 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
14594 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
14595 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
14596 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
14598 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
14599 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
14600 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
14601 friendly mail back end all over.
14605 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
14606 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
14607 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
14608 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
14609 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
14610 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
14611 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to ReiserFS
14612 (@uref{http://www.namesys.com/}) or another non-block-structured
14615 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
14616 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
14617 This means you can skip Gnus's mail splitting if your mail is already
14618 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
14619 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
14620 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
14621 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
14622 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
14623 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
14624 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will undergo
14625 treatment such as duplicate checking.
14627 An article will not necessarily keep the same number across Gnus
14628 sessions; articles are renumbered starting from 1 for each Gnus session
14629 (more precisely, each time you open the @code{nnmaildir} server). This
14630 way, you don't get gaps in your article number ranges, and when entering
14631 large groups, Gnus is likely to give a more accurate article count. The
14632 price is that @code{nnmaildir} doesn't work with the cache or agent.
14633 This will probably be changed in the future.
14635 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
14636 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
14637 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
14638 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
14639 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
14642 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses group
14643 parameters slightly different from those of other mail back ends.
14645 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
14646 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
14647 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
14648 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
14649 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
14650 would) to make it use less memory.
14652 Startup and shutdown are likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than
14653 with other back ends. Everything in between is likely to be faster,
14654 depending in part on your file system.
14656 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
14657 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
14662 @node Browsing the Web
14663 @section Browsing the Web
14665 @cindex browsing the web
14669 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
14670 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
14671 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
14672 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
14673 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
14674 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
14675 even know what a news group is.
14677 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
14678 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
14679 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
14680 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
14681 you mad in the end.
14683 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
14686 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
14687 interfaces to these sources.
14691 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
14692 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
14693 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
14694 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
14695 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
14696 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
14699 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
14701 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
14702 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
14703 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
14704 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
14705 though, you should be ok.
14707 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
14708 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
14709 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
14710 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
14711 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
14713 @node Archiving Mail
14714 @subsection Archiving Mail
14715 @cindex archiving mail
14716 @cindex backup of mail
14718 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
14719 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
14720 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
14721 marks is fairly simple.
14723 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
14724 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
14727 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
14728 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
14729 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
14730 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
14731 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
14732 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
14733 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
14734 before you restore the data.
14736 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
14737 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
14738 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
14739 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
14740 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
14741 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
14742 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
14743 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
14744 is unnecessary in that case.
14747 @subsection Web Searches
14752 @cindex Usenet searches
14753 @cindex searching the Usenet
14755 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
14756 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
14757 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
14758 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
14759 searches without having to use a browser.
14761 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
14762 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
14763 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
14764 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
14765 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
14767 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
14768 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
14769 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
14770 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
14771 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
14772 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
14773 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
14774 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
14775 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
14776 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
14779 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
14780 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
14781 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
14782 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
14783 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
14784 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
14786 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
14787 to use @code{nnweb}.
14789 Virtual server variables:
14794 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
14795 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
14796 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
14799 @vindex nnweb-search
14800 The search string to feed to the search engine.
14802 @item nnweb-max-hits
14803 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
14804 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
14807 @item nnweb-type-definition
14808 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
14809 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
14810 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
14815 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
14819 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
14822 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
14825 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
14829 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
14836 @subsection Slashdot
14840 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
14841 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
14842 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
14844 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
14845 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
14848 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
14849 '((nnslashdot "")))
14852 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
14853 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
14854 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
14855 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
14856 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
14859 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
14860 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14862 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
14863 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
14864 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
14865 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
14866 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
14867 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
14870 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
14873 @item nnslashdot-threaded
14874 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
14875 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
14876 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
14877 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
14878 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
14879 but much, much slower than unthreaded.
14881 @item nnslashdot-login-name
14882 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
14883 The login name to use when posting.
14885 @item nnslashdot-password
14886 @vindex nnslashdot-password
14887 The password to use when posting.
14889 @item nnslashdot-directory
14890 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
14891 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
14892 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
14894 @item nnslashdot-active-url
14895 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
14896 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
14897 news articles and comments. The default is
14898 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
14900 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
14901 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
14902 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
14904 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
14906 @item nnslashdot-article-url
14907 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
14908 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
14910 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
14912 @item nnslashdot-threshold
14913 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
14914 The score threshold. The default is -1.
14916 @item nnslashdot-group-number
14917 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
14918 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
14919 updated. The default is 0.
14926 @subsection Ultimate
14928 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
14930 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
14931 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
14932 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
14933 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
14935 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
14936 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
14937 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
14938 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
14939 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
14940 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
14941 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
14943 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
14946 @item nnultimate-directory
14947 @vindex nnultimate-directory
14948 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
14949 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
14954 @subsection Web Archive
14956 @cindex Web Archive
14958 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
14959 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
14960 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
14961 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
14964 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
14965 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
14966 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
14967 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
14968 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
14969 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
14970 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
14972 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
14975 @item nnwarchive-directory
14976 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
14977 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
14978 @samp{~/News/warchive/}.
14980 @item nnwarchive-login
14981 @vindex nnwarchive-login
14982 The account name on the web server.
14984 @item nnwarchive-passwd
14985 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
14986 The password for your account on the web server.
14994 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
14995 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
14996 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
14999 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
15000 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
15003 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
15006 @item nnrss-directory
15007 @vindex nnrss-directory
15008 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
15009 @samp{~/News/rss/}.
15013 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
15014 the summary buffer.
15017 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
15018 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
15020 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
15022 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
15023 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
15026 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
15029 (require 'browse-url)
15031 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
15033 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
15036 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
15037 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
15040 (browse-url (cdr url))
15041 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
15042 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
15044 (eval-after-load "gnus"
15045 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
15046 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
15047 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
15050 @node Customizing w3
15051 @subsection Customizing w3
15057 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
15058 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
15059 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
15061 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
15062 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
15063 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
15066 (eval-after-load "w3"
15068 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
15069 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
15070 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
15071 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
15073 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
15076 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
15077 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
15086 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
15087 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
15088 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
15089 specify the network address of the server.
15091 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
15092 POP can, it can hence be viewed as a POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
15093 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
15094 protocol -- however, @sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp}
15095 because news is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
15097 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a POP++, use an imap entry in
15098 @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the
15099 @sc{imap} server and store them on the local disk. This is not the
15100 usage described in this section--@xref{Mail Sources}.
15102 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
15103 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
15104 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
15105 usage explained in this section.
15107 A server configuration in @code{~/.gnus} with a few @sc{imap} servers
15108 might look something like the following. (Note that for SSL/TLS, you
15109 need external programs and libraries, see below.)
15112 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15113 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
15114 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
15116 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15117 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
15118 ; a UW server running on localhost
15120 (nnimap-server-port 143)
15121 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15122 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
15123 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
15124 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
15125 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
15126 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
15127 (nnimap-stream network))
15128 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
15130 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
15131 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
15132 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
15135 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
15140 @item nnimap-address
15141 @vindex nnimap-address
15143 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
15144 server name if not specified.
15146 @item nnimap-server-port
15147 @vindex nnimap-server-port
15148 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
15150 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
15153 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15154 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
15157 @item nnimap-list-pattern
15158 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
15159 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
15160 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
15161 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
15162 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
15163 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
15165 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
15166 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
15167 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
15170 Example server specification:
15173 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15174 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
15175 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
15178 @item nnimap-stream
15179 @vindex nnimap-stream
15180 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
15181 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
15182 of SSL/TLS. (@sc{imap} over SSL/TLS is being replaced by STARTTLS, which
15183 can be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
15185 Example server specification:
15188 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15189 (nnimap-stream ssl))
15192 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
15196 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
15197 @samp{imtest} program.
15199 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
15201 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
15202 SSL). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
15205 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Requires OpenSSL (the program
15206 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
15207 library @samp{ssl.el}.
15209 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
15211 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
15214 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
15215 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
15216 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
15217 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
15218 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
15219 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
15220 restrictions on @sc{imap} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
15221 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
15222 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
15225 @vindex imap-ssl-program
15226 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
15227 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
15228 and nnimap support it too - although the most recent versions of
15229 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
15230 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
15231 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
15232 to OpenSSL/SSLeay. You also need @samp{ssl.el} (from the W3
15233 distribution, for instance).
15235 @vindex imap-shell-program
15236 @vindex imap-shell-host
15237 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
15238 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
15240 @item nnimap-authenticator
15241 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
15243 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
15244 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
15246 Example server specification:
15249 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15250 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
15253 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
15257 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
15258 external program @code{imtest}.
15260 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
15263 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
15264 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
15266 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
15268 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
15270 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your email address as password.
15273 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
15275 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
15276 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
15277 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
15278 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
15279 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
15280 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
15283 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
15284 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
15285 running in circles yet?
15287 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
15288 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
15291 The possible options are:
15296 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
15299 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
15300 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
15301 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
15302 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
15304 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
15309 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
15310 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
15312 If non-nil (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as well),
15313 for other @sc{imap} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
15314 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
15315 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @sc{imap}
15316 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @sc{imap}
15319 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
15320 enable per-user persistant dormant flags, using something like:
15323 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
15324 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15325 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
15326 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15329 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
15330 as ticked for other users.
15332 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
15334 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
15336 This variable contain the @sc{imap} search command sent to server when
15337 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
15338 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
15339 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
15341 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
15342 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
15343 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
15344 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
15346 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
15347 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
15349 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
15350 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
15351 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
15357 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
15358 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
15359 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
15360 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
15361 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
15366 @node Splitting in IMAP
15367 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
15368 @cindex splitting imap mail
15370 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
15371 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
15372 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
15373 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
15374 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
15378 Here are the variables of interest:
15382 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
15383 @cindex splitting, crosspost
15385 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
15387 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
15388 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
15390 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
15392 @item nnimap-split-inbox
15393 @cindex splitting, inbox
15395 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
15397 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
15398 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
15402 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
15403 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
15406 No nnmail equivalent.
15408 @item nnimap-split-rule
15409 @cindex Splitting, rules
15410 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
15412 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
15415 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
15416 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
15417 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
15418 Neither did I, we need examples.
15421 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15423 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
15424 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
15425 ("INBOX.private" "")))
15428 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
15429 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
15430 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
15432 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
15433 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
15437 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
15440 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
15441 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
15443 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
15444 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
15445 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
15446 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
15448 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
15449 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
15450 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
15451 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
15452 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
15453 them every time you fetch new mail.)
15455 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
15456 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
15457 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
15459 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
15460 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
15461 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15463 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
15465 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
15466 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
15467 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
15470 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15471 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
15472 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
15473 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
15474 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
15475 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
15478 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
15479 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
15480 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
15481 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
15482 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
15483 group/function elements.
15485 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
15487 @item nnimap-split-predicate
15489 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
15491 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
15492 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
15494 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
15495 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
15496 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
15499 @item nnimap-split-fancy
15500 @cindex splitting, fancy
15501 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
15502 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
15504 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15505 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
15506 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
15508 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
15509 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15510 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
15511 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15516 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
15517 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
15520 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
15522 @item nnimap-split-download-body
15523 @findex nnimap-split-download-body
15524 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
15526 Set to non-nil to download entire articles during splitting. This is
15527 generally not required, and will slow things down considerably. You
15528 may need it if you want to use an advanced splitting function that
15529 analyses the body to split the article.
15533 @node Expiring in IMAP
15534 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
15535 @cindex expiring imap mail
15537 Even though @sc{nnimap} is not a proper @sc{nnmail} derived back end,
15538 it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
15539 Unlike splitting in IMAP (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}) it do not clone
15540 the @sc{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating @var{nnimap-expiry-wait})
15541 but reuse the @sc{nnmail} variables. What follows below are the
15542 variables used by the @sc{nnimap} expiry process.
15544 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @sc{imap} server is
15545 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
15546 @sc{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
15547 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
15548 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
15549 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
15550 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
15551 messages. Most do, fortunately.
15555 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
15556 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
15558 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
15559 number, the symbol @var{immediate} or @var{never}.
15561 @item nnmail-expiry-target
15563 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
15564 @sc{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
15565 that if the destination is a IMAP group on the same server, the
15566 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
15570 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
15571 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
15572 @cindex editing imap acls
15573 @cindex Access Control Lists
15574 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
15576 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
15578 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
15579 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
15580 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
15583 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
15584 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
15585 editing window with detailed instructions.
15587 Some possible uses:
15591 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
15592 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
15593 follow the list without subscribing to it.
15595 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
15596 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
15597 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
15601 @node Expunging mailboxes
15602 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
15606 @cindex Manual expunging
15608 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
15610 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
15611 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
15612 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
15614 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
15617 @node A note on namespaces
15618 @subsection A note on namespaces
15619 @cindex IMAP namespace
15622 The IMAP protocol has a concept called namespaces, described by the
15623 following text in the RFC:
15626 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
15628 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
15629 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
15630 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
15631 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
15633 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
15634 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
15635 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
15636 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
15637 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
15638 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
15641 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the IMAP
15642 implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace prefixes in a way
15643 that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
15645 Specifically, University of Washington's IMAP server uses mailbox
15646 names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only in the
15647 @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is created
15648 (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed without
15649 the namespace prefix, i.e @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do not make it
15650 possible for the user to guarantee that user entered mailbox names
15651 will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands, you should
15652 simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in Gnus.
15654 See the UoW @sc{imapd} documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
15655 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
15656 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
15658 @node Other Sources
15659 @section Other Sources
15661 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
15662 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
15666 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
15667 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
15668 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
15669 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
15670 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
15674 @node Directory Groups
15675 @subsection Directory Groups
15677 @cindex directory groups
15679 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
15680 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
15683 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
15684 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
15685 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
15686 back end to read directories. Big deal.
15688 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
15689 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
15690 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
15691 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
15692 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
15694 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
15696 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
15697 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
15698 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
15699 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
15702 @node Anything Groups
15703 @subsection Anything Groups
15706 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
15707 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
15708 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
15711 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
15712 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
15713 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
15714 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
15715 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
15716 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
15717 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
15718 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
15719 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
15720 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
15723 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
15724 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
15725 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
15726 in the article buffer, just as usual.
15728 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
15729 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
15730 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
15731 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
15733 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
15734 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
15735 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
15736 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
15737 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
15738 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
15739 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
15740 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
15745 @item nneething-map-file-directory
15746 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
15747 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
15748 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
15750 @item nneething-exclude-files
15751 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
15752 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
15753 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
15755 @item nneething-include-files
15756 @vindex nneething-include-files
15757 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
15758 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
15760 @item nneething-map-file
15761 @vindex nneething-map-file
15762 Name of the map files.
15766 @node Document Groups
15767 @subsection Document Groups
15769 @cindex documentation group
15772 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
15773 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
15780 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
15785 The standard Unix mbox file.
15787 @cindex MMDF mail box
15789 The MMDF mail box format.
15792 Several news articles appended into a file.
15795 @cindex rnews batch files
15796 The rnews batch transport format.
15797 @cindex forwarded messages
15800 Forwarded articles.
15803 Netscape mail boxes.
15806 @sc{mime} multipart messages.
15808 @item standard-digest
15809 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
15812 A @sc{mime} digest of messages.
15814 @item lanl-gov-announce
15815 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
15817 @item rfc822-forward
15818 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
15821 The Outlook mail box.
15824 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
15827 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
15830 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
15833 An RFC934-forwarded message.
15839 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
15842 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
15848 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
15849 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
15850 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
15853 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
15854 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
15855 group. And that's it.
15857 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
15858 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
15859 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
15860 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
15861 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
15862 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
15863 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
15864 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
15865 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
15866 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
15868 Virtual server variables:
15871 @item nndoc-article-type
15872 @vindex nndoc-article-type
15873 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
15874 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
15875 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
15876 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
15877 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
15879 @item nndoc-post-type
15880 @vindex nndoc-post-type
15881 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
15882 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
15887 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
15891 @node Document Server Internals
15892 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
15894 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
15895 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
15896 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
15897 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
15899 First, here's an example document type definition:
15903 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
15904 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
15907 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
15908 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
15909 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
15910 types can be defined with very few settings:
15913 @item first-article
15914 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
15915 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
15918 @item article-begin
15919 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
15920 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
15922 @item head-begin-function
15923 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
15926 @item nndoc-head-begin
15927 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
15930 @item nndoc-head-end
15931 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
15932 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
15934 @item body-begin-function
15935 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
15939 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
15942 @item body-end-function
15943 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
15947 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
15950 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
15951 regexp will be totally ignored.
15955 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
15956 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
15957 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
15958 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
15959 something that's palatable for Gnus:
15962 @item prepare-body-function
15963 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
15964 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
15965 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
15967 @item article-transform-function
15968 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
15969 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
15970 body of the article.
15972 @item generate-head-function
15973 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
15974 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
15975 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
15976 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
15980 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
15985 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
15986 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
15987 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
15988 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
15989 (head-end . "^ ?$")
15990 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
15991 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
15992 (subtype digest guess))
15995 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
15996 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
15997 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
15998 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
15999 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
16001 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
16002 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
16003 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
16004 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
16005 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
16006 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
16007 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
16008 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
16009 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
16010 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
16018 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
16019 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
16020 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
16022 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
16023 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
16024 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
16027 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
16028 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
16029 that interested in doing things properly.
16031 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
16032 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
16035 First some terminology:
16040 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
16041 get news and/or mail from.
16044 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
16045 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
16048 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
16052 @item message packets
16053 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
16054 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
16055 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16057 @item response packets
16058 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
16059 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
16060 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16070 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
16071 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
16072 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
16073 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
16076 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
16079 You put the packet in your home directory.
16082 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
16083 the native or secondary server.
16086 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
16087 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
16090 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
16094 You transfer this packet to the server.
16097 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
16100 You then repeat until you die.
16104 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
16105 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
16108 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
16109 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
16110 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
16114 @node SOUP Commands
16115 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
16117 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
16121 @kindex G s b (Group)
16122 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
16123 Pack all unread articles in the current group
16124 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
16125 process/prefix convention.
16128 @kindex G s w (Group)
16129 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
16130 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
16133 @kindex G s s (Group)
16134 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
16135 Send all replies from the replies packet
16136 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
16139 @kindex G s p (Group)
16140 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
16141 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
16144 @kindex G s r (Group)
16145 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
16146 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
16149 @kindex O s (Summary)
16150 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
16151 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
16152 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
16153 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16158 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
16163 @item gnus-soup-directory
16164 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
16165 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
16166 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
16168 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
16169 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
16170 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
16171 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
16173 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
16174 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
16175 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
16176 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
16178 @item gnus-soup-packer
16179 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
16180 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16181 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
16183 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
16184 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
16185 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16186 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16188 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
16189 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
16190 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
16192 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16193 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16194 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
16195 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
16201 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
16204 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
16205 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
16206 you can read them at leisure.
16208 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
16212 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
16213 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
16214 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
16215 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
16217 @item nnsoup-directory
16218 @vindex nnsoup-directory
16219 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
16220 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
16222 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
16223 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
16224 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
16225 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
16227 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
16228 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
16229 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
16230 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
16231 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
16233 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
16234 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
16235 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
16236 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
16238 @item nnsoup-active-file
16239 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
16240 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
16241 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
16242 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
16243 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
16245 @item nnsoup-packer
16246 @vindex nnsoup-packer
16247 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
16248 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
16250 @item nnsoup-unpacker
16251 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
16252 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
16253 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16255 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
16256 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
16257 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
16260 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
16261 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
16262 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
16265 @item nnsoup-always-save
16266 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
16267 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
16273 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
16275 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
16276 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
16277 more for that to happen.
16279 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
16280 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
16281 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
16284 In specific, this is what it does:
16287 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
16288 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
16291 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
16292 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
16293 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
16296 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
16297 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
16298 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
16301 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
16302 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
16303 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
16305 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
16311 @item nngateway-address
16312 @vindex nngateway-address
16313 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
16315 @item nngateway-header-transformation
16316 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
16317 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
16318 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
16319 transformation should be called, and defaults to
16320 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
16321 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
16324 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
16325 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
16326 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
16329 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
16332 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
16335 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
16338 The following pre-defined functions exist:
16340 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16343 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16344 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16345 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
16347 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16349 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16350 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16351 @code{nngateway-address}.
16356 (setq gnus-post-method
16358 "mail2news@@replay.com"
16359 (nngateway-header-transformation
16360 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
16368 So, to use this, simply say something like:
16371 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
16376 @node Combined Groups
16377 @section Combined Groups
16379 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
16383 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
16384 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
16388 @node Virtual Groups
16389 @subsection Virtual Groups
16391 @cindex virtual groups
16392 @cindex merging groups
16394 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
16397 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
16398 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
16399 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
16401 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
16402 regexp to match component groups.
16404 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
16405 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
16406 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
16407 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
16408 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
16409 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
16410 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
16411 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
16413 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
16414 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
16417 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
16420 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
16421 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
16423 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
16424 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
16425 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
16426 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
16429 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
16432 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
16433 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
16434 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
16436 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
16437 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
16438 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
16439 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
16440 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
16442 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
16443 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
16444 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
16446 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
16447 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
16448 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
16449 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
16450 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
16451 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
16452 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
16453 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
16454 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
16455 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
16456 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
16458 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
16459 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
16460 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
16461 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
16462 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
16463 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
16464 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
16466 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
16467 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
16469 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
16470 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
16474 @node Kibozed Groups
16475 @subsection Kibozed Groups
16479 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
16480 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will do this for
16481 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
16482 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
16484 @kindex G k (Group)
16485 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
16488 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
16489 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
16490 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
16491 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
16493 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
16494 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
16495 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
16497 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
16498 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
16499 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
16500 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
16501 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
16502 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
16503 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
16504 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
16506 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
16507 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
16508 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
16509 Stranger things have happened.
16511 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
16512 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
16514 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
16515 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
16516 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
16517 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
16518 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
16519 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
16521 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
16522 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
16525 @node Gnus Unplugged
16526 @section Gnus Unplugged
16531 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
16533 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
16534 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
16535 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
16536 read news. Believe it or not.
16538 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
16539 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
16540 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
16541 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
16542 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
16544 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
16545 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
16546 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
16547 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
16548 reading news on a machine.
16550 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
16551 fact, you don't even have to configure anything.
16553 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
16556 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
16557 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
16558 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
16559 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
16560 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
16561 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
16562 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
16563 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
16564 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
16565 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
16566 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
16571 @subsection Agent Basics
16573 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
16575 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
16576 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
16577 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
16578 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
16580 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
16581 connected to the net continuously.
16583 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
16584 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
16586 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
16591 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
16592 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
16593 already fetched while in this mode.
16596 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
16597 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
16598 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
16599 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
16600 Source Specifiers}).
16603 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
16604 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
16605 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
16606 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
16607 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
16610 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
16611 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
16612 then you read the news offline.
16615 And then you go to step 2.
16618 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
16624 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
16625 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
16626 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
16627 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
16628 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
16629 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
16630 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} groups in @code{gnus-select-method} and
16631 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
16634 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
16641 @node Agent Categories
16642 @subsection Agent Categories
16644 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
16645 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
16646 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
16647 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
16648 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
16649 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
16650 you're interested in the articles anyway.
16652 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
16653 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
16654 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
16655 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
16656 managing categories.
16659 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
16660 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
16661 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
16665 @node Category Syntax
16666 @subsubsection Category Syntax
16668 A category consists of two things.
16672 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
16673 are eligible for downloading; and
16676 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
16677 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
16678 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
16681 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
16682 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
16683 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
16684 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
16686 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
16687 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
16688 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
16690 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
16691 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
16692 operators sprinkled in between.
16694 Perhaps some examples are in order.
16696 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
16697 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
16703 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
16704 short (for some value of ``short'').
16706 Here's a more complex predicate:
16715 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
16716 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
16719 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
16720 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
16721 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
16723 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
16724 you want to do, you can write your own.
16728 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
16729 lines; default 100.
16732 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
16733 lines; default 200.
16736 True iff the article has a download score less than
16737 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
16740 True iff the article has a download score greater than
16741 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
16744 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
16745 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
16746 checksum and sees whether articles match.
16755 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
16756 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
16757 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
16760 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
16761 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
16762 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
16763 something along the lines of the following:
16766 (defun my-article-old-p ()
16767 "Say whether an article is old."
16768 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
16769 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
16772 with the predicate then defined as:
16775 (not my-article-old-p)
16778 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
16779 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
16783 (require 'gnus-agent)
16784 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
16785 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
16786 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
16789 and simply specify your predicate as:
16795 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
16796 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
16797 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
16798 just don't give a damn.
16800 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
16801 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
16802 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
16803 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
16804 parameters like so:
16807 (agent-predicate . short)
16810 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
16811 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
16812 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
16814 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
16817 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
16820 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
16821 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
16822 predicate is assumed to be a list.
16825 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
16826 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
16827 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
16828 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
16829 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
16830 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
16832 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
16833 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
16834 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
16835 if it's to be specific to that group.
16837 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
16844 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
16845 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
16851 Category specification
16855 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16861 Group Parameter specification
16864 (agent-score ("from"
16865 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16870 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
16876 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
16883 Category specification
16886 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
16892 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
16896 Group Parameter specification
16899 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
16902 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
16907 Use @code{normal} score files
16909 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
16910 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
16911 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
16912 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
16914 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
16915 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
16916 files for a group, *filtering out* those sections that do not
16917 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
16921 Category Specification
16928 Group Parameter specification
16931 (agent-score . file)
16936 @node Category Buffer
16937 @subsubsection Category Buffer
16939 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
16940 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
16941 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
16943 The following commands are available in this buffer:
16947 @kindex q (Category)
16948 @findex gnus-category-exit
16949 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
16952 @kindex k (Category)
16953 @findex gnus-category-kill
16954 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
16957 @kindex c (Category)
16958 @findex gnus-category-copy
16959 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
16962 @kindex a (Category)
16963 @findex gnus-category-add
16964 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
16967 @kindex p (Category)
16968 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
16969 Edit the predicate of the current category
16970 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
16973 @kindex g (Category)
16974 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
16975 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
16976 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
16979 @kindex s (Category)
16980 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
16981 Edit the download score rule of the current category
16982 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
16985 @kindex l (Category)
16986 @findex gnus-category-list
16987 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
16991 @node Category Variables
16992 @subsubsection Category Variables
16995 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
16996 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
16997 Hook run in category buffers.
16999 @item gnus-category-line-format
17000 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
17001 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
17002 Variables}). Valid elements are:
17006 The name of the category.
17009 The number of groups in the category.
17012 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
17013 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
17014 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
17016 @item gnus-agent-short-article
17017 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
17018 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
17020 @item gnus-agent-long-article
17021 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
17022 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
17024 @item gnus-agent-low-score
17025 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
17026 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
17029 @item gnus-agent-high-score
17030 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
17031 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
17037 @node Agent Commands
17038 @subsection Agent Commands
17040 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
17041 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
17042 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
17046 * Group Agent Commands::
17047 * Summary Agent Commands::
17048 * Server Agent Commands::
17054 @node Group Agent Commands
17055 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
17059 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
17060 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
17061 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
17062 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
17065 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
17066 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
17067 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
17070 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
17071 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
17072 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
17073 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
17076 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
17077 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
17078 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
17079 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
17082 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
17083 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
17084 Add the current group to an Agent category
17085 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
17086 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17089 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
17090 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
17091 Remove the current group from its category, if any
17092 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
17093 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17096 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
17097 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17098 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
17104 @node Summary Agent Commands
17105 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
17109 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
17110 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
17111 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
17114 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
17115 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
17116 Remove the downloading mark from the article
17117 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
17121 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
17122 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
17123 Toggle whether to download the article
17124 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The dowload mark is @samp{%} by
17128 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
17129 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
17130 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
17133 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
17134 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
17135 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
17136 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
17141 @node Server Agent Commands
17142 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
17146 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
17147 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
17148 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
17149 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
17152 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
17153 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
17154 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
17155 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
17160 @node Agent as Cache
17161 @subsection Agent as Cache
17163 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
17164 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
17165 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
17166 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
17167 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
17168 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
17169 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
17170 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
17171 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
17173 This behaviour can be controlled by @code{gnus-agent-cache}
17174 (@pxref{Agent Variables}).
17177 @subsection Agent Expiry
17179 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
17180 @findex gnus-agent-expire
17181 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
17182 @cindex Agent expiry
17183 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
17186 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
17187 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
17188 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
17189 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
17190 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
17191 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
17193 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} can also be a list of regexp/day pairs.
17194 The regexps will be matched against group names to allow differing
17195 expiry in different groups.
17198 (setq gnus-agent-expire-days
17204 If you use the list form, the last element must always be the default
17205 method---it must always match all groups.
17207 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
17208 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
17209 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
17210 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
17211 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
17213 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
17214 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
17215 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's a special
17216 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} command to fix possible problems.
17218 @node Agent and IMAP
17219 @subsection Agent and IMAP
17221 The Agent work with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
17222 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
17223 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
17224 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
17226 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
17227 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @code{.newsrc} as is the
17228 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
17229 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
17231 Gnus keeps track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
17232 Agent. When you plug back in, Gnus will check if you have any changed
17233 any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the server.
17234 The behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
17236 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17237 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
17238 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
17239 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
17240 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
17241 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
17243 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
17244 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
17245 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
17246 in the group buffer.
17248 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
17249 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
17254 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
17257 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
17261 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by "pushing"
17262 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
17263 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
17264 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
17265 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
17266 removed from the server when you "synchronize". The queued flag
17267 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
17268 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
17271 @node Outgoing Messages
17272 @subsection Outgoing Messages
17274 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
17275 stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view
17276 them there after posting, and edit them at will.
17278 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
17279 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
17280 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
17281 messages in the draft group.
17285 @node Agent Variables
17286 @subsection Agent Variables
17289 @item gnus-agent-directory
17290 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
17291 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
17292 @file{~/News/agent/}.
17294 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
17295 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
17296 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
17297 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
17298 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
17301 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
17302 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
17303 Hook run when connecting to the network.
17305 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
17306 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
17307 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
17309 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
17310 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
17311 Hook run when after finishing fetching articles.
17313 @item gnus-agent-cache
17314 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
17315 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @sc{nov} and
17316 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
17317 The default is non-nil, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
17319 @item gnus-agent-go-online
17320 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
17321 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
17322 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
17323 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
17324 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
17325 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
17328 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
17329 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
17330 Perhaps not a Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
17331 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
17332 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
17333 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
17334 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
17335 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
17336 is only valid if the Agent is used.
17341 @node Example Setup
17342 @subsection Example Setup
17344 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
17345 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
17346 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
17349 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
17350 ;;; from your ISP's server.
17351 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
17353 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
17354 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
17355 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
17357 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
17358 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
17360 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
17361 ;;; (gnus-agentize) ; The obsolete setting.
17362 ;;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; Now the default.
17365 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
17366 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
17369 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
17370 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
17371 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
17372 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
17373 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
17376 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
17377 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
17378 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
17379 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
17380 back all the killed groups.)
17382 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
17383 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
17384 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
17387 @node Batching Agents
17388 @subsection Batching Agents
17390 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
17391 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
17392 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
17394 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
17395 following incantation:
17399 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f -l ~/.gnus.el gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
17403 @node Agent Caveats
17404 @subsection Agent Caveats
17406 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
17407 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
17411 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
17413 @strong{No}. If you want this behaviour, add
17414 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
17415 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
17417 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
17419 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is `nil'.
17423 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
17424 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP and also uses the
17425 locally stored articles.
17432 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
17433 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
17434 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
17437 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
17438 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
17439 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
17440 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
17441 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
17443 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
17444 before generating the summary buffer.
17446 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
17447 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
17448 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
17450 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
17451 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
17452 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
17453 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
17456 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
17457 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
17458 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
17459 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
17460 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
17461 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
17462 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
17463 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
17464 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
17465 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
17466 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
17467 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
17468 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
17469 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
17470 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
17471 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
17472 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
17476 @node Summary Score Commands
17477 @section Summary Score Commands
17478 @cindex score commands
17480 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
17481 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
17482 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
17483 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
17484 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
17486 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
17487 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
17488 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
17489 score file the current one.
17491 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
17496 @kindex V s (Summary)
17497 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
17498 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
17501 @kindex V S (Summary)
17502 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
17503 Display the score of the current article
17504 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
17507 @kindex V t (Summary)
17508 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
17509 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
17510 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
17513 @kindex V w (Summary)
17514 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
17515 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
17518 @kindex V R (Summary)
17519 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
17520 Run the current summary through the scoring process
17521 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
17522 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
17523 effect you're having.
17526 @kindex V c (Summary)
17527 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
17528 Make a different score file the current
17529 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
17532 @kindex V e (Summary)
17533 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
17534 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
17535 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
17539 @kindex V f (Summary)
17540 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
17541 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
17542 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
17545 @kindex V F (Summary)
17546 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17547 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
17548 after editing score files.
17551 @kindex V C (Summary)
17552 @findex gnus-score-customize
17553 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
17554 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
17558 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
17563 @kindex V m (Summary)
17564 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
17565 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
17566 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
17569 @kindex V x (Summary)
17570 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
17571 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
17572 expunge all articles below this score
17573 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
17576 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
17577 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
17580 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
17581 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
17585 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
17586 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
17588 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
17589 keys are available:
17593 Score on the author name.
17596 Score on the subject line.
17599 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
17602 Score on the @code{References} line.
17608 Score on the number of lines.
17611 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
17614 Score on an "extra" header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
17615 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
17618 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
17619 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
17620 @file{ADAPT} files.)
17629 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
17635 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
17636 what headers you are scoring on.
17648 Substring matching.
17651 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
17680 Greater than number.
17685 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
17686 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
17687 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
17692 Temporary score entry.
17695 Permanent score entry.
17698 Immediately scoring.
17702 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
17703 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
17704 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
17708 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
17709 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
17710 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
17711 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
17713 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
17714 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
17715 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
17716 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
17717 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
17719 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
17720 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
17721 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
17722 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
17723 current score file.
17725 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
17726 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
17727 pretend they are keymaps or not.
17730 @node Group Score Commands
17731 @section Group Score Commands
17732 @cindex group score commands
17734 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
17739 @kindex W f (Group)
17740 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17741 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
17742 all the time. This command will flush the cache
17743 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
17747 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
17749 @findex gnus-batch-score
17750 @cindex batch scoring
17752 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
17756 @node Score Variables
17757 @section Score Variables
17758 @cindex score variables
17762 @item gnus-use-scoring
17763 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
17764 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
17765 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
17767 @item gnus-kill-killed
17768 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
17769 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
17770 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
17771 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
17772 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
17773 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
17774 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
17776 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
17777 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
17778 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
17779 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
17780 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
17782 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
17783 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
17784 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
17785 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
17787 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17788 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17789 @cindex score cache
17790 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
17791 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
17792 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
17793 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
17794 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
17795 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
17798 @item gnus-save-score
17799 @vindex gnus-save-score
17800 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
17801 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
17802 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
17804 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
17805 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
17806 across group visits.
17808 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17809 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17810 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
17811 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
17812 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
17813 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
17814 manually entered data.
17816 @item gnus-summary-default-score
17817 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
17818 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
17820 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
17821 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
17822 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
17823 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
17824 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
17825 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
17827 @item gnus-score-over-mark
17828 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
17829 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
17830 default. Default is @samp{+}.
17832 @item gnus-score-below-mark
17833 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
17834 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
17835 default. Default is @samp{-}.
17837 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
17838 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
17839 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
17840 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
17842 Predefined functions available are:
17845 @item gnus-score-find-single
17846 @findex gnus-score-find-single
17847 Only apply the group's own score file.
17849 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
17850 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
17851 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
17852 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
17853 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
17854 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
17855 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
17856 then a regexp match is done.
17858 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
17859 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
17861 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
17862 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
17863 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
17864 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
17866 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
17867 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
17868 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
17869 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
17870 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
17874 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
17875 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
17876 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
17877 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
17878 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
17879 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
17880 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
17883 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
17884 overall score file, you could use the value
17886 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
17887 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
17890 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
17891 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
17892 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
17893 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
17894 are expired. It's 7 by default.
17896 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
17897 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
17898 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
17899 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
17900 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
17901 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
17902 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
17903 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
17905 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
17906 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
17907 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
17909 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
17910 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
17911 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
17912 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
17913 threading---according to the current value of
17914 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
17915 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
17916 simplified in this manner.
17921 @node Score File Format
17922 @section Score File Format
17923 @cindex score file format
17925 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
17926 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
17927 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
17929 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
17933 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
17935 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
17937 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
17939 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
17944 (mark-and-expunge -10)
17948 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
17949 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
17950 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
17951 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
17955 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
17956 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
17958 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
17959 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
17960 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
17962 Six keys are supported by this alist:
17967 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
17968 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
17969 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
17970 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
17971 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
17972 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
17973 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
17974 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
17975 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
17976 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
17977 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
17978 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
17979 to articles that matches these score entries.
17981 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
17982 score entry has one to four elements.
17986 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
17987 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
17991 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
17992 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
17993 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
17994 is successful. If this element is not present, the
17995 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
17996 instead. This is 1000 by default.
17999 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
18000 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
18001 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
18002 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
18003 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
18006 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
18007 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
18008 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
18009 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
18012 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
18013 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
18014 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
18015 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
18016 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
18017 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
18018 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
18019 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
18020 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
18021 instead, if you feel like.
18024 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
18025 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
18026 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
18027 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
18028 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin host,
18029 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks NNTP-Posting-Host in overviews:
18032 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s "NNTP-Posting-Host")
18036 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
18037 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
18039 These predicates are true if
18042 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
18045 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
18046 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
18053 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
18054 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
18055 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
18056 it's not. I think.)
18058 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
18059 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
18060 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
18061 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
18064 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
18065 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
18066 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
18067 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
18068 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
18069 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
18070 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
18074 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
18075 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
18076 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
18077 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
18078 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
18079 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
18080 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
18081 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
18084 @item Head, Body, All
18085 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
18089 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
18090 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
18091 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
18092 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
18093 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
18094 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
18095 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
18099 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
18100 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
18101 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
18102 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
18103 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
18104 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
18105 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
18106 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
18107 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
18108 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
18109 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
18113 @cindex Score File Atoms
18115 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18116 lower than this number will be marked as read.
18119 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18120 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
18122 @item mark-and-expunge
18123 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18124 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
18127 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
18128 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
18129 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
18130 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
18131 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
18134 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
18135 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
18138 @item exclude-files
18139 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
18140 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
18144 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
18145 ignored when handling global score files.
18148 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
18149 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
18150 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
18151 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
18154 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
18155 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
18156 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
18157 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
18159 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
18163 (mark-and-expunge -100)
18166 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
18167 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
18168 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
18169 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
18170 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
18172 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
18173 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
18174 scoring rules exist.
18177 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
18178 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
18179 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
18180 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
18181 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
18182 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
18183 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
18184 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
18185 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
18186 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
18187 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
18191 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
18192 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
18193 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
18194 file for a number of groups.
18197 @cindex local variables
18198 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
18199 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
18200 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
18201 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
18202 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
18206 @node Score File Editing
18207 @section Score File Editing
18209 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
18210 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
18211 with a mode for that.
18213 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
18214 additional commands:
18219 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
18220 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
18221 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
18222 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
18225 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
18226 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
18227 Insert the current date in numerical format
18228 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
18229 you were wondering.
18232 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
18233 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
18234 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
18235 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
18236 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
18241 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
18243 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
18244 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
18246 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
18247 e} to begin editing score files.
18250 @node Adaptive Scoring
18251 @section Adaptive Scoring
18252 @cindex adaptive scoring
18254 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
18255 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
18256 stupidity, to be precise.
18258 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
18259 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
18260 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
18261 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
18262 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
18263 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
18264 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
18265 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
18266 variable to @code{(word line)}.
18268 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
18269 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
18270 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
18271 might look something like this:
18274 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
18275 '((gnus-unread-mark)
18276 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
18277 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
18278 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
18279 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
18280 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
18281 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
18282 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
18283 (gnus-ancient-mark)
18284 (gnus-low-score-mark)
18285 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
18288 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
18289 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
18290 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
18291 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
18292 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
18293 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
18296 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
18297 will be applied to each article.
18299 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
18300 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
18301 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
18302 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
18304 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
18305 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
18306 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
18307 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
18309 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
18310 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
18311 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
18312 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
18314 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
18315 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
18316 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
18317 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
18318 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
18319 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
18321 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
18322 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
18323 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
18324 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
18325 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
18326 aspirins afterwards.)
18328 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
18329 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
18330 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
18332 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
18333 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
18334 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
18336 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
18337 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
18338 let you use different rules in different groups.
18340 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
18341 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
18342 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
18345 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
18346 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
18347 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
18348 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
18349 the length of the match is less than
18350 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
18351 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
18354 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
18355 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
18356 headers. If you adapt on words, the
18357 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
18358 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
18361 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
18362 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
18363 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
18364 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
18365 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
18368 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
18369 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
18370 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
18371 score with 30 points.
18373 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
18374 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
18375 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
18376 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
18377 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
18379 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
18380 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
18381 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
18382 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
18383 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
18385 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
18386 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
18387 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
18388 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
18390 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
18391 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
18392 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
18393 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
18395 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
18396 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
18397 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
18398 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
18399 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
18401 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
18402 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
18403 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
18405 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
18406 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
18407 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
18408 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
18411 @node Home Score File
18412 @section Home Score File
18414 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
18415 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
18416 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
18417 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
18419 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
18420 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
18421 could perhaps use the same home score file.
18423 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
18424 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
18429 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
18433 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
18434 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
18438 A list. The elements in this list can be:
18442 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
18443 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
18446 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
18447 the home score file.
18450 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
18453 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
18458 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
18461 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18462 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
18465 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
18466 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
18468 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
18470 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18471 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
18474 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
18475 Other functions include
18478 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
18479 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
18480 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
18481 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
18485 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
18486 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
18487 their own home score files:
18490 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18491 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
18492 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
18493 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
18494 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
18497 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
18498 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
18499 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
18500 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
18501 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
18503 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
18504 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
18505 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
18506 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
18507 precedence over this variable.
18510 @node Followups To Yourself
18511 @section Followups To Yourself
18513 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
18514 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
18515 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
18516 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
18517 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
18518 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
18522 @item gnus-score-followup-article
18523 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
18524 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
18527 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
18528 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
18529 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
18533 @vindex message-sent-hook
18534 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
18535 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
18537 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
18541 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
18542 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
18546 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18547 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18550 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
18551 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
18556 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
18560 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
18561 is system-dependent.
18564 @node Scoring On Other Headers
18565 @section Scoring On Other Headers
18566 @cindex scoring on other headers
18568 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
18569 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
18570 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
18571 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
18572 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
18574 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
18575 mail groups, you have greater control. In the @pxref{To From
18576 Newsgroups} section of the manual, it's explained in greater detail what
18577 this mechanism does, but here's a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on
18578 how to allow scoring on the @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
18580 Put the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
18583 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
18584 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
18587 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
18588 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
18589 time if you have much mail.
18591 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
18592 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
18598 @section Scoring Tips
18599 @cindex scoring tips
18605 @cindex scoring crossposts
18606 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
18607 the @code{Xref} header.
18609 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
18612 @item Multiple crossposts
18613 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
18614 more than, say, 3 groups:
18617 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
18621 @item Matching on the body
18622 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
18623 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
18624 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
18625 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
18626 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
18627 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
18628 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
18631 @item Marking as read
18632 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
18633 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
18634 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
18638 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
18640 @item Negated character classes
18641 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
18642 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
18643 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
18647 @node Reverse Scoring
18648 @section Reverse Scoring
18649 @cindex reverse scoring
18651 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
18652 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
18653 like this in your score file:
18657 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
18662 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
18663 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
18666 @node Global Score Files
18667 @section Global Score Files
18668 @cindex global score files
18670 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
18671 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
18672 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
18674 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
18675 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
18676 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
18678 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
18679 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
18680 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
18681 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
18682 files are applicable to which group.
18684 To use the score file
18685 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
18686 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
18690 (setq gnus-global-score-files
18691 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
18692 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
18695 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
18697 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
18698 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
18699 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
18700 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
18702 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
18703 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
18705 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
18706 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
18707 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
18708 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
18709 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
18710 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
18712 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
18718 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
18720 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
18722 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
18724 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
18725 lowered out of existence.
18727 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
18728 articles completely.
18731 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
18732 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
18733 old articles for a long time.
18736 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
18737 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
18738 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
18739 holding our breath yet?
18743 @section Kill Files
18746 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
18747 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
18748 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
18750 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
18751 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
18752 files into score files.
18754 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
18755 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
18756 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
18757 that isn't a very good idea.
18759 Normal kill files look like this:
18762 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18763 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
18767 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
18768 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
18770 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
18771 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
18774 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
18779 @kindex M-k (Summary)
18780 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
18781 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
18784 @kindex M-K (Summary)
18785 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
18786 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
18789 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
18794 @kindex M-k (Group)
18795 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
18796 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
18799 @kindex M-K (Group)
18800 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
18801 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
18804 Kill file variables:
18807 @item gnus-kill-file-name
18808 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
18809 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
18810 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
18811 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
18812 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
18813 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
18815 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18816 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18817 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
18818 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
18821 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
18822 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
18823 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
18824 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
18825 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
18826 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
18827 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
18828 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
18829 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
18831 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
18832 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
18833 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
18838 @node Converting Kill Files
18839 @section Converting Kill Files
18841 @cindex converting kill files
18843 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
18844 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
18845 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
18848 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
18849 You can fetch it from
18850 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
18852 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
18853 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
18854 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
18862 GroupLens (@uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/}) is a
18863 collaborative filtering system that helps you work together with other
18864 people to find the quality news articles out of the huge volume of
18865 news articles generated every day.
18867 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
18868 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
18869 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
18870 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
18871 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
18872 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
18873 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
18874 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
18877 @sc{Note:} Unfortunately the GroupLens system seems to have shut down,
18878 so this section is mostly of historical interest.
18881 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
18882 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
18883 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
18884 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
18888 @node Using GroupLens
18889 @subsection Using GroupLens
18891 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
18893 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
18894 better bit in town at the moment.
18896 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
18900 @item gnus-use-grouplens
18901 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
18902 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
18903 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
18905 @item grouplens-pseudonym
18906 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
18907 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
18908 with the Better Bit Bureau.
18910 @item grouplens-newsgroups
18911 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
18912 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
18916 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
18917 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
18918 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
18919 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
18920 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
18921 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
18924 @node Rating Articles
18925 @subsection Rating Articles
18927 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
18928 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
18929 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
18930 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
18933 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
18938 @kindex r (GroupLens)
18939 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
18940 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
18943 @kindex k (GroupLens)
18944 @findex grouplens-score-thread
18945 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
18946 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
18947 threads in rec.humor.
18951 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
18952 the score of the article you're reading.
18957 @kindex n (GroupLens)
18958 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
18959 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
18962 @kindex , (GroupLens)
18963 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
18964 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
18968 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
18969 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
18972 @node Displaying Predictions
18973 @subsection Displaying Predictions
18975 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
18976 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
18977 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
18978 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
18979 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
18981 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
18982 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
18983 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
18984 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
18985 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
18986 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
18987 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
18988 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
18989 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
18990 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
18991 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
18992 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
18993 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
18995 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
18996 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
18997 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
18998 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
19000 The following are valid values for that variable.
19003 @item prediction-spot
19004 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
19007 @item confidence-interval
19008 A numeric confidence interval.
19010 @item prediction-bar
19011 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
19013 @item confidence-bar
19014 Numerical confidence.
19016 @item confidence-spot
19017 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
19019 @item prediction-num
19020 Plain-old numeric value.
19022 @item confidence-plus-minus
19023 Prediction +/- confidence.
19028 @node GroupLens Variables
19029 @subsection GroupLens Variables
19033 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
19034 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
19035 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
19036 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%)
19039 @item grouplens-bbb-host
19040 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
19043 @item grouplens-bbb-port
19044 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
19046 @item grouplens-score-offset
19047 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
19048 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
19051 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
19052 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
19053 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
19058 @node Advanced Scoring
19059 @section Advanced Scoring
19061 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
19062 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
19063 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
19064 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
19065 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
19067 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
19071 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
19072 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
19073 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
19077 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
19078 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
19080 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
19081 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
19082 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
19083 non-@code{nil} value.
19085 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
19086 operator, and various match operators.
19093 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19094 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
19095 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
19100 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19101 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
19102 then this operator will return @code{false}.
19107 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
19108 logical negation of the value of its argument.
19112 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
19113 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
19114 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
19115 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
19116 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
19117 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
19118 the ancestry you want to go.
19120 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
19121 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
19122 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
19123 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
19124 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
19127 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
19128 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
19130 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
19131 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
19134 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
19135 when he's talking about Gnus:
19139 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19140 ("subject" "Gnus"))
19146 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
19150 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19157 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
19158 really don't want to read what he's written:
19162 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19163 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
19167 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
19168 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
19169 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
19176 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
19177 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
19178 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
19179 ("body" "white.*socks"))
19183 The possibilities are endless.
19186 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
19187 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
19189 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
19190 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
19191 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
19192 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
19193 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
19194 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
19195 @samp{subject}) first.
19197 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
19198 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
19209 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
19210 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
19216 ("subject" "Gnus")))
19223 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
19224 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
19229 @section Score Decays
19230 @cindex score decays
19233 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
19234 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
19235 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
19236 use them in any sensible way.
19238 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
19239 @findex gnus-decay-score
19240 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
19241 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
19242 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
19243 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
19244 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
19245 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
19246 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
19247 definition of that function:
19250 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
19252 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
19253 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
19256 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
19258 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
19260 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
19263 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
19264 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
19265 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
19266 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
19270 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
19273 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
19276 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
19280 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
19281 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
19282 the new score, which should be an integer.
19284 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
19285 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
19290 @include message.texi
19291 @chapter Emacs MIME
19292 @include emacs-mime.texi
19294 @include sieve.texi
19296 @c @include pgg.texi
19304 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
19305 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
19306 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
19307 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
19308 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
19309 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
19310 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
19311 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
19312 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
19313 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
19314 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
19315 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
19316 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
19317 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
19318 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
19319 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
19320 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
19321 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
19322 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
19326 @node Process/Prefix
19327 @section Process/Prefix
19328 @cindex process/prefix convention
19330 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
19331 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
19333 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
19334 command to be performed on.
19338 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
19339 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
19340 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
19341 with the current one.
19343 @vindex transient-mark-mode
19344 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
19345 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
19347 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
19348 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
19351 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
19352 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
19354 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
19357 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
19358 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
19359 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
19360 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
19362 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
19363 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
19364 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
19365 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
19366 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
19367 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
19368 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
19369 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
19371 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
19372 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
19373 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
19374 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
19375 expirable, you could say `M P b M-& E'.
19379 @section Interactive
19380 @cindex interaction
19384 @item gnus-novice-user
19385 @vindex gnus-novice-user
19386 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
19387 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
19388 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
19389 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
19392 @item gnus-expert-user
19393 @vindex gnus-expert-user
19394 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
19395 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
19396 matter how strange.
19398 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
19399 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
19400 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
19401 is @code{t} by default.
19403 @item gnus-interactive-exit
19404 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
19405 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
19410 @node Symbolic Prefixes
19411 @section Symbolic Prefixes
19412 @cindex symbolic prefixes
19414 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
19415 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
19416 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
19417 rule of 900 to the current article.
19419 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
19420 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
19421 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
19422 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
19423 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
19424 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
19425 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
19427 @kindex M-i (Summary)
19428 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
19429 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
19430 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
19431 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
19432 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
19433 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
19434 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
19435 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
19437 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
19438 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
19439 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
19441 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
19445 @node Formatting Variables
19446 @section Formatting Variables
19447 @cindex formatting variables
19449 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
19450 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
19451 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
19452 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
19453 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
19456 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
19457 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
19458 lots of percentages everywhere.
19461 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
19462 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
19463 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
19464 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
19465 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
19466 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
19467 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
19468 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
19471 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
19472 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
19473 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
19474 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
19475 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
19476 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
19477 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
19478 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
19480 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
19481 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
19483 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
19484 @findex gnus-update-format
19485 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
19486 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
19487 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
19488 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
19492 @node Formatting Basics
19493 @subsection Formatting Basics
19495 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
19496 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
19497 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
19499 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
19500 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
19501 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
19502 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
19503 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
19506 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
19507 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
19508 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
19509 less than 4 characters wide.
19511 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
19512 @samp{%&user-date;}.
19515 @node Mode Line Formatting
19516 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
19518 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
19519 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
19520 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
19521 with the following two differences:
19526 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
19529 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
19530 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
19531 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
19532 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
19533 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
19534 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
19535 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
19540 @node Advanced Formatting
19541 @subsection Advanced Formatting
19543 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
19544 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
19545 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
19546 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
19548 These are the valid modifiers:
19553 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
19557 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
19562 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
19565 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
19570 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
19573 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
19576 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
19579 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
19585 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
19590 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
19591 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
19592 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
19593 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
19594 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
19595 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
19596 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
19598 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
19599 last operation, padding.
19601 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
19602 If @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} is set to @code{nil} (@code{t} by
19603 default) with your strong personality, and use a lots of these advanced
19604 thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets quite slow. This can be helped
19605 enormously by running @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with
19606 the look of your lines.
19607 @xref{Compilation}.
19610 @node User-Defined Specs
19611 @subsection User-Defined Specs
19613 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
19614 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
19615 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
19616 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
19617 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
19618 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
19619 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
19620 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
19621 should protect against that.
19623 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
19624 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
19626 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
19627 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
19628 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
19629 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
19633 @node Formatting Fonts
19634 @subsection Formatting Fonts
19636 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
19637 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
19638 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
19639 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
19642 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
19643 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
19644 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
19645 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
19646 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
19647 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
19649 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
19650 special @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}.
19651 If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on.
19652 The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or
19653 symbols naming functions that return a string. When the mouse passes
19654 over text with this property set, a balloon window will appear and
19655 display the string. Please refer to @ref{(emacs)Help Echo} (in GNU
19656 Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in XEmacs) for
19657 more information on this. (For technical reasons, the guillemets have
19658 been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this paragraph.)
19660 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
19663 ;; Create three face types.
19664 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
19665 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
19667 ;; We want the article count to be in
19668 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
19669 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
19670 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
19672 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
19673 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
19675 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
19676 (setq gnus-group-line-format
19677 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
19680 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
19681 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
19683 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
19684 mode-line variables.
19686 @node Positioning Point
19687 @subsection Positioning Point
19689 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
19690 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
19691 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
19693 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
19695 @findex gnus-goto-colon
19696 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
19697 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
19699 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
19700 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
19701 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
19706 @subsection Tabulation
19708 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
19709 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
19710 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
19711 about lining up the following text afterwards.
19713 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs--@samp{%=}. There are two
19714 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
19716 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19717 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
19718 This is the soft tabulator.
19720 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19721 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
19722 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
19725 @node Wide Characters
19726 @subsection Wide Characters
19728 Proportional fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
19729 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
19730 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
19732 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
19733 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
19734 these countries, that's not true.
19736 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
19737 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
19738 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
19739 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
19743 @node Window Layout
19744 @section Window Layout
19745 @cindex window layout
19747 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
19749 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
19750 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
19751 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
19752 @code{t} by default.
19754 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
19755 glitches. Use at your own peril.
19757 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
19758 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
19759 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
19762 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
19763 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
19764 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19768 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
19769 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
19770 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
19771 possible names is listed below.
19773 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
19774 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
19777 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19781 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
19782 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
19783 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
19784 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
19785 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
19786 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
19787 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
19788 size spec per split.
19790 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
19791 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
19792 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
19793 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
19794 present) gets focus.
19796 Here's a more complicated example:
19799 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
19800 (summary 0.25 point)
19801 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
19805 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
19806 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
19807 occupy, not a percentage.
19809 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
19810 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
19811 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
19812 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
19813 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
19816 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
19819 (article (horizontal 1.0
19824 (summary 0.25 point)
19829 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
19830 @code{horizontal} thingie?
19832 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
19833 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
19834 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
19835 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
19836 the screen is to be given to this strip.
19838 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
19839 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
19840 lines from the splits.
19842 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
19846 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
19847 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
19848 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
19849 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
19850 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
19851 size = number | frame-params
19852 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
19855 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
19856 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
19857 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
19858 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
19860 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
19861 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
19862 @cindex window height
19863 @cindex window width
19864 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
19865 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
19866 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
19867 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
19868 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
19869 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
19871 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
19872 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
19873 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
19874 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
19876 @findex gnus-configure-frame
19877 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
19878 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
19879 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
19880 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
19881 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
19882 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
19883 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
19884 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
19885 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
19886 configuration list.
19889 (gnus-configure-frame
19893 (article 0.3 point))
19901 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
19902 @code{frame} split:
19905 (gnus-configure-frame
19908 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
19910 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
19911 (user-position . t)
19912 (left . -1) (top . 1))
19917 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
19918 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
19919 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
19920 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
19921 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
19922 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
19923 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
19924 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
19926 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
19927 be found in its default value.
19929 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
19930 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
19931 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
19935 (message (horizontal 1.0
19936 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
19938 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
19943 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
19944 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
19945 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
19950 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
19951 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
19952 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
19953 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
19954 (name . "Message"))
19955 (message 1.0 point))))
19958 @findex gnus-add-configuration
19959 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
19960 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
19961 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
19962 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
19965 (gnus-add-configuration
19966 '(article (vertical 1.0
19968 (summary .25 point)
19972 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
19973 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
19974 Gnus has been loaded.
19976 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
19977 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
19978 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
19979 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
19980 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
19982 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
19983 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
19984 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
19987 @subsection Example Window Configurations
19991 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
19992 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
20007 (gnus-add-configuration
20010 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20012 (summary 0.16 point)
20015 (gnus-add-configuration
20018 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20019 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
20025 @node Faces and Fonts
20026 @section Faces and Fonts
20031 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
20032 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
20033 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
20038 @section Compilation
20039 @cindex compilation
20040 @cindex byte-compilation
20042 @findex gnus-compile
20044 Remember all those line format specification variables?
20045 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
20046 on. By default, T-gnus will use the byte-compiled codes of these
20047 variables and we can keep a slow-down to a minimum. However, if you set
20048 @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} to @code{nil} (@code{t} by default),
20049 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
20050 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
20051 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
20054 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
20055 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
20056 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
20057 you'll get top speed again. Note that T-gnus will not save these
20058 compiled specs in the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
20061 @item gnus-compile-user-specs
20062 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
20063 If it is non-nil, the user-defined format specs will be byte-compiled
20064 automatically. The default value of this variable is @code{t}. It has
20065 an effect on the values of @code{gnus-*-line-format-spec}.
20070 @section Mode Lines
20073 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
20074 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
20075 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
20076 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
20077 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
20078 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
20079 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
20082 @cindex display-time
20084 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
20085 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
20086 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
20087 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
20088 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
20089 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
20090 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
20091 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
20094 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
20096 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
20097 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
20099 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
20100 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
20101 (length display-time-string)))))
20104 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
20105 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
20106 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
20107 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
20108 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
20111 @node Highlighting and Menus
20112 @section Highlighting and Menus
20114 @cindex highlighting
20117 @vindex gnus-visual
20118 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
20119 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
20120 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
20123 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
20124 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
20127 @item group-highlight
20128 Do highlights in the group buffer.
20129 @item summary-highlight
20130 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
20131 @item article-highlight
20132 Do highlights in the article buffer.
20134 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
20136 Create menus in the group buffer.
20138 Create menus in the summary buffers.
20140 Create menus in the article buffer.
20142 Create menus in the browse buffer.
20144 Create menus in the server buffer.
20146 Create menus in the score buffers.
20148 Create menus in all buffers.
20151 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
20152 buffers, you could say something like:
20155 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
20158 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
20161 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
20164 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
20165 in all Gnus buffers.
20167 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
20170 @item gnus-mouse-face
20171 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
20172 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
20173 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
20177 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
20181 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
20182 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
20183 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
20185 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
20186 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
20187 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
20189 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
20190 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
20191 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
20193 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
20194 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
20195 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
20197 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
20198 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
20199 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
20201 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
20202 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
20203 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
20214 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
20215 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
20216 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
20217 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
20218 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
20222 @vindex gnus-carpal
20223 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
20224 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
20225 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
20230 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
20231 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
20232 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
20234 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
20235 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
20236 Face used on buttons.
20238 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
20239 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
20240 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
20242 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
20243 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
20244 Buttons in the group buffer.
20246 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
20247 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
20248 Buttons in the summary buffer.
20250 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
20251 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
20252 Buttons in the server buffer.
20254 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
20255 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
20256 Buttons in the browse buffer.
20259 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
20260 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
20261 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
20269 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
20270 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
20271 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
20272 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
20273 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
20275 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
20276 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
20277 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
20279 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
20280 been idle for thirty minutes:
20283 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
20286 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
20290 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
20293 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
20294 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
20295 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
20297 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
20298 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
20299 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
20300 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
20302 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
20303 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
20304 @var{idle} minutes.
20306 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
20307 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
20310 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
20311 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
20312 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
20314 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
20315 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
20316 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
20317 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
20319 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
20320 your @file{.gnus.el} file:
20322 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
20324 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
20327 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
20328 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
20329 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
20330 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
20331 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
20332 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
20333 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
20334 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
20335 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
20336 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
20337 @file{.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
20339 @findex gnus-demon-init
20340 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
20341 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
20342 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
20343 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
20344 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
20346 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
20347 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
20348 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
20357 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
20358 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
20360 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
20361 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
20362 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
20363 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
20366 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
20367 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
20368 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
20369 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
20371 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
20372 this will make spam disappear.
20374 There are some variables to customize, of course:
20377 @item gnus-use-nocem
20378 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
20379 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
20382 @item gnus-nocem-groups
20383 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
20384 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
20385 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
20386 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
20388 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
20389 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
20390 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
20391 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
20392 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
20393 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
20395 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
20396 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
20398 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
20399 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
20400 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
20401 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
20402 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
20403 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
20404 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
20405 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
20406 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
20407 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
20409 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
20410 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
20413 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
20416 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
20417 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
20420 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
20423 The specs are applied left-to-right.
20426 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
20427 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
20429 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
20430 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
20431 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
20432 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
20434 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
20435 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
20438 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
20440 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
20448 This might be dangerous, though.
20450 @item gnus-nocem-directory
20451 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
20452 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
20453 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
20455 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
20456 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
20457 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
20458 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
20459 might then see old spam.
20461 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
20462 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
20463 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
20464 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
20465 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
20468 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20469 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20470 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
20471 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
20475 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
20476 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
20477 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
20478 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
20485 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
20486 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
20487 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
20489 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
20490 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
20491 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
20492 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
20493 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
20494 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
20495 @code{undo} function.
20497 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
20498 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
20499 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
20500 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
20501 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
20502 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
20503 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
20504 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
20505 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
20506 never be totally undoable.
20508 @findex gnus-undo-mode
20509 @vindex gnus-use-undo
20511 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
20512 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
20513 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
20514 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
20518 @node Predicate Specifiers
20519 @section Predicate Specifiers
20520 @cindex predicate specifiers
20522 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
20523 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
20524 to type all that much.
20526 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
20531 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
20532 gnus-article-unread-p)
20535 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
20536 functions all take one parameter.
20538 @findex gnus-make-predicate
20539 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
20540 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
20541 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
20546 @section Moderation
20549 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
20550 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
20551 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
20554 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
20558 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
20561 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
20563 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
20568 You split your incoming mail by matching on
20569 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
20570 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
20573 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
20574 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
20577 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
20578 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
20582 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
20585 (setq gnus-moderated-list
20586 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
20590 @node Image Enhancements
20591 @section Image Enhancements
20593 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21, is able to display pictures and stuff, so
20594 Gnus has taken advantage of that.
20597 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
20598 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
20599 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
20600 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
20601 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
20614 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
20615 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
20616 over your shoulder as you read news.
20619 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
20620 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
20621 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
20622 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
20623 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
20628 @subsubsection Picon Basics
20630 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
20639 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
20640 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
20641 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
20642 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
20643 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
20644 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
20645 @code{GIF} formats.
20648 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20649 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
20650 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
20651 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
20652 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
20654 @vindex gnus-picons-database
20655 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
20656 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
20657 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
20658 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
20659 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
20661 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
20662 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
20665 @node Picon Requirements
20666 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
20668 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must have @code{x} support
20669 compiled into XEmacs. To display color picons which are much nicer
20670 than the black & white one, you also need one of @code{xpm} or
20671 @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
20673 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20674 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
20675 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
20676 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
20677 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
20678 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20681 @subsubsection Easy Picons
20683 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
20684 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
20687 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
20688 (setq gnus-treat-display-picons t)
20691 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
20692 containing the Picons databases.
20694 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
20697 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20698 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
20703 @subsubsection Hard Picons
20711 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
20712 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
20713 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
20714 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
20715 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
20720 @item gnus-picons-database
20721 @vindex gnus-picons-database
20722 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
20723 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
20724 subdirectories. This is only useful if
20725 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
20726 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
20728 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20729 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20730 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
20731 engine is @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
20732 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
20733 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
20734 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
20736 @item gnus-picons-display-where
20737 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
20738 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
20739 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
20740 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
20741 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
20742 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
20743 routines---@pxref{Window Layout}.
20745 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
20746 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
20747 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
20752 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
20753 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
20755 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
20756 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
20759 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
20761 @item gnus-article-display-picons
20762 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
20763 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
20764 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer.
20766 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
20767 @findex gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
20768 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.
20769 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the function name, not @code{xface})
20775 @node Picon Useless Configuration
20776 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
20784 The following variables offer further control over how things are
20785 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
20786 don't need to worry about.
20790 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
20791 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
20792 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
20793 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
20795 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
20796 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
20797 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
20798 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
20800 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
20801 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
20802 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
20803 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
20804 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
20806 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20807 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20808 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
20809 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
20810 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
20811 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
20812 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
20813 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20815 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
20816 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
20817 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
20818 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
20819 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20821 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
20822 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
20823 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
20824 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
20825 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
20826 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
20827 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
20829 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
20830 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
20831 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
20832 Defaults to @code{nil}.
20834 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
20835 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
20836 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
20837 Defaults to @code{t}.
20839 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
20840 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
20841 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
20842 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
20844 @item gnus-picons-setup-hook
20845 @vindex gnus-picons-setup-hook
20846 Hook run in the picon buffer, if that is displayed.
20848 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
20849 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
20850 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
20851 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
20853 If @code{nil}, display the picons in the @code{From} and
20854 @code{Newsgroups} lines. This is the default.
20856 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
20857 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
20858 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
20859 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
20860 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
20861 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
20862 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
20863 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
20874 @subsection Smileys
20879 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
20884 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
20885 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
20887 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
20888 @file{.gnus.el} file:
20891 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
20894 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
20895 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
20896 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
20897 text and maps that to file names.
20899 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
20900 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
20901 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
20902 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
20903 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
20904 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
20906 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
20907 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
20909 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
20910 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
20911 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
20913 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
20914 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
20918 @item smiley-data-directory
20919 @vindex smiley-data-directory
20920 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
20922 @item smiley-flesh-color
20923 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
20924 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
20926 @item smiley-features-color
20927 @vindex smiley-features-color
20928 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
20930 @item smiley-tongue-color
20931 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
20932 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
20934 @item smiley-circle-color
20935 @vindex smiley-circle-color
20936 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
20938 @item smiley-mouse-face
20939 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
20940 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
20949 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
20950 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
20951 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
20955 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
20956 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
20957 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
20958 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
20966 Decoding an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
20967 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
20968 have @samp{compface} installed on your system. If either is true,
20969 Gnus will default to displaying @code{X-Face} headers.
20971 The variable that controls this is the
20972 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
20973 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
20974 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
20975 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
20976 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
20978 The default action under Emacs 20 is to fork off the @code{display}
20979 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For
20980 the @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
20981 like @code{compface} or @code{faces-xface} on a GNU/Linux system.} to
20984 Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image support, the default
20985 action is to display the face before the @code{From} header. (It's
20986 nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support---that
20987 will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native @code{X-Face}
20988 support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
20989 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
20990 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
20991 like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.})
20993 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
20996 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
20997 easier insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages.
20999 @findex gnus-random-x-face
21000 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
21001 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
21002 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
21003 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
21004 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
21005 header data as a string.
21007 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
21008 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
21009 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
21010 randomly generated data.
21012 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
21013 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
21014 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
21015 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
21017 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
21018 like the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
21021 (setq message-required-news-headers
21022 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21023 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
21026 Using the last function would be something like this:
21029 (setq message-required-news-headers
21030 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21031 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
21032 (gnus-x-face-from-file
21033 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
21038 @subsection Toolbar
21048 @item gnus-use-toolbar
21049 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
21050 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
21051 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
21052 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
21054 @item gnus-group-toolbar
21055 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
21056 The toolbar in the group buffer.
21058 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
21059 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
21060 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
21062 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21063 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21064 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
21070 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
21073 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21074 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21075 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
21076 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
21077 unusual directory structure.
21079 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21080 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21081 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
21082 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
21084 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21085 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21086 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
21087 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
21088 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
21089 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
21091 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21092 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21093 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
21107 @node Fuzzy Matching
21108 @section Fuzzy Matching
21109 @cindex fuzzy matching
21111 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
21112 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
21114 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
21115 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
21116 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
21118 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
21119 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
21120 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
21121 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
21122 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
21125 @node Thwarting Email Spam
21126 @section Thwarting Email Spam
21130 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21132 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
21133 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
21134 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
21135 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
21136 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
21137 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
21138 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
21139 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
21142 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
21143 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
21144 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
21145 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
21146 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
21147 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
21149 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
21152 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
21153 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
21154 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
21155 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
21156 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
21157 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
21160 @node The problem of spam
21161 @subsection The problem of spam
21163 @cindex spam filtering approaches
21164 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
21166 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21168 First, some background on spam.
21170 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
21171 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it exists
21172 because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail, so only
21173 a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to make it
21174 worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most common
21175 spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for further
21176 spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers}, but terms like
21177 @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, and @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
21179 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
21180 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
21181 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
21182 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
21183 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
21184 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
21185 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
21186 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
21187 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
21190 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering. If you get 200
21191 spam messages per day from @email{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you
21192 block @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about
21193 @samp{VIAGRA}, you discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the
21194 message. This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate
21195 e-mail. For instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest
21196 has been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it
21197 @strong{contained} words that were common in spam messages.
21198 Nevertheless, in isolated cases, with great care, direct filtering of
21199 mail can be useful.
21201 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
21202 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
21203 @code{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @samp{X} in
21204 China, Ghana, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
21205 @code{N} systems enter @samp{X} or the spam e-mail from @samp{X} into
21206 a database. The criteria for spam detection vary - it may be the
21207 number of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When
21208 a user of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a
21209 message is spam, he consults one of those @code{N} systems.
21211 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
21212 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
21213 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
21214 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
21215 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
21216 sending spam, and their web sites have been shut down for some time
21217 because of the incident.
21219 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
21220 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
21221 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
21222 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
21223 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
21224 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
21225 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
21226 to store the database of spam analyses.
21228 @node Anti-Spam Basics
21229 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
21233 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21235 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
21236 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
21238 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
21239 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
21240 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
21241 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
21242 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
21243 part of the mail address.)
21246 (setq message-default-news-headers
21247 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
21250 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
21251 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21256 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
21257 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
21258 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
21264 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
21265 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
21266 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
21267 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
21269 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @sc{smtp} server
21270 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
21271 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
21272 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
21273 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
21274 your fancy split rule in this way:
21279 (to "larsi" "misc")
21283 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
21284 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
21285 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
21286 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
21287 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
21289 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
21290 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
21291 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
21292 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
21293 cosmic balance somewhat.
21295 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
21296 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
21297 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
21298 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
21303 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
21304 @cindex SpamAssassin
21305 @cindex Vipul's Razor
21308 The days where the hints in the previous section was sufficient in
21309 avoiding spam is coming to an end. There are many tools out there
21310 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
21311 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
21312 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
21313 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
21314 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
21316 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
21317 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
21318 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
21319 Specifiers}) follows.
21323 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
21326 :postscript "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
21329 Once you managed to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
21330 the mail contain e.g. a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
21331 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
21334 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
21338 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21341 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
21342 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
21346 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
21347 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
21348 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
21349 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
21352 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
21354 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
21356 (let ((buf (or (get-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
21357 (get-buffer " *nnml move*"))))
21359 (progn (message "Oops, cannot find message buffer") nil)
21361 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
21362 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
21366 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
21367 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
21368 spam. And here is the nifty function:
21371 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
21372 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
21374 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
21375 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
21376 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
21380 @subsection Hashcash
21383 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
21384 costly for each message they send. This has the obvious drawback that
21385 you cannot rely on that everyone in the world uses this technique,
21386 since it is not part of the Internet standards, but it may be useful
21387 in smaller communities.
21389 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
21390 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
21391 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
21392 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
21393 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
21394 instead requires that everyone you communicate with supports the
21395 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
21396 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
21397 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
21398 one of them separately.
21401 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
21402 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
21403 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:}
21404 header. For more details, and for the external application
21405 @code{hashcash} you need to install to use this feature, see
21406 @uref{http://www.cypherspace.org/~adam/hashcash/}. Even more
21407 information can be found at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
21409 If you wish to call hashcash for each message you send, say something
21413 (require 'hashcash)
21414 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'mail-add-payment)
21417 The @code{hashcash.el} library can be found at
21418 @uref{http://users.actrix.gen.nz/mycroft/hashcash.el}, or in the Gnus
21419 development contrib directory.
21421 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
21425 @item hashcash-default-payment
21426 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
21427 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
21428 should consist of. By default this is 0, meaning nothing will be
21429 done. Suggested useful values include 17 to 29.
21431 @item hashcash-payment-alist
21432 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
21433 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
21434 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(ADDR AMOUNT)} cells,
21435 where ADDR is the receiver (email address or newsgroup) and AMOUNT is
21436 the number of bits in the collision that is needed. It can also
21437 contain @samp{(ADDR STRING AMOUNT)} cells, where the STRING is the
21438 string to use (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
21442 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed.
21446 Currently there is no built in functionality in Gnus to verify
21447 hashcash cookies, it is expected that this is performed by your hand
21448 customized mail filtering scripts. Improvements in this area would be
21449 a useful contribution, however.
21451 @node Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
21452 @subsection Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
21453 @cindex spam filtering
21456 The idea behind @code{spam.el} is to have a control center for spam detection
21457 and filtering in Gnus. To that end, @code{spam.el} does two things: it
21458 filters incoming mail, and it analyzes mail known to be spam or ham.
21459 @emph{Ham} is the name used throughout @code{spam.el} to indicate
21462 So, what happens when you load @code{spam.el}? First of all, you get
21463 the following keyboard commands:
21473 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
21474 @code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}.
21476 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{H} mark.
21477 Whenever you see a spam article, make sure to mark its summary line
21478 with @kbd{M-d} before leaving the group. This is done automatically
21479 for unread articles in @emph{spam} groups.
21485 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
21486 @code{spam-bogofilter-score}.
21488 You must have Bogofilter installed for that command to work properly.
21494 Also, when you load @code{spam.el}, you will be able to customize its
21495 variables. Try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{spam} variable
21498 The concepts of ham processors and spam processors are very important.
21499 Ham processors and spam processors for a group can be set with the
21500 @code{spam-process} group parameter, or the
21501 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. Ham processors take
21502 mail known to be non-spam (@emph{ham}) and process it in some way so
21503 that later similar mail will also be considered non-spam. Spam
21504 processors take mail known to be spam and process it so similar spam
21505 will be detected later.
21507 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
21508 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
21509 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
21510 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
21511 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
21512 by customizing the corresponding variable
21513 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
21514 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
21515 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
21516 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
21517 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
21518 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
21519 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
21522 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
21523 they get the @samp{H} mark when you enter the group. You must review
21524 these messages from time to time and remove the @samp{H} mark for
21525 every message that is not spam after all. To remove the @samp{H}
21526 mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to "unread" the article, or @kbd{d} for
21527 declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a group, all
21528 spam-marked (@samp{H}) articles are sent to a spam processor which
21529 will study them as spam samples.
21531 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
21532 @code{spam-ham-marks} gets overridden below, marks @samp{R} and
21533 @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
21534 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
21535 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
21536 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
21537 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
21538 should then adjust the @code{spam-ham-marks} variable.
21540 @defvar spam-ham-marks
21541 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
21542 consider ham. By default, the list contains the deleted, read,
21543 killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks.
21546 @defvar spam-spam-marks
21547 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
21548 consider spam. By default, the list contains only the spam mark.
21551 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
21552 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
21553 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
21554 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
21555 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
21556 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{H},
21559 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
21560 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
21561 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
21562 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
21563 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
21564 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
21565 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
21566 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with
21567 @code{customize-variable gnus-ham-process-destinations}). The ultimate
21568 location is a group name. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
21569 parameter is not set, spam articles are only expired.
21571 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
21572 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
21574 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
21575 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
21576 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
21577 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
21578 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
21579 customize this variable with @code{customize-variable
21580 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). The ultimate location is a group
21581 name. If the @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set,
21582 the spam articles are only expired.
21584 To use the @code{spam.el} facilities for incoming mail filtering, you
21585 must add the following to your fancy split list
21586 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}:
21592 Note that the fancy split may be called @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
21593 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on whether you use the nnmail or
21594 nnimap back ends to retrieve your mail.
21596 The @code{spam-split} function will process incoming mail and send the
21597 mail considered to be spam into the group name given by the variable
21598 @code{spam-split-group}. By default that group name is @samp{spam},
21599 but you can customize it.
21601 @emph{Note for IMAP users}
21603 The boolean variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body} needs to be
21604 set, if you want to split based on the whole message instead of just
21605 the headers. By default, the nnimap backend will only retrieve the
21606 message headers. If you use spam-check-bogofilter, spam-check-ifile,
21607 or spam-check-stat (the splitters that can benefit from the full
21608 message body), you should set this variable. It is not set by default
21609 because it will slow IMAP down.
21611 @xref{Splitting in IMAP}.
21613 @emph{TODO: Currently, spam.el only supports insertion of articles
21614 into a backend. There is no way to tell spam.el that an article is no
21615 longer spam or ham.}
21617 @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
21618 statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
21621 The following are the methods you can use to control the behavior of
21622 @code{spam-split} and their corresponding spam and ham processors:
21625 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
21626 * BBDB Whitelists::
21629 * ifile spam filtering::
21630 * spam-stat spam filtering::
21631 * Extending the spam elisp package::
21634 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
21635 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
21636 @cindex spam filtering
21637 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
21638 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
21641 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
21642 Set this variable to t if you want to use blacklists when splitting
21643 incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist will be
21644 sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit filter,
21645 meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to be
21649 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
21650 Set this variable to t if you want to use whitelists when splitting
21651 incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the whitelist will
21652 be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an implicit filter,
21653 meaning it believes everyone to be a spammer unless told otherwise.
21657 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
21658 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21659 customizing the group parameters or the
21660 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21661 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21662 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
21665 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
21666 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21667 customizing the group parameters or the
21668 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21669 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21670 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
21671 whitelist. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
21672 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21675 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
21676 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
21677 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
21678 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
21679 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
21681 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
21682 legitimate. All non-whitelisted addresses are considered spammers.
21683 This option is probably not useful for most Gnus users unless the
21684 whitelists is very comprehensive or permissive. Also see @ref{BBDB
21685 Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the Emacs regular expression
21688 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
21689 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
21690 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
21691 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
21692 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
21693 @file{blacklist} respectively.
21695 @node BBDB Whitelists
21696 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
21697 @cindex spam filtering
21698 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
21699 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
21702 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
21704 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
21705 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted addresses,
21706 without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded for
21707 @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Only addresses in the BBDB
21708 will be allowed through; all others will be classified as spam.
21712 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
21713 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21714 customizing the group parameters or the
21715 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21716 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21717 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
21718 BBDB. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
21719 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21723 @subsubsection Blackholes
21724 @cindex spam filtering
21725 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
21728 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
21730 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
21731 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
21732 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
21733 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
21734 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
21735 contains outdated servers.
21737 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
21738 @code{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
21739 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to nil. It is not recommended at this
21740 time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to nil despite the possible
21741 performance improvements, because some users may be unable to use it,
21742 but you can try it and see if it works for you.
21746 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
21748 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
21752 @defvar spam-use-dig
21754 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
21755 The default setting of t is recommended.
21759 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
21760 ham processor for blackholes.
21763 @subsubsection Bogofilter
21764 @cindex spam filtering
21765 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
21768 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
21770 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
21773 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{H} mark for spam
21774 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
21775 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
21776 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
21777 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
21778 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
21780 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on an internal
21781 threshold, set at compilation time. That threshold can't be
21784 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
21785 processing will be turned off.
21787 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
21791 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
21793 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
21794 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
21795 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
21796 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
21797 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
21798 installation documents for details.
21800 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
21804 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
21805 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21806 customizing the group parameters or the
21807 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21808 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
21809 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
21812 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
21813 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21814 customizing the group parameters or the
21815 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21816 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
21817 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
21818 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
21819 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21822 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
21824 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
21825 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
21826 database directory.
21830 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to ifile in intent and
21831 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
21832 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
21833 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
21834 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
21835 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
21837 @node ifile spam filtering
21838 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
21839 @cindex spam filtering
21840 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
21843 @defvar spam-use-ifile
21845 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use ifile, a
21846 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
21850 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
21852 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
21853 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
21854 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
21858 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
21860 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
21861 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
21862 the default value of @samp{spam}.
21865 @defvar spam-ifile-database-path
21867 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
21868 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
21872 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
21873 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
21874 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
21875 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
21878 @node spam-stat spam filtering
21879 @subsubsection spam-stat spam filtering
21880 @cindex spam filtering
21881 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
21885 @xref{Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat}.
21887 @defvar spam-use-stat
21889 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use
21890 spam-stat.el, an Emacs Lisp statistical analyzer.
21894 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
21895 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21896 customizing the group parameters or the
21897 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21898 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
21899 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
21902 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
21903 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21904 customizing the group parameters or the
21905 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21906 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
21907 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
21908 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
21909 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21912 This enables spam.el to cooperate with spam-stat.el. spam-stat.el
21913 provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database, which unlike ifile or
21914 Bogofilter does not require external programs. A spam and a ham
21915 processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for @code{spam-split}
21918 @node Extending the spam elisp package
21919 @subsubsection Extending the spam elisp package
21920 @cindex spam filtering
21921 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
21922 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
21924 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
21925 incoming mail, provide the following:
21933 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
21934 "True if blackbox should be used.")
21939 (spam-use-blackbox . spam-check-blackbox)
21941 to @code{spam-list-of-checks}.
21946 Write the @code{spam-check-blackbox} function. It should return
21947 @samp{nil} or @code{spam-split-group}. See the existing
21948 @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can do.
21951 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
21958 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
21959 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
21962 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
21963 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
21964 Only applicable to spam groups.")
21966 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
21967 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
21968 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
21976 (defun spam-blackbox-register-spam-routine ()
21977 (spam-generic-register-routine
21978 ;; the spam function
21980 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
21981 (when (stringp from)
21982 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer from))))
21983 ;; the ham function
21986 (defun spam-blackbox-register-ham-routine ()
21987 (spam-generic-register-routine
21988 ;; the spam function
21990 ;; the ham function
21992 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
21993 (when (stringp from)
21994 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender from))))))
21997 Write the @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender} and
21998 @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer} functions. You can add
21999 more complex code than fetching the message sender, but keep in mind
22000 that retrieving the whole message takes significantly longer than the
22001 sender through @code{spam-fetch-field-from-fast}, because the message
22002 senders are kept in memory by Gnus.
22007 @node Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
22008 @subsection Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
22009 @cindex Paul Graham
22010 @cindex Graham, Paul
22011 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
22012 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
22013 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
22015 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
22016 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
22017 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
22018 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
22019 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
22020 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
22021 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
22022 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
22023 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
22026 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
22027 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
22028 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
22029 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
22030 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
22031 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
22032 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
22033 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
22035 Gnus supports this kind of filtering. But it needs some setting up.
22036 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
22037 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
22038 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
22039 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
22042 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
22043 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
22044 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
22047 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22048 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22050 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
22051 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
22052 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
22053 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
22054 need several hundred emails in both collections.
22056 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
22057 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
22058 per mail. Use the following:
22060 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
22061 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
22062 is treated as one spam mail.
22065 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
22066 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
22067 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
22070 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
22071 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds
22072 the the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
22073 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
22074 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds the the group
22075 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
22077 When you are using IMAP, you won't have the mails available locally,
22078 so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent to cache
22079 the articles. Then you can use directories such as
22080 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
22081 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
22084 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics -- the
22085 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
22086 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
22087 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
22090 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
22091 reset the dictionary.
22093 @defun spam-stat-reset
22094 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
22097 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
22098 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
22099 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
22100 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
22101 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
22102 only non-spam mails.
22104 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
22105 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
22106 to update the dictionary incrementally.
22109 @defun spam-stat-save
22110 Save the dictionary.
22113 @defvar spam-stat-file
22114 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
22115 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
22118 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
22119 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
22121 In order to use @code{spam-stat} to split your mail, you need to add the
22122 following to your @file{~/.gnus} file:
22125 (require 'spam-stat)
22129 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
22132 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
22133 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
22134 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
22135 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
22137 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
22138 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
22139 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
22140 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
22143 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22144 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22148 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
22149 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
22152 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
22153 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
22154 expression are considered potential spam.
22157 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22158 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22159 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22163 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
22164 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
22165 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
22166 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
22167 mails, when creating the dictionary!
22170 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22171 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22172 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22176 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
22177 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
22178 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
22179 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
22180 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
22184 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22185 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
22186 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22187 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22192 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22193 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22195 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
22197 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
22198 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
22199 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22202 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
22203 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
22204 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22207 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
22208 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
22209 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
22210 already been processed as non-spam.
22213 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
22214 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
22215 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
22216 been processed as spam.
22219 @defun spam-stat-save
22220 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
22221 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22224 @defun spam-stat-load
22225 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
22226 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22229 @defun spam-stat-score-word
22230 Return the spam score for a word.
22233 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
22234 Return the spam score for a buffer.
22237 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
22238 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
22239 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
22242 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
22243 following in your @file{~/.gnus} file:
22246 (require 'spam-stat)
22250 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
22253 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22254 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22255 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22256 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22257 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22258 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22259 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22260 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22261 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22262 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22263 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22264 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22265 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22266 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22269 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
22272 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22273 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22274 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22275 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
22276 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22277 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22280 @node Various Various
22281 @section Various Various
22287 @item gnus-home-directory
22288 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
22289 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
22291 @item gnus-directory
22292 @vindex gnus-directory
22293 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
22294 this variable, which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment
22295 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
22297 Note that gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
22298 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
22299 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
22300 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
22302 @item gnus-default-directory
22303 @vindex gnus-default-directory
22304 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
22305 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
22306 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
22307 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
22308 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
22309 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
22312 @vindex gnus-verbose
22313 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
22314 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
22315 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
22316 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
22317 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
22319 @item gnus-verbose-backends
22320 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
22321 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
22322 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
22324 @item nnheader-max-head-length
22325 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
22326 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
22327 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
22328 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
22329 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
22330 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
22331 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
22332 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
22333 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
22335 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
22336 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
22337 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
22338 read when doing the operation described above.
22340 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22341 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22343 @cindex invalid characters in file names
22344 @cindex characters in file names
22345 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
22346 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
22347 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
22350 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22354 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
22355 Windows (phooey) systems.
22357 @item gnus-hidden-properties
22358 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
22359 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
22360 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
22361 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
22363 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
22364 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
22365 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
22366 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
22367 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
22369 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
22370 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
22371 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
22373 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
22374 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
22376 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
22377 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
22378 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
22379 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
22382 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
22390 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
22391 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
22393 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
22395 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
22401 Not because of victories @*
22404 but for the common sunshine,@*
22406 the largess of the spring.
22410 but for the day's work done@*
22411 as well as I was able;@*
22412 not for a seat upon the dais@*
22413 but at the common table.@*
22418 @chapter Appendices
22421 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
22422 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
22423 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
22424 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
22425 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
22426 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
22427 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
22428 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
22429 * Frequently Asked Questions::
22436 @cindex Installing under XEmacs
22438 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
22439 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
22440 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{w3}, @samp{mh-e},
22441 @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{rmail}, @samp{eterm}, @samp{mail-lib},
22442 @samp{xemacs-base}, @samp{sh-script} and @samp{fsf-compat}. The
22443 @samp{misc-games} package is required for Morse decoding.
22450 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
22451 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
22453 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
22454 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
22455 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
22456 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
22457 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
22459 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
22460 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
22461 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
22462 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
22463 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
22464 appropriate name, don't you think?)
22466 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
22467 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
22468 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
22469 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
22472 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
22473 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
22474 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
22475 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
22476 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
22477 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
22478 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
22479 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
22480 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
22484 @node Gnus Versions
22485 @subsection Gnus Versions
22487 @cindex September Gnus
22489 @cindex Quassia Gnus
22490 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
22494 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
22495 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
22496 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
22498 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
22499 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
22501 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
22502 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
22504 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
22505 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
22507 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
22508 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
22511 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
22513 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
22514 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
22515 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
22516 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
22517 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
22518 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
22521 @node Other Gnus Versions
22522 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
22525 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
22526 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
22527 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
22528 @sc{mime} capabilities.
22530 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
22531 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
22532 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
22533 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
22540 What's the point of Gnus?
22542 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
22543 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
22544 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
22545 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
22546 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
22547 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
22548 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
22549 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
22550 keep track of millions of people who post?
22552 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
22553 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
22554 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
22555 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
22556 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
22557 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
22558 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
22559 every one of you to explore and invent.
22561 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
22562 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
22565 @node Compatibility
22566 @subsection Compatibility
22568 @cindex compatibility
22569 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
22570 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
22571 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
22576 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
22580 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
22583 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
22586 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
22587 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
22588 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
22589 important variables have their values copied into their global
22590 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
22591 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
22593 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
22594 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
22595 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
22596 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
22597 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
22601 @cindex highlighting
22602 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
22603 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
22604 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
22605 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
22606 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
22607 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
22610 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
22611 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
22612 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
22613 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
22615 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
22616 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
22617 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
22618 to stop doing it the old way.
22620 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
22622 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
22624 @cindex reporting bugs
22626 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
22627 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
22628 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
22630 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
22631 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
22632 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
22633 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
22638 @subsection Conformity
22640 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
22641 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
22649 There are no known breaches of this standard.
22653 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
22655 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
22656 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
22657 We do have some breaches to this one.
22663 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
22664 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
22665 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
22666 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
22667 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
22672 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
22673 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
22674 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
22675 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
22677 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
22679 All the various @sc{mime} RFCs are supported.
22681 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
22682 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
22684 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
22687 RFC 1991 is the original PGP message specification, published as a
22688 Information RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now called Open PGP, and
22689 put on the Standards Track. Both document a non-@sc{mime} aware PGP
22690 format. Gnus supports both encoding (signing and encryption) and
22691 decoding (verification and decryption).
22693 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
22694 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
22695 1991) describes the @sc{mime}-wrapping around the RF 1991/2440 format.
22696 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
22698 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
22699 RFC 2633 describes the @sc{s/mime} format.
22701 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
22702 RFC 1730 is @sc{imap} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060 (@sc{imap} 4
22703 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5 authentication for @sc{imap}. RFC
22704 2086 describes access control lists (ACLs) for @sc{imap}. RFC 2359
22705 describes a @sc{imap} protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper
22706 TLS integration (STARTTLS) with @sc{imap}. RFC 1731 describes the
22707 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @sc{imap}.
22711 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
22712 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
22717 @subsection Emacsen
22723 Gnus should work on :
22731 XEmacs 21.1.1 and up.
22735 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
22736 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
22737 Emacs versions. However, T-gnus does support ``Mule 2.3 based on Emacs
22738 19.34'' and possibly the versions of XEmacs prior to 21.1.1, e.g. 20.4.
22739 See the file ``README'' in the T-gnus distribution for more details.
22741 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
22742 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
22743 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
22747 @node Gnus Development
22748 @subsection Gnus Development
22750 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
22751 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
22752 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
22753 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
22754 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
22755 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
22756 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
22757 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
22759 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
22760 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
22761 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
22762 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
22763 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
22766 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
22767 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
22768 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
22769 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
22770 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
22772 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
22773 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
22774 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
22775 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
22776 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
22777 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
22778 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
22779 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
22780 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
22781 can't be assumed to do so.
22786 @subsection Contributors
22787 @cindex contributors
22789 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
22790 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
22791 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
22792 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
22793 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
22794 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
22795 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
22796 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
22797 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
22798 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
22800 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
22806 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
22809 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
22810 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
22811 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
22812 functionality and stuff.
22815 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
22816 well as numerous other things).
22819 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
22822 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
22825 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
22828 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
22831 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
22832 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
22835 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
22838 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
22839 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
22842 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
22845 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
22848 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
22851 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
22854 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
22855 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
22858 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
22861 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
22864 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
22867 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
22871 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
22874 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
22877 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
22880 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
22881 well as autoconf support.
22885 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
22886 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
22888 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
22897 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
22901 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
22911 Alexei V. Barantsev,
22926 Massimo Campostrini,
22931 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
22932 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
22936 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
22939 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
22945 Michael Welsh Duggan,
22950 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
22954 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
22962 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
22964 Michelangelo Grigni,
22968 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
22970 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
22972 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
22979 François Felix Ingrand,
22980 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
22981 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
22983 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
22994 Peter Skov Knudsen,
22995 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
22997 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
22998 Thor Kristoffersen,
23001 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
23019 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
23020 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
23027 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
23032 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
23036 John McClary Prevost,
23042 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
23047 Christian von Roques,
23050 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
23057 Philippe Schnoebelen,
23059 Randal L. Schwartz,
23073 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
23078 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
23094 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
23099 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
23100 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
23101 (550kB and counting).
23103 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
23106 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
23107 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
23111 @subsection New Features
23112 @cindex new features
23115 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
23116 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
23117 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
23118 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
23119 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
23122 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
23123 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
23124 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
23127 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
23129 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
23134 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
23135 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
23138 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
23139 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
23142 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
23145 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
23146 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
23147 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
23150 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
23151 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
23152 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
23153 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
23156 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
23157 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23160 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
23161 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
23162 (@pxref{The Active File}).
23165 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
23166 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
23169 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
23170 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
23171 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
23174 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
23175 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
23176 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
23179 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus.el}) to avoid cluttering up
23180 the @file{.emacs} file.
23183 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
23184 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
23187 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
23188 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
23191 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
23192 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23195 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
23196 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
23199 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
23200 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
23203 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
23206 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
23207 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
23210 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
23211 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
23214 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
23215 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
23218 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
23221 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
23222 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
23225 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
23229 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
23233 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
23234 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
23237 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
23243 @node September Gnus
23244 @subsubsection September Gnus
23248 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
23252 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
23257 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
23258 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
23262 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
23263 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
23267 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
23271 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
23272 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
23275 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
23279 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
23282 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
23285 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
23288 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
23292 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
23293 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
23296 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
23300 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
23304 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
23308 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
23312 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
23315 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
23316 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
23319 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
23323 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
23324 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
23327 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
23330 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
23331 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
23332 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
23335 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
23339 The Gnus cache is much faster.
23342 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
23346 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
23347 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
23350 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
23351 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
23354 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
23355 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
23358 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
23359 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
23360 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
23363 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
23364 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
23367 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
23370 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
23373 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
23376 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
23379 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
23380 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
23383 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
23387 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
23390 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
23395 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
23398 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
23402 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23405 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
23409 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
23412 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
23415 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
23416 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
23419 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
23420 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
23424 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
23425 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
23428 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
23432 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
23433 buffer to allow easier treatment.
23436 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
23439 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
23443 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
23447 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
23448 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
23451 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
23455 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
23456 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
23459 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
23460 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
23463 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
23467 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
23470 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
23473 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
23479 @subsubsection Red Gnus
23481 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
23485 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
23492 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
23495 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
23496 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
23499 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
23500 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
23504 Article washing status can be displayed in the
23505 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
23508 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
23511 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
23512 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
23515 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
23519 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
23520 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
23524 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
23525 Server Internals}).
23528 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
23532 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
23535 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
23536 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
23539 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
23540 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
23541 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
23544 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
23545 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
23548 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
23549 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
23552 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
23556 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
23557 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
23560 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
23561 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
23564 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
23568 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
23571 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
23575 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
23576 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
23579 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
23580 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
23583 A new command for reading collections of documents
23584 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
23585 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
23588 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
23592 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
23593 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
23596 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
23597 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
23598 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
23601 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
23602 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
23606 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
23610 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
23614 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
23619 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
23623 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
23627 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
23628 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
23631 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
23637 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
23639 New features in Gnus 5.6:
23644 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
23645 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
23646 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
23649 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
23650 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
23651 group, which is created automatically.
23654 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
23658 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
23661 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
23662 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
23665 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
23669 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
23672 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
23673 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
23676 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
23679 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
23680 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
23683 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
23684 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
23687 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
23688 control over simplification.
23691 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
23694 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
23698 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
23701 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
23704 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
23705 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
23706 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
23709 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
23710 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
23713 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
23717 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
23718 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
23721 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
23722 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
23725 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
23729 A history of where mails have been split is available.
23732 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
23735 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
23736 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
23739 A new function for citing in Message has been
23740 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
23743 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
23746 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
23750 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
23751 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
23754 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
23755 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
23758 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
23761 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
23765 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
23766 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
23768 New features in Gnus 5.8:
23773 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
23774 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
23776 If you used procmail like in
23779 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
23780 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
23781 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
23782 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
23785 this now has changed to
23789 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
23793 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
23794 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
23797 Gnus is now a @sc{mime}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
23798 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
23801 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
23802 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
23805 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
23806 called to position point.
23809 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
23810 summary buffers and @sc{nov} files.
23813 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
23814 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
23817 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
23818 subtly different manner.
23821 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
23822 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
23823 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
23826 Gnus can now read @sc{imap} mail via @code{nnimap}.
23834 @section The Manual
23838 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
23839 either @code{texi2dvi}
23841 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
23842 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
23844 to get what you hold in your hands now.
23846 The following conventions have been used:
23851 This is a @samp{string}
23854 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
23857 This is a @file{file}
23860 This is a @code{symbol}
23864 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
23868 (setq flargnoze "yes")
23871 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
23874 (setq flumphel 'yes)
23877 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
23878 ever get them confused.
23882 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
23883 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
23884 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
23885 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
23886 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
23887 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
23888 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
23894 @node On Writing Manuals
23895 @section On Writing Manuals
23897 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
23898 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
23899 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
23900 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
23901 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
23902 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
23905 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
23906 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
23907 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
23910 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
23911 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
23916 @section Terminology
23918 @cindex terminology
23923 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
23924 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
23925 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
23926 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
23927 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
23931 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
23932 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
23933 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
23934 not posting, and replying is not following up.
23938 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
23942 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
23947 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
23948 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
23949 commonly fetched via the protocol NNTP, whereas mail messages could be
23950 read from a file on the local disk. The internal architecture of Gnus
23951 thus comprises a `front end' and a number of `back ends'. Internally,
23952 when you enter a group (by hitting @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke
23953 a function in the front end in Gnus. The front end then `talks' to a
23954 back end and says things like ``Give me the list of articles in the foo
23955 group'' or ``Show me article number 4711''.
23957 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back end
23958 accesses news via NNTP, the @code{nnimap} back end accesses mail via
23959 IMAP) or a file format and directory layout (the @code{nnspool} back end
23960 accesses news via the common `spool directory' format, the @code{nnml}
23961 back end access mail via a file format and directory layout that's
23964 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
23965 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
23966 access the articles.
23968 However, sometimes the term `back end' is also used where `server'
23969 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term `select
23970 method' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
23975 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
23976 default, way of getting news.
23980 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
23981 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
23986 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
23987 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
23991 A message that has been posted as news.
23994 @cindex mail message
23995 A message that has been mailed.
23999 A mail message or news article
24003 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
24008 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
24013 A line from the head of an article.
24017 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
24018 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
24022 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
24023 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
24024 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
24025 normal @sc{head} format.
24029 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
24030 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
24031 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
24032 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
24033 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
24034 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
24036 @item killed groups
24037 @cindex killed groups
24038 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
24039 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
24041 @item zombie groups
24042 @cindex zombie groups
24043 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
24046 @cindex active file
24047 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
24048 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
24049 is rather large, as you might surmise.
24052 @cindex bogus groups
24053 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
24054 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
24055 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
24058 @cindex activating groups
24059 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
24060 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
24061 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
24065 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
24067 @item select method
24068 @cindex select method
24069 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
24072 @item virtual server
24073 @cindex virtual server
24074 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
24075 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
24076 whole is a virtual server.
24080 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
24081 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
24084 @item ephemeral groups
24085 @cindex ephemeral groups
24086 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
24087 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
24088 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
24091 @cindex solid groups
24092 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
24093 group buffer are solid groups.
24095 @item sparse articles
24096 @cindex sparse articles
24097 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
24098 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
24102 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
24103 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
24107 @cindex thread root
24108 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
24109 articles in the thread.
24113 An article that has responses.
24117 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
24121 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
24122 specified by RFC 1153.
24128 @node Customization
24129 @section Customization
24130 @cindex general customization
24132 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
24133 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
24134 for some quite common situations.
24137 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
24138 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
24139 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
24140 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
24144 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
24145 @subsection Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
24147 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
24148 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
24149 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
24153 @item gnus-read-active-file
24154 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
24155 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
24156 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24157 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
24158 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
24160 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
24161 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
24162 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
24163 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
24167 @node Slow Terminal Connection
24168 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
24170 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
24171 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
24172 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
24176 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
24177 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
24178 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
24179 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
24180 horizontal and vertical recentering.
24182 @item gnus-visible-headers
24183 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
24184 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
24185 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
24186 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
24188 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
24190 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
24191 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
24192 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
24195 @item gnus-use-full-window
24196 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
24197 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
24198 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
24199 want to read them anyway.
24201 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
24202 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
24206 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
24207 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
24208 lines, which might save some time.
24212 @node Little Disk Space
24213 @subsection Little Disk Space
24216 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
24217 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
24221 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
24222 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
24223 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24224 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24227 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
24228 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
24229 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24230 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24233 @item gnus-save-killed-list
24234 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
24235 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
24236 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
24237 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
24243 @subsection Slow Machine
24244 @cindex slow machine
24246 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
24247 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
24249 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24250 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
24252 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
24253 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
24254 summary buffer faster.
24258 @node Troubleshooting
24259 @section Troubleshooting
24260 @cindex troubleshooting
24262 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
24270 Make sure your computer is switched on.
24273 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
24274 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
24278 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
24279 like @samp{T-gnus 6.15.* (based on Oort Gnus v0.*; for SEMI 1.1*, FLIM
24280 1.1*)} you have the right files loaded. If, on the other hand, you get
24281 something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp flee}, you have some old
24282 @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
24285 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
24289 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
24290 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
24291 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
24292 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
24293 something like that.
24296 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
24299 @cindex reporting bugs
24301 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
24303 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
24304 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
24305 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
24306 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
24308 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
24309 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
24310 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
24311 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
24314 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
24315 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
24316 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
24317 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
24318 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
24319 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
24321 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
24322 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
24323 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
24327 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
24328 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
24331 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
24332 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
24333 edebug. Debugging lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
24334 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
24335 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
24336 you discover some weird behaviour when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
24337 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
24338 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
24339 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
24340 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
24341 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
24342 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
24343 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
24344 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
24349 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate a elisp error but
24350 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
24351 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press C-j when things are
24352 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
24353 helps isolating the real problem areas). A fancier approach is to use
24354 the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is (or should be) fully
24355 documented elsewhere, but to get you started there are a few steps
24356 that need to be followed. First, instrument the part of Gnus you are
24357 interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package RET
24358 gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-packagre RET message}. Then perform
24359 the operation that is slow and press @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will
24360 then see which operations that takes time, and can debug them further.
24361 If the entire operation takes much longer than the time spent in the
24362 slowest function in the profiler output, you probably profiled the
24363 wrong part of Gnus. To reset profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x
24364 elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove
24365 profiling, but given the complexities and dynamic code generation in
24366 Gnus, it might not always work perfectly.
24368 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
24369 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
24371 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
24372 @cindex ding mailing list
24373 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
24374 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
24378 @node Gnus Reference Guide
24379 @section Gnus Reference Guide
24381 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
24382 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
24383 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
24384 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
24387 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
24388 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
24389 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
24390 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
24391 and general methods of operation.
24394 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
24395 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
24396 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
24397 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
24398 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
24399 * Group Info:: The group info format.
24400 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
24401 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
24402 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
24406 @node Gnus Utility Functions
24407 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
24408 @cindex Gnus utility functions
24409 @cindex utility functions
24411 @cindex internal variables
24413 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
24414 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
24415 Below is a list of the most common ones.
24419 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
24420 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
24421 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
24423 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
24424 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
24425 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
24427 @item gnus-group-real-name
24428 @findex gnus-group-real-name
24429 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
24432 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
24433 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
24434 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
24435 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
24437 @item gnus-get-info
24438 @findex gnus-get-info
24439 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
24441 @item gnus-group-unread
24442 @findex gnus-group-unread
24443 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
24447 @findex gnus-active
24448 The active entry for @var{group}.
24450 @item gnus-set-active
24451 @findex gnus-set-active
24452 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
24454 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
24455 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
24456 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
24459 @item gnus-continuum-version
24460 @findex gnus-continuum-version
24461 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
24462 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
24465 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
24466 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
24467 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
24469 @item gnus-news-group-p
24470 @findex gnus-news-group-p
24471 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
24473 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
24474 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
24475 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
24477 @item gnus-server-to-method
24478 @findex gnus-server-to-method
24479 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
24481 @item gnus-server-equal
24482 @findex gnus-server-equal
24483 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
24485 @item gnus-group-native-p
24486 @findex gnus-group-native-p
24487 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
24489 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
24490 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
24491 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
24493 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
24494 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
24495 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
24497 @item group-group-find-parameter
24498 @findex group-group-find-parameter
24499 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
24500 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
24502 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
24503 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
24504 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
24506 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
24507 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
24508 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
24510 @item gnus-check-backend-function
24511 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
24512 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
24513 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
24516 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
24520 @item gnus-read-method
24521 @findex gnus-read-method
24522 Prompts the user for a select method.
24527 @node Back End Interface
24528 @subsection Back End Interface
24530 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
24531 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
24532 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
24533 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
24534 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
24535 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
24537 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
24538 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
24539 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
24540 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
24541 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
24542 been opened, the function should fail.
24544 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
24545 name. Take this example:
24549 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
24550 (nntp-port-number 4324))
24553 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
24554 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
24556 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
24557 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
24558 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
24560 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
24561 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
24562 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
24564 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
24565 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
24566 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
24567 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
24568 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
24569 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
24572 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
24573 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
24574 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
24575 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
24578 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
24579 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
24580 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
24581 possible for later articles to `re-use' older article numbers without
24582 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
24583 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
24584 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
24585 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
24586 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
24587 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
24589 The previous paragraph already mentions all the `hard' restrictions that
24590 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
24591 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
24592 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
24593 the `no-reuse' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
24594 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
24595 of numbers as long as possible.
24597 Note that by convention, backends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
24598 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
24599 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
24601 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
24604 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
24607 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
24608 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
24609 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
24610 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
24611 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
24612 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
24616 @node Required Back End Functions
24617 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
24621 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
24623 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
24624 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
24625 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
24626 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
24628 The result data should either be HEADs or @sc{nov} lines, and the result
24629 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
24630 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
24631 of HEADs and @sc{nov} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
24633 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
24634 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
24635 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
24636 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
24637 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
24638 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
24639 number, do maximum fetches.
24641 Here's an example HEAD:
24644 221 1056 Article retrieved.
24645 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
24646 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
24647 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
24648 Subject: Re: Something very droll
24649 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
24650 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
24652 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
24653 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
24654 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
24658 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
24659 these in the data buffer.
24661 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
24665 head = error / valid-head
24666 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
24667 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
24668 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
24669 header = <text> eol
24672 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
24673 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
24677 nov-buffer = *nov-line
24678 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
24679 field = <text except TAB>
24682 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
24686 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
24688 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
24689 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
24691 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
24692 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
24693 server. In fact, it should do so.
24695 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
24696 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
24699 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
24701 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
24702 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
24705 There should be no data returned.
24708 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
24710 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
24711 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
24712 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
24713 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
24715 There should be no data returned.
24718 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
24720 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
24721 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
24722 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
24723 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
24725 There should be no data returned.
24728 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
24730 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
24732 There should be no data returned.
24735 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
24737 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
24738 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
24739 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
24740 it would be nice if that were possible.
24742 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
24743 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
24744 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
24745 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
24746 into its article buffer.
24748 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
24749 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
24750 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
24751 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
24752 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
24753 on successful article retrieval.
24756 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
24758 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
24759 making @var{group} the current group.
24761 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
24764 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
24767 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
24770 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
24771 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
24772 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
24773 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
24774 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
24775 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
24776 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
24777 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
24778 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
24782 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
24783 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
24784 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
24788 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
24790 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
24791 a no-op on most back ends.
24793 There should be no data returned.
24796 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
24798 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
24801 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
24804 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
24805 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
24808 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
24809 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
24810 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
24811 and the highest as 0.
24814 active-file = *active-line
24815 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
24817 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
24820 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
24821 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
24822 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
24825 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
24827 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
24828 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
24829 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
24830 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
24831 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
24832 clear if the posting could not be completed.
24834 There should be no result data from this function.
24839 @node Optional Back End Functions
24840 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
24844 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
24846 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
24847 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
24848 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
24850 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
24851 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
24852 former is in the same format as the data from
24853 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
24854 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
24857 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
24861 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
24863 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
24864 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all the
24865 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
24866 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
24867 should return a non-nil value.
24869 There should be no result data from this function.
24872 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
24874 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
24875 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
24876 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
24877 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
24878 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
24879 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
24880 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
24881 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
24883 There should be no result data from this function.
24886 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
24888 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
24889 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
24890 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
24891 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
24892 propagate the mark information to the server.
24894 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
24897 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
24900 RANGE is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. ACTION is
24901 @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove marks
24902 (preserving all marks not mentioned). MARK is a list of marks; where
24903 each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are @code{read},
24904 @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
24905 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
24906 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
24907 possible, not limit itself to these.
24909 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
24910 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
24911 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
24912 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
24914 An example action list:
24917 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
24918 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
24919 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
24922 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
24923 mark on (currently not used for anything).
24925 There should be no result data from this function.
24927 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
24929 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
24930 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
24931 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
24932 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
24933 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
24935 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
24936 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
24937 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
24940 There should be no result data from this function.
24943 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
24945 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
24946 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
24947 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query the
24948 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
24949 to be heeded---if the back end decides that it is too much work just
24950 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
24951 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
24953 There should be no result data from this function.
24956 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
24958 The result data from this function should be a description of
24962 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
24964 description = <text>
24967 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
24969 The result data from this function should be the description of all
24970 groups available on the server.
24973 description-buffer = *description-line
24977 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
24979 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
24980 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
24981 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
24982 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
24983 in the active buffer format.
24985 It is okay for this function to return `too many' groups; some back ends
24986 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
24987 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
24988 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
24989 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
24990 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
24991 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
24994 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
24996 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
24998 There should be no return data.
25001 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
25003 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
25004 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
25005 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
25006 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
25007 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
25010 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
25013 There should be no result data returned.
25016 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
25019 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
25020 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
25022 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
25023 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
25024 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
25025 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
25026 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
25027 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
25029 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
25030 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
25033 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
25034 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
25036 The group should exist before the backend is asked to accept the
25037 article for that group.
25039 There should be no data returned.
25042 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
25044 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
25045 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
25046 this function in short order.
25048 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
25049 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
25051 There should be no data returned.
25054 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
25056 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
25057 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
25059 There should be no data returned.
25062 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
25064 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
25065 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
25066 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
25068 There should be no data returned.
25071 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
25073 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
25074 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
25076 There should be no data returned.
25081 @node Error Messaging
25082 @subsubsection Error Messaging
25084 @findex nnheader-report
25085 @findex nnheader-get-report
25086 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
25087 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
25088 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
25089 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
25090 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
25091 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
25094 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
25096 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
25099 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
25100 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
25101 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
25102 takes one argument---the server symbol.
25104 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
25105 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
25106 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
25109 @node Writing New Back Ends
25110 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
25112 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
25113 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
25114 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
25115 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
25116 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
25119 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
25120 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
25121 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
25123 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
25124 package called @code{nnoo}.
25126 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
25127 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
25133 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
25134 parameters. For instance:
25137 (nnoo-declare nndir
25141 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
25142 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
25145 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
25146 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
25147 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
25149 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
25150 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
25151 a function in those back ends.
25154 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25155 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25156 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25159 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
25160 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
25161 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
25163 @item nnoo-define-basics
25164 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
25168 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25172 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
25173 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
25174 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
25176 @item nnoo-map-functions
25177 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
25178 functions from the parent back ends.
25181 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25182 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25183 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
25186 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
25187 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
25188 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
25189 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
25192 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
25193 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
25194 haven't already been defined.
25200 nnmh-request-newgroups)
25204 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
25205 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
25206 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
25211 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
25214 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
25215 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
25219 (require 'nnheader)
25223 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
25225 (nnoo-declare nndir
25228 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25229 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25230 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25232 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
25233 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
25236 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
25238 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
25239 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
25240 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
25242 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
25243 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
25245 ;;; Interface functions.
25247 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25249 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
25250 (setq nndir-directory
25251 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
25253 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
25254 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
25255 (push `(nndir-current-group
25256 ,(file-name-nondirectory
25257 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25259 (push `(nndir-top-directory
25260 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25262 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
25264 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25265 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25266 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25267 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
25268 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
25272 nnmh-status-message
25274 nnmh-request-newgroups))
25280 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25281 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25283 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
25284 @findex gnus-declare-backend
25285 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
25286 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
25287 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
25289 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
25290 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
25295 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
25298 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
25300 The abilities can be:
25304 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
25306 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
25308 This back end supports both mail and news.
25310 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
25313 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
25314 articles and groups.
25316 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
25317 true for almost all back ends.
25318 @item prompt-address
25319 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
25320 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
25321 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
25325 @node Mail-like Back Ends
25326 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
25328 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
25329 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
25330 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
25331 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
25334 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
25335 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
25336 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
25339 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
25340 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
25343 This function takes four parameters.
25347 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
25350 @item exit-function
25351 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
25353 @item temp-directory
25354 Where the temporary files should be stored.
25357 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
25358 performed for one group only.
25361 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
25362 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
25363 find the article number assigned to this article.
25365 The function also uses the following variables:
25366 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
25367 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
25368 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
25369 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
25373 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
25374 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
25378 @node Score File Syntax
25379 @subsection Score File Syntax
25381 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
25382 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
25383 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
25385 Here's a typical score file:
25389 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
25396 BNF definition of a score file:
25399 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
25400 element = rule / atom
25401 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
25402 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
25403 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
25404 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
25406 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
25407 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
25408 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
25409 date-header = "date"
25410 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25411 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25412 score = "nil" / <integer>
25413 date = "nil" / <natural number>
25414 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
25415 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
25416 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
25417 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
25418 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25419 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25420 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
25421 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25422 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
25423 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
25424 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
25425 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
25426 exclude-files / read-only / touched
25427 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
25428 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
25429 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
25430 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
25431 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
25432 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
25433 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
25434 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
25435 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
25436 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
25437 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
25438 eval = "eval" space <form>
25439 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
25442 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
25445 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
25446 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
25447 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
25448 one looong line, then that's ok.
25450 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
25451 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
25455 @subsection Headers
25457 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
25458 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
25459 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
25460 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
25462 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
25463 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
25464 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
25465 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
25466 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
25467 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
25468 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
25470 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
25471 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
25472 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
25473 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
25474 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
25476 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
25477 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
25483 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
25484 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
25486 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
25487 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
25488 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
25489 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
25491 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
25495 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
25498 is transformed into
25501 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
25504 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
25505 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
25508 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
25511 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
25512 is slightly tricky:
25515 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
25521 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
25524 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
25530 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
25537 and is equal to the previous range.
25539 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
25540 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
25541 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
25545 range = simple-range / normal-range
25546 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
25547 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
25548 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
25549 number *[ " " contents ]
25552 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
25553 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
25554 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
25555 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
25556 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
25561 @subsection Group Info
25563 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
25564 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
25565 describes the group.
25567 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
25568 second is a more complex one:
25571 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
25573 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
25574 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
25576 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
25579 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
25580 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
25581 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
25582 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
25583 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
25584 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
25585 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
25586 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
25587 this section is about.
25589 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
25590 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
25591 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
25593 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
25596 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
25597 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
25598 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25599 group = quote <string> quote
25600 ralevel = rank / level
25601 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
25602 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
25603 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
25605 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
25606 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
25607 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
25608 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
25611 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
25612 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
25615 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
25616 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
25619 @item gnus-info-group
25620 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
25621 @findex gnus-info-group
25622 @findex gnus-info-set-group
25623 Get/set the group name.
25625 @item gnus-info-rank
25626 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
25627 @findex gnus-info-rank
25628 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
25629 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
25631 @item gnus-info-level
25632 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
25633 @findex gnus-info-level
25634 @findex gnus-info-set-level
25635 Get/set the group level.
25637 @item gnus-info-score
25638 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
25639 @findex gnus-info-score
25640 @findex gnus-info-set-score
25641 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
25643 @item gnus-info-read
25644 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
25645 @findex gnus-info-read
25646 @findex gnus-info-set-read
25647 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
25649 @item gnus-info-marks
25650 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
25651 @findex gnus-info-marks
25652 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
25653 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
25655 @item gnus-info-method
25656 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
25657 @findex gnus-info-method
25658 @findex gnus-info-set-method
25659 Get/set the group select method.
25661 @item gnus-info-params
25662 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
25663 @findex gnus-info-params
25664 @findex gnus-info-set-params
25665 Get/set the group parameters.
25668 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
25669 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
25671 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
25672 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
25673 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
25674 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
25677 @node Extended Interactive
25678 @subsection Extended Interactive
25679 @cindex interactive
25680 @findex gnus-interactive
25682 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
25683 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
25684 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
25687 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
25688 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
25693 The best thing to do would have been to implement
25694 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
25695 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
25696 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
25697 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
25698 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
25699 @code{interactive}.
25701 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
25706 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
25707 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
25711 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
25712 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
25713 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
25716 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
25720 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
25724 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
25730 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
25731 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
25735 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
25736 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
25737 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
25739 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
25740 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
25741 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
25742 Gnus, that's very useful.
25744 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
25745 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
25746 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
25747 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
25748 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
25749 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
25750 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
25751 following function:
25754 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
25758 (,function ,@@args))
25762 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
25763 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
25764 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
25767 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
25768 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
25769 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
25771 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
25772 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
25773 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
25776 @node Various File Formats
25777 @subsection Various File Formats
25780 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
25781 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
25785 @node Active File Format
25786 @subsubsection Active File Format
25788 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
25789 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
25792 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
25795 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
25796 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
25797 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
25798 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
25799 no.general 1000 900 y
25802 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
25805 active = *group-line
25806 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
25807 group = <non-white-space string>
25809 high-number = <non-negative integer>
25810 low-number = <positive integer>
25811 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
25814 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
25815 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
25818 @node Newsgroups File Format
25819 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
25821 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
25822 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
25823 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
25826 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
25827 Here's the definition:
25831 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
25832 group = <non-white-space string>
25834 description = <string>
25839 @node Emacs for Heathens
25840 @section Emacs for Heathens
25842 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
25843 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
25844 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
25845 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
25846 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
25847 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
25848 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
25852 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
25853 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
25858 @subsection Keystrokes
25862 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
25865 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
25868 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
25869 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
25870 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
25871 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
25872 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
25873 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
25875 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
25876 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
25877 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
25878 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
25879 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
25880 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
25881 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
25883 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
25884 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
25885 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
25886 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
25887 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
25888 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
25889 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
25891 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
25892 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
25893 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
25894 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
25895 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
25901 @subsection Emacs Lisp
25903 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
25904 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
25905 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
25906 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
25908 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
25909 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
25910 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
25911 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
25912 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
25913 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
25914 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
25917 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
25918 write the following:
25921 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
25924 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
25925 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
25926 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
25929 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
25930 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
25931 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
25932 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
25933 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
25935 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
25936 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
25937 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
25941 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
25945 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
25948 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
25949 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
25952 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
25955 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
25956 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
25959 @include gnus-faq.texi
25979 @c Local Variables:
25981 @c coding: iso-8859-1
25983 % LocalWords: BNF mucho detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
25984 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
25985 % LocalWords: nnmbox newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
25986 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
25987 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref