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4 @settitle Semi-gnus 6.8.5 Manual
9 @c * Gnus: (gnus). The news reader gnus.
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262 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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271 Copyright \copyright{} 1995,96,97 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
273 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
274 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
275 are preserved on all copies.
277 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
278 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
279 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
280 permission notice identical to this one.
282 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
283 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
292 This file documents gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
294 Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
296 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
297 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
298 are preserved on all copies.
301 Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
302 results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
303 notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
304 (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
307 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
308 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the
309 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
310 permission notice identical to this one.
312 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
313 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
319 @title Semi-gnus 6.8.5 Manual
321 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
324 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
325 Copyright @copyright{} 1995,96,97 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
327 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
328 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
329 are preserved on all copies.
331 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
332 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
333 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
334 permission notice identical to this one.
336 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
337 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
346 @top The gnus Newsreader
350 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using gnus. The news
351 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
352 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
355 Semi-gnus provides MIME features based on SEMI API. So Semi-gnus
356 supports your right to read strange messages including big images or
357 other various kinds of formats. Semi-gnus also supports
358 internationalization/localization and multiscript features based on MULE
359 API. So Semi-gnus does not discriminate various language communities.
360 Oh, if you are a Klingon, please wait Unicode Next Generation.
362 This manual corresponds to Semi-gnus 6.8.5.
373 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
374 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
376 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
377 being accused of plagiarism:
379 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
380 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
381 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you can
382 even read news with it!
384 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
385 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
386 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend gnus to make it behave
387 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
388 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
395 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
396 * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
397 * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
398 * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
399 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
400 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
401 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
402 * Various:: General purpose settings.
403 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
404 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
405 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
406 * Key Index:: Key Index.
410 @chapter Starting gnus
415 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting gnus
416 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
419 @findex gnus-other-frame
420 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
421 If you want to start gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
422 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
424 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
425 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
426 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
428 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
429 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
432 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
433 * The First Time:: What does gnus do the first time you start it?
434 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
435 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one gnus active at a time.
436 * Fetching a Group:: Starting gnus just to read a group.
437 * New Groups:: What is gnus supposed to do with new groups?
438 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
439 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
440 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
441 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
442 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
446 @node Finding the News
447 @section Finding the News
450 @vindex gnus-select-method
452 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where gnus should look for
453 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
454 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
455 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are foreign
458 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
459 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
462 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
465 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
468 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
471 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
472 certainly be much faster.
474 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
476 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
477 If this variable is not set, gnus will take a look at the
478 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
479 gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
480 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
481 that fails as well, gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an
482 @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
484 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
485 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
486 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
487 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
489 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
490 You can also make gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
491 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
492 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), gnus will let you choose between the servers
493 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
494 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting.
496 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
498 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
499 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
500 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
501 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
502 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
503 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
505 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
507 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
508 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
509 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
510 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
511 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
512 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
515 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
516 would typically set this variable to
519 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
524 @section The First Time
525 @cindex first time usage
527 If no startup files exist, gnus will try to determine what groups should
528 be subscribed by default.
530 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
531 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, gnus
532 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
533 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
536 Since she hasn't, gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
537 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
538 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
540 You'll also be subscribed to the gnus documentation group, which should
541 help you with most common problems.
543 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, gnus will just
544 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
548 @node The Server is Down
549 @section The Server is Down
550 @cindex server errors
552 If the default server is down, gnus will understandably have some
553 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
554 the news groups, you may want to start gnus anyway.
556 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
557 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
558 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
559 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
560 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
561 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
562 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
564 @findex gnus-no-server
565 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
567 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
568 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
569 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start gnus. That might come in handy
570 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
571 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
572 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
577 @section Slave Gnusae
580 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one gnus at the
581 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if
582 you are using the two different gnusae to read from two different
583 servers), that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
585 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
588 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the gnus
589 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and @dfn{slaves}.
590 (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have taken out a
591 copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in conjunction
592 with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to me. Usage of
593 the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer Applications})
594 will be much more expensive, of course.)
596 Anyways, you start one gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
597 however you do it). Each subsequent slave gnusae should be started with
598 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
599 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
600 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master gnus
601 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
602 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
603 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
605 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
606 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
609 @node Fetching a Group
610 @section Fetching a Group
611 @cindex fetching a group
613 @findex gnus-fetch-group
614 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
615 group and I don't care whether gnus has been started or not''. This is
616 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
617 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
618 It takes the group name as a parameter.
626 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
627 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
628 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
629 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
630 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
631 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
632 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
633 @code{always}, then gnus will query the backends for new groups even
634 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
637 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
638 * Subscription Methods:: What gnus should do with new groups.
639 * Filtering New Groups:: Making gnus ignore certain new groups.
643 @node Checking New Groups
644 @subsection Checking New Groups
646 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
647 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
648 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
649 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, gnus will ask the
650 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
651 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
652 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
653 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
654 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
655 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
657 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
658 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
659 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
660 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
661 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't work.
662 I could write a function to make gnus guess whether the server supports
663 @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't. You could
664 @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see whether it lists
665 @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If it does, then it
666 might work. (But there are servers that lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} without
667 supporting the function properly.)
669 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, gnus will
670 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
671 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
672 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
673 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
674 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
677 @node Subscription Methods
678 @subsection Subscription Methods
680 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
681 What gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
682 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
684 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
685 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
687 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
691 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
692 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
693 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
694 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
695 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
697 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
698 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
699 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
700 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
702 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
703 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
704 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
706 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
707 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
708 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
709 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
710 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
711 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into it's
712 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
713 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
714 up. Or something like that.
716 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
717 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
718 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that gnus will ask you
719 about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe to
720 will be subscribed hierarchically.
722 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
723 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
728 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
729 A closely related variable is
730 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
731 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will ask you in a
732 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
733 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
736 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
737 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
738 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
739 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
742 @node Filtering New Groups
743 @subsection Filtering New Groups
745 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
746 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
747 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
750 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
753 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
754 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
755 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
756 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
757 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
758 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
759 subscribing these groups.
760 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
761 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
763 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
764 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
765 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
766 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
767 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
768 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
769 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
770 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
772 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
773 Yet another variable that meddles here is
774 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
775 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
776 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
777 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
778 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
779 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
780 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
781 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
783 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
784 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
787 @node Changing Servers
788 @section Changing Servers
789 @cindex changing servers
791 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
792 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
793 very flaky and you want to use another.
795 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
796 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
800 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
801 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
802 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
803 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
806 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
807 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
808 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
809 functions more than absolutely necessary.
811 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
812 @findex gnus-change-server
813 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
814 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
815 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
816 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
817 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
819 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
820 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
821 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
822 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
823 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
825 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
826 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
827 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
828 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
829 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
830 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
834 @section Startup Files
835 @cindex startup files
840 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
841 information is traditionally stored in this file.
843 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{GNUS}. In addition to
844 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
845 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
846 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
847 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{GNUS} would read whichever one of these
848 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
849 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
851 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
852 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
853 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
854 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
855 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
856 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
858 In addition, gnus does not change anything. Hail comrade Lars!
860 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
861 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
862 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
863 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from gnus faster.
864 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
865 gnus. But hey, who would want to, right?
867 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
868 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
869 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
870 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
871 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
872 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
873 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
874 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
875 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
876 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
877 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
878 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
880 @vindex gnus-startup-file
881 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
882 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
883 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
885 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
886 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
887 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
888 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
889 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
890 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
891 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
892 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
893 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
894 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
897 (defun turn-off-backup ()
898 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
900 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
901 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
904 @vindex gnus-init-file
905 When gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
906 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
907 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
908 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
909 @file{site-init} files with gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
910 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
911 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
912 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
913 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
922 Whenever you do something that changes the gnus data (reading articles,
923 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
924 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
925 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
926 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
929 If gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
930 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file
933 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
934 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, gnus won't create and
935 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
937 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
938 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
939 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, gnus will dribble
940 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
941 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
942 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
944 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
945 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
946 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
949 @node The Active File
950 @section The Active File
952 @cindex ignored groups
954 When gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
955 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
956 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
958 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
959 Before examining the active file, gnus deletes all lines that match the
960 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
961 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make gnus
962 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
963 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
964 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
967 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
968 @c if you set it to anything else.
970 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
972 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
973 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent gnus from
974 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
976 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
977 you actually subscribe to.
979 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
980 variable to @code{nil} will probably make gnus slower, not faster. At
981 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow gnus down
982 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
984 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
985 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
986 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
987 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
988 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
989 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
991 If this variable is @code{nil}, gnus will ask for group info in total
992 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
993 @sc{nntp} server, gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
994 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
995 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
996 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
998 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
999 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1001 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1002 secondary select methods.
1005 @node Startup Variables
1006 @section Startup Variables
1010 @item gnus-load-hook
1011 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1012 A hook run while gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1013 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1014 times you start gnus.
1016 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1017 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1018 A hook run after starting up gnus successfully.
1020 @item gnus-startup-hook
1021 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1022 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1024 @item gnus-started-hook
1025 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1026 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1029 @item gnus-started-hook
1030 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1031 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1032 generating the group buffer.
1034 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1035 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1036 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1037 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1038 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1039 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1040 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1041 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1043 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1044 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1045 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1046 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1047 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1048 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1050 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1051 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1052 Message displayed by gnus when no groups are available.
1054 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1055 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1056 If non-@code{nil}, play the gnus jingle at startup.
1058 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1059 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1060 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1061 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1066 @node The Group Buffer
1067 @chapter The Group Buffer
1068 @cindex group buffer
1070 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1071 is the first buffer shown when gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1072 long as gnus is active.
1076 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1077 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group.ps,height=9cm}}
1078 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1079 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1080 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1081 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1082 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1083 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1089 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1090 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1091 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1092 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1093 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1094 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1095 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1096 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1097 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1098 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1099 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1100 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1101 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1102 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1103 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1104 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1105 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1109 @node Group Buffer Format
1110 @section Group Buffer Format
1113 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1114 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1115 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1119 @node Group Line Specification
1120 @subsection Group Line Specification
1121 @cindex group buffer format
1123 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1124 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1126 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1129 25: news.announce.newusers
1130 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1135 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1136 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1137 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1138 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1140 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1141 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1142 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1143 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1144 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1145 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1147 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1149 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1150 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1151 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1152 never examined by gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1155 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1156 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1157 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1159 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1164 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1167 Whether the group is subscribed.
1170 Level of subscribedness.
1173 Number of unread articles.
1176 Number of dormant articles.
1179 Number of ticked articles.
1182 Number of read articles.
1185 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1186 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1189 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1192 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1201 Newsgroup description.
1204 @samp{m} if moderated.
1207 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1216 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1220 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1223 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1224 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1225 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1226 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1227 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.emacs.gnus}.
1230 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1232 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1236 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1240 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1241 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1242 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1243 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1244 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1245 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1250 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1251 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1252 group, or a bogus native group.
1255 @node Group Modeline Specification
1256 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1257 @cindex group modeline
1259 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1260 The mode line can be changed by setting
1261 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1262 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1266 The native news server.
1268 The native select method.
1272 @node Group Highlighting
1273 @subsection Group Highlighting
1274 @cindex highlighting
1275 @cindex group highlighting
1277 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1278 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1279 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1280 that look like @var{(form . face)}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1281 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1283 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1287 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-1 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))))
1288 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-2 '((t (:foreground "SeaGreen" :bold t))))
1289 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-3 '((t (:foreground "SpringGreen" :bold t))))
1290 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-4 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))))
1291 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-5 '((t (:foreground "SkyBlue" :bold t))))
1293 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1294 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1295 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1296 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1297 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1298 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1301 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1303 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1310 The number of unread articles in the group.
1314 Whether the group is a mail group.
1316 The level of the group.
1318 The score of the group.
1320 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1322 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1323 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1325 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1326 topic being inserted.
1329 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1330 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal gnus
1331 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1333 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1334 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1335 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1336 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1337 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1340 @node Group Maneuvering
1341 @section Group Maneuvering
1342 @cindex group movement
1344 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1345 expected, hopefully.
1351 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1352 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1353 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1359 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1360 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1361 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1365 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1366 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1370 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1371 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1375 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1376 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1377 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1381 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1382 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1383 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1386 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1392 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1393 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1394 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1399 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1400 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1401 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1405 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1406 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1407 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1410 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1411 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1412 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1413 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1417 @node Selecting a Group
1418 @section Selecting a Group
1419 @cindex group selection
1424 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1425 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1426 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1427 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1428 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1429 this command, gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1430 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1431 determines the number of articles gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1432 positive, gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1433 negative, gnus fetches the @var{abs(N)} oldest articles.
1437 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1438 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1439 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1440 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1441 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1445 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1446 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1447 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1448 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1449 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1450 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1451 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1452 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
1453 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
1454 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
1457 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1458 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1459 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1460 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1461 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1464 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1465 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1466 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1467 doing any processing of its contents
1468 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1469 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1470 manner will have no permanent effects.
1474 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1475 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what gnus should consider
1476 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1477 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, gnus will query the user
1478 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
1479 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
1480 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
1481 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
1484 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
1485 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
1486 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
1487 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
1492 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
1493 full summary buffer.
1496 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
1499 Select the highest scored article in the group when entering the
1503 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
1504 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
1505 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
1509 @node Subscription Commands
1510 @section Subscription Commands
1511 @cindex subscription
1519 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
1520 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
1521 Toggle subscription to the current group
1522 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
1528 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
1529 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
1530 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
1531 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
1537 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
1538 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
1539 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
1545 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
1546 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
1549 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
1550 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
1551 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
1552 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
1553 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
1559 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
1560 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
1564 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
1565 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
1568 @kindex S C-k (Group)
1569 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
1570 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
1571 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
1572 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
1573 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
1574 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
1575 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
1576 @file{.newsrc} file.
1580 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1590 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
1591 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
1592 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
1593 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
1594 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
1595 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group
1596 from the group buffer.
1600 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
1601 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
1602 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
1606 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1607 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
1608 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1610 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1611 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1612 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1613 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
1614 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
1615 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
1622 @section Group Levels
1626 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
1627 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
1628 can ask gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
1629 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
1630 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1632 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
1638 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
1639 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
1640 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
1641 prompted for a level.
1644 @vindex gnus-level-killed
1645 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
1646 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
1647 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
1648 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
1649 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
1650 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
1651 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
1652 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
1653 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
1654 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
1655 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
1656 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
1657 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
1658 reasons of efficiency.
1660 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
1661 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
1663 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
1664 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
1665 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
1667 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
1668 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
1669 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
1670 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
1671 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
1672 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
1673 relevant valid ranges.
1675 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
1676 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
1677 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
1678 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
1679 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
1680 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
1683 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
1684 All groups with a level less than or equal to
1685 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
1688 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
1689 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
1690 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
1691 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
1694 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
1695 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
1696 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
1697 use this level as the ``work'' level.
1699 @vindex gnus-activate-level
1700 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
1701 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
1702 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
1703 to 5. The default is 6.
1707 @section Group Score
1712 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
1713 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
1714 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
1717 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can assign a score to each
1718 group. You can then sort the group buffer based on this score.
1719 Alternatively, you can sort on score and then level. (Taken together,
1720 the level and the score is called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group
1721 that is on level 4 and has a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group
1722 on level 5 that has a score of 300. (The level is the most significant
1723 part and the score is the least significant part.))
1725 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
1726 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
1727 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
1728 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
1729 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
1730 action after each summary exit, you can add
1731 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
1732 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
1733 slow things down somewhat.
1736 @node Marking Groups
1737 @section Marking Groups
1738 @cindex marking groups
1740 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
1741 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
1742 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
1743 bidding on those groups.
1745 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
1746 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
1747 with the process mark and then execute the command.
1755 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
1756 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
1762 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
1763 Remove the mark from the current group
1764 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
1768 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
1769 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
1773 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
1774 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
1778 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
1779 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
1783 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
1784 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
1785 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
1788 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
1790 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
1791 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
1792 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
1793 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
1794 the command to be executed.
1797 @node Foreign Groups
1798 @section Foreign Groups
1799 @cindex foreign groups
1801 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
1802 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
1803 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
1804 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
1811 @findex gnus-group-make-group
1812 @cindex making groups
1813 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
1814 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
1815 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
1819 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
1820 @cindex renaming groups
1821 Rename the current group to something else
1822 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
1823 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
1829 @findex gnus-group-customize
1830 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
1834 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
1835 @cindex renaming groups
1836 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
1837 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
1841 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
1842 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
1843 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
1847 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
1848 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
1849 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
1853 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
1855 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
1856 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
1861 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
1862 Make the gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
1866 @cindex (ding) archive
1867 @cindex archive group
1868 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
1869 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
1870 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
1871 Make a gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
1872 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
1873 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
1874 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
1878 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
1880 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
1881 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
1882 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
1883 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
1887 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
1889 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
1890 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
1891 @xref{Anything Groups}.
1895 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
1896 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
1898 Make a group based on some file or other
1899 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1900 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
1901 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
1902 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
1903 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, and @code{forward}. If you run
1904 this command without a prefix, gnus will guess at the file type.
1905 @xref{Document Groups}.
1909 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
1914 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
1915 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1916 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
1917 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
1918 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
1919 @xref{Web Searches}.
1921 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
1922 to a particular group by using a match string like
1923 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
1926 @kindex G DEL (Group)
1927 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
1928 This function will delete the current group
1929 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
1930 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
1931 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
1932 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
1933 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
1937 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
1938 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
1939 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
1943 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
1944 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
1945 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
1948 @xref{Select Methods} for more information on the various select
1951 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
1952 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
1953 gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
1954 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
1955 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
1956 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
1960 @node Group Parameters
1961 @section Group Parameters
1962 @cindex group parameters
1964 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
1965 Here's an example group parameter list:
1968 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
1972 We see that each element consists of a ``dotted pair''---the thing
1973 before the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value.
1974 All the parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs,
1975 which are not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
1977 The following group parameters can be used:
1982 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
1985 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
1988 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
1989 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
1990 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
1991 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
1992 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
1994 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
1995 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
1996 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
1997 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
1998 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
1999 list address instead.
2003 Address used when doing a @kbd{a} in that group.
2006 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2009 It is totally ignored
2010 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2011 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2013 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2014 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2015 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2016 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2017 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2019 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2020 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2021 sending the message.
2025 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2026 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2027 of whether it has any unread articles.
2029 @item broken-reply-to
2030 @cindex broken-reply-to
2031 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2032 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2033 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2034 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2035 broken behavior. So there!
2039 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2040 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2044 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, gnus
2045 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2046 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2051 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2052 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2053 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2054 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2055 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2056 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2057 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2061 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2062 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2063 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2066 @cindex total-expire
2067 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2068 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2069 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2070 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2075 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2076 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2077 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2078 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2079 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2080 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2083 @cindex score file group parameter
2084 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2085 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2086 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2089 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2090 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2091 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2092 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2095 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2096 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2097 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2098 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2101 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2102 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2106 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2109 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2114 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2115 arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by gnus,
2116 but provide a place for you to store information on particular groups.
2118 @item @var{(variable form)}
2119 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2120 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2121 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2122 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2123 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2124 @code{eval}ed there.
2126 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2127 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2128 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2129 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2130 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2134 Use the @kbd{G p} command to edit group parameters of a group. You
2135 might also be interested in reading about topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
2139 @node Listing Groups
2140 @section Listing Groups
2141 @cindex group listing
2143 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2151 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2152 List all groups that have unread articles
2153 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2154 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2155 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2156 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2163 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2164 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2165 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2166 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2167 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2168 unsubscribed groups).
2172 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2173 List all unread groups on a specific level
2174 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2175 with no unread articles.
2179 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2180 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2181 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2182 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2187 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2188 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2192 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2193 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2194 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2198 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2199 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2203 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2204 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2205 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2206 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2207 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2208 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2209 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2210 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2214 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2215 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2216 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2220 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2221 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2222 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2226 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2227 @cindex visible group parameter
2228 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2229 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2230 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2231 get the same effect.
2233 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2234 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2235 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2236 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2237 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2240 @node Sorting Groups
2241 @section Sorting Groups
2242 @cindex sorting groups
2244 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2245 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2246 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2247 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2248 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2249 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2254 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2255 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2256 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2258 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2259 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2260 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2262 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2263 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2264 Sort by group level.
2266 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2267 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2268 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
2270 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2271 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2272 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2273 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
2275 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2276 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2277 Sort by number of unread articles.
2279 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2280 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2281 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2286 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2287 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2291 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2292 some sorting criteria:
2296 @kindex G S a (Group)
2297 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2298 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2299 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2302 @kindex G S u (Group)
2303 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2304 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2305 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2308 @kindex G S l (Group)
2309 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2310 Sort the group buffer by group level
2311 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2314 @kindex G S v (Group)
2315 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2316 Sort the group buffer by group score
2317 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2320 @kindex G S r (Group)
2321 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2322 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2323 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2326 @kindex G S m (Group)
2327 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2328 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2329 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2333 When given a prefix, all these commands will sort in reverse order.
2335 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
2339 @kindex G P a (Group)
2340 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
2341 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer alphabetically by
2342 group name (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
2345 @kindex G P u (Group)
2346 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
2347 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by the number of
2348 unread articles (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
2351 @kindex G P l (Group)
2352 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
2353 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group level
2354 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
2357 @kindex G P v (Group)
2358 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
2359 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group score
2360 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2363 @kindex G P r (Group)
2364 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
2365 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group rank
2366 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2369 @kindex G P m (Group)
2370 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
2371 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer alphabetically by
2372 backend name (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
2378 @node Group Maintenance
2379 @section Group Maintenance
2380 @cindex bogus groups
2385 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
2386 Find bogus groups and delete them
2387 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
2391 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
2392 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
2393 If given a prefix, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
2397 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
2398 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
2399 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
2400 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
2403 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
2404 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
2405 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
2406 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
2411 @node Browse Foreign Server
2412 @section Browse Foreign Server
2413 @cindex foreign servers
2414 @cindex browsing servers
2419 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
2420 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
2421 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
2422 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
2425 @findex gnus-browse-mode
2426 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
2427 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
2428 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
2430 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
2435 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2436 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2440 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2441 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2444 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
2445 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
2446 Enter the current group and display the first article
2447 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
2450 @kindex RET (Browse)
2451 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
2452 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
2456 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
2457 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
2458 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2464 @findex gnus-browse-exit
2465 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
2469 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
2470 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
2471 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
2476 @section Exiting gnus
2477 @cindex exiting gnus
2479 Yes, gnus is ex(c)iting.
2484 @findex gnus-group-suspend
2485 Suspend gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit
2486 gnus, but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure
2487 why this is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
2491 @findex gnus-group-exit
2492 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
2493 Quit gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
2497 @findex gnus-group-quit
2498 Quit gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files
2499 (@code{gnus-group-quit}). The dribble file will be saved, though
2500 (@pxref{Auto Save}).
2503 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
2504 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
2505 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend gnus and
2506 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit gnus, while
2507 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
2512 If you wish to completely unload gnus and all its adherents, you can use
2513 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
2514 trying to customize meta-variables.
2519 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
2520 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
2521 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
2527 @section Group Topics
2530 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
2531 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
2532 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
2533 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
2534 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
2535 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
2539 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
2540 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group-topic.ps,height=9cm}}
2551 2: alt.religion.emacs
2554 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2556 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2557 13: comp.sources.unix
2560 @findex gnus-topic-mode
2562 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
2563 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
2564 is a toggling command.)
2566 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
2567 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
2568 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
2569 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
2572 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
2573 the hook for the group mode:
2576 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
2580 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
2581 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
2582 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
2583 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
2584 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
2588 @node Topic Variables
2589 @subsection Topic Variables
2590 @cindex topic variables
2592 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
2593 really neat, I think.
2595 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
2596 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
2597 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
2610 Number of groups in the topic.
2612 Number of unread articles in the topic.
2614 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
2617 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
2618 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
2619 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
2622 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
2623 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
2625 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
2626 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
2627 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
2630 @node Topic Commands
2631 @subsection Topic Commands
2632 @cindex topic commands
2634 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
2635 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
2636 definitions slightly.
2642 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
2643 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
2644 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
2648 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
2649 Move the current group to some other topic
2650 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2651 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2655 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
2656 Copy the current group to some other topic
2657 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2658 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2662 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
2663 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
2664 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
2665 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
2666 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
2667 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
2668 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
2671 This command uses the process/prefix convention
2672 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2676 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
2677 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2678 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
2682 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
2683 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2684 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
2688 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
2689 Toggle hiding empty topics
2690 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
2694 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
2695 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
2696 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
2699 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
2700 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
2701 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
2702 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
2706 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
2708 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
2709 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
2710 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
2711 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
2712 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
2713 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
2717 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
2719 @findex gnus-topic-indent
2720 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2721 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
2722 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
2725 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
2726 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
2727 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2728 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
2732 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
2733 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
2734 topic will be removed along with the topic.
2738 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
2739 Yank the previously killed group or topic
2740 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
2745 @findex gnus-topic-rename
2746 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
2749 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
2750 @findex gnus-topic-delete
2751 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
2755 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
2756 List all groups that gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
2757 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
2761 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
2762 @cindex group parameters
2763 @cindex topic parameters
2765 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
2766 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
2772 @subsection Topic Sorting
2773 @cindex topic sorting
2775 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
2781 @kindex T S a (Topic)
2782 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2783 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
2784 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2787 @kindex T S u (Topic)
2788 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
2789 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
2790 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2793 @kindex T S l (Topic)
2794 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
2795 Sort the current topic by group level
2796 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
2799 @kindex T S v (Topic)
2800 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
2801 Sort the current topic by group score
2802 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2805 @kindex T S r (Topic)
2806 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
2807 Sort the current topic by group rank
2808 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2811 @kindex T S m (Topic)
2812 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
2813 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
2814 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
2818 @xref{Sorting Groups} for more information about group sorting.
2821 @node Topic Topology
2822 @subsection Topic Topology
2823 @cindex topic topology
2826 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
2832 2: alt.religion.emacs
2835 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2837 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2838 13: comp.sources.unix
2841 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
2842 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
2843 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
2848 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
2849 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
2853 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
2854 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
2855 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
2856 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
2857 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
2858 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
2860 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
2861 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
2862 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
2865 @node Topic Parameters
2866 @subsection Topic Parameters
2867 @cindex topic parameters
2869 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
2870 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
2871 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
2873 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
2874 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
2875 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
2876 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
2882 2: alt.religion.emacs
2886 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2888 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2889 13: comp.sources.unix
2893 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
2894 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
2895 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
2896 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
2897 @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
2898 . "religion.SCORE")}.
2900 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
2901 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
2902 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
2903 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
2904 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
2906 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
2907 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
2908 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
2909 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
2910 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
2911 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
2912 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
2913 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
2916 @node Misc Group Stuff
2917 @section Misc Group Stuff
2920 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
2921 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and gnus.
2922 * Group Timestamp:: Making gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
2923 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the gnus files.
2930 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
2931 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
2932 @xref{The Server Buffer}.
2936 @findex gnus-group-post-news
2937 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a
2938 prefix, the current group name will be used as the default.
2942 @findex gnus-group-mail
2943 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
2947 Variables for the group buffer:
2951 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
2952 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
2953 is called after the group buffer has been
2956 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
2957 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
2958 is called after the group buffer is
2959 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
2962 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
2963 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
2964 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
2965 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
2967 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2968 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2969 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
2970 whether they are empty or not.
2975 @node Scanning New Messages
2976 @subsection Scanning New Messages
2977 @cindex new messages
2978 @cindex scanning new news
2984 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
2985 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
2986 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
2987 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
2988 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
2989 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
2994 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
2995 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
2996 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
2997 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
2998 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
2999 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
3000 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
3002 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
3003 @cindex activating groups
3005 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
3006 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
3011 @findex gnus-group-restart
3012 Restart gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
3013 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
3014 gnus variables, and then starts gnus all over again.
3018 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
3019 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
3021 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
3022 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
3026 @node Group Information
3027 @subsection Group Information
3028 @cindex group information
3029 @cindex information on groups
3036 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
3037 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
3040 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
3041 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
3042 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
3043 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
3044 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
3045 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
3046 for fetching the file.
3048 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, gnus will attempt to go
3049 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
3053 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
3055 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
3056 @cindex describing groups
3057 @cindex group description
3058 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
3059 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
3060 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
3064 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
3065 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
3066 prefix, force gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
3073 @findex gnus-version
3074 Display current gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
3078 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
3079 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
3082 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
3085 @findex gnus-info-find-node
3086 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
3090 @node Group Timestamp
3091 @subsection Group Timestamp
3093 @cindex group timestamps
3095 It can be convenient to let gnus keep track of when you last read a
3096 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
3097 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
3100 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
3103 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
3105 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
3106 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
3109 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3110 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
3113 This will result in lines looking like:
3116 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
3117 0: custom 19961002T012713
3120 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
3121 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
3125 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3126 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
3131 @subsection File Commands
3132 @cindex file commands
3138 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
3139 @vindex gnus-init-file
3140 @cindex reading init file
3141 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
3142 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
3146 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
3147 @cindex saving .newsrc
3148 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
3149 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
3150 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
3153 @c @kindex Z (Group)
3154 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
3155 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
3160 @node The Summary Buffer
3161 @chapter The Summary Buffer
3162 @cindex summary buffer
3164 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
3165 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
3167 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
3168 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
3170 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
3173 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3174 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
3175 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
3176 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
3177 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
3178 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
3179 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3180 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
3181 * Threading:: How threads are made.
3182 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3183 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3184 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3185 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3186 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3187 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3188 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3189 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3190 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3191 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3192 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3193 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3194 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3195 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3196 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3197 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
3198 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3199 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3203 @node Summary Buffer Format
3204 @section Summary Buffer Format
3205 @cindex summary buffer format
3209 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
3210 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary.ps,width=7.5cm}}
3211 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-article.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
3217 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3218 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3219 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3222 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3223 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3224 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3225 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3226 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3227 @code{From} header. Three pre-defined functions exist:
3228 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3229 fast, and too simplistic solution;
3230 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works nicely, but is
3231 slower; and @code{std11-extract-address-components}, which works very
3232 nicely, but is slower. The default function will return the wrong
3233 answer in 5% of the cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use one of
3234 the other functions instead.
3236 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3237 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3238 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3239 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
3242 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3243 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3245 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3246 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3247 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3248 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3249 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3251 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3253 The following format specification characters are understood:
3261 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
3262 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3263 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
3265 Full @code{From} header.
3267 The name (from the @code{From} header).
3269 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
3270 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
3271 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
3272 may be more thorough.
3274 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
3277 Number of lines in the article.
3279 Number of characters in the article.
3281 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3283 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
3284 pushes everything after it off the screen).
3286 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
3287 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3289 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
3290 for adopted articles.
3292 One space for each thread level.
3294 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
3299 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
3300 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
3304 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
3306 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
3307 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
3308 default level. If the difference between
3309 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
3310 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
3318 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
3320 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
3326 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
3327 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
3329 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
3330 article has any children.
3336 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
3337 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
3338 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
3339 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
3340 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
3341 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
3344 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
3345 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, gnus will
3346 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
3347 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
3348 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
3349 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
3351 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
3352 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
3354 This restriction may disappear in later versions of gnus.
3357 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
3358 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
3360 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
3361 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
3362 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
3363 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
3365 Here are the elements you can play with:
3371 Unprefixed group name.
3373 Current article number.
3375 Current article score.
3379 Number of unread articles in this group.
3381 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
3384 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
3385 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
3386 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
3387 and no unselected ones.
3389 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
3390 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
3392 Subject of the current article.
3394 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
3396 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
3398 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3400 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3402 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
3404 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
3408 @node Summary Highlighting
3409 @subsection Summary Highlighting
3413 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3414 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3415 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
3416 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
3417 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3419 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
3420 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
3421 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
3422 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3424 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
3425 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
3426 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
3427 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
3429 @item gnus-summary-highlight
3430 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
3431 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
3432 list where the elements are of the format @var{(FORM . FACE)}. If you
3433 would, for instance, like ticked articles to be italic and high-scored
3434 articles to be bold, you could set this variable to something like
3436 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
3437 ((> score default) . bold))
3439 As you may have guessed, if @var{FORM} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
3440 @var{FACE} will be applied to the line.
3444 @node Summary Maneuvering
3445 @section Summary Maneuvering
3446 @cindex summary movement
3448 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
3449 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
3451 None of these commands select articles.
3456 @kindex M-n (Summary)
3457 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
3458 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
3459 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
3460 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
3464 @kindex M-p (Summary)
3465 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
3466 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
3467 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
3468 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
3473 @kindex G j (Summary)
3474 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
3475 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
3476 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
3479 @kindex G g (Summary)
3480 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
3481 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
3482 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
3485 If gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
3486 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
3487 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
3488 to the group buffer.
3490 Variables related to summary movement:
3494 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
3495 @item gnus-auto-select-next
3496 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
3497 no more unread articles after the current one, gnus will offer to go to
3498 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
3499 empty, gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
3500 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, gnus will select the
3501 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
3502 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, gnus will select the
3503 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
3504 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
3505 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
3506 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
3507 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
3509 @item gnus-auto-select-same
3510 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
3511 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
3512 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
3513 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
3514 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) This variable is not
3515 particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
3517 @item gnus-summary-check-current
3518 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
3519 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
3520 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
3521 Instead, they will choose the current article.
3523 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
3524 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
3525 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
3526 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
3527 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
3528 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
3529 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
3530 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
3536 @node Choosing Articles
3537 @section Choosing Articles
3538 @cindex selecting articles
3541 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
3542 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
3546 @node Choosing Commands
3547 @subsection Choosing Commands
3549 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
3550 and they all select and display an article.
3554 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3555 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3556 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
3557 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3562 @kindex G n (Summary)
3563 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
3564 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
3565 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
3570 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
3571 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
3572 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
3577 @kindex G N (Summary)
3578 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
3579 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
3584 @kindex G P (Summary)
3585 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
3586 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
3589 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
3590 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
3591 Go to the next article with the same subject
3592 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
3595 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
3596 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
3597 Go to the previous article with the same subject
3598 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
3602 @kindex G f (Summary)
3604 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
3605 Go to the first unread article
3606 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
3610 @kindex G b (Summary)
3612 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
3613 Go to the article with the highest score
3614 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
3619 @kindex G l (Summary)
3620 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
3621 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
3624 @kindex G o (Summary)
3625 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
3627 @cindex article history
3628 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
3629 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
3630 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
3631 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
3632 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
3633 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
3637 @node Choosing Variables
3638 @subsection Choosing Variables
3640 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
3643 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3644 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3645 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
3646 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
3647 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
3648 the server and display it in the article buffer.
3650 @item gnus-select-article-hook
3651 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
3652 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
3653 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
3655 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
3656 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
3657 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
3658 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
3659 @findex gnus-unread-mark
3660 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
3661 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
3662 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
3663 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
3664 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
3665 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
3666 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
3667 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
3668 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
3673 @node Paging the Article
3674 @section Scrolling the Article
3675 @cindex article scrolling
3680 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3681 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3682 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
3683 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
3684 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3687 @kindex DEL (Summary)
3688 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
3689 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
3692 @kindex RET (Summary)
3693 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
3694 Scroll the current article one line forward
3695 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
3699 @kindex A g (Summary)
3701 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
3702 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
3703 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
3704 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
3705 the way it came from the server.
3710 @kindex A < (Summary)
3711 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
3712 Scroll to the beginning of the article
3713 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
3718 @kindex A > (Summary)
3719 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
3720 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
3724 @kindex A s (Summary)
3726 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
3727 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
3728 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
3732 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
3733 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
3738 @node Reply Followup and Post
3739 @section Reply, Followup and Post
3742 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
3743 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
3747 @node Summary Mail Commands
3748 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
3750 @cindex composing mail
3752 Commands for composing a mail message:
3758 @kindex S r (Summary)
3760 @findex gnus-summary-reply
3761 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
3762 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
3763 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
3764 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
3769 @kindex S R (Summary)
3770 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
3771 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
3772 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
3773 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
3774 command uses the process/prefix convention.
3777 @kindex S w (Summary)
3778 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
3779 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
3780 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
3781 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
3782 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
3785 @kindex S W (Summary)
3786 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
3787 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
3788 message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This command uses
3789 the process/prefix convention.
3792 @kindex S o m (Summary)
3793 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
3794 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
3795 Forward the current article to some other person
3796 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3797 headers of the forwarded article.
3802 @kindex S m (Summary)
3803 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
3804 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
3805 Send a mail to some other person
3806 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
3809 @kindex S D b (Summary)
3810 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
3811 @cindex bouncing mail
3812 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
3813 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
3814 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
3815 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
3816 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
3817 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, gnus will try to fetch
3818 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
3819 very well fail, though.
3822 @kindex S D r (Summary)
3823 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
3824 Not to be confused with the previous command,
3825 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
3826 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
3827 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
3828 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
3829 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
3830 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
3831 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
3833 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
3834 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
3835 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
3836 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
3837 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung mu
\e(I_
\e(B sein!
3839 This command understands the process/prefix convention
3840 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3843 @kindex S O m (Summary)
3844 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
3845 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
3846 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
3847 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3850 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
3851 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
3852 @cindex crossposting
3853 @cindex excessive crossposting
3854 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
3855 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
3857 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
3858 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
3859 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
3860 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
3861 command understands the process/prefix convention
3862 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
3866 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
3869 @node Summary Post Commands
3870 @subsection Summary Post Commands
3872 @cindex composing news
3874 Commands for posting a news article:
3880 @kindex S p (Summary)
3881 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
3882 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
3883 Post an article to the current group
3884 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
3889 @kindex S f (Summary)
3890 @findex gnus-summary-followup
3891 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
3892 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
3896 @kindex S F (Summary)
3898 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
3899 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
3900 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
3901 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
3902 process/prefix convention.
3905 @kindex S n (Summary)
3906 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
3907 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
3908 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
3911 @kindex S N (Summary)
3912 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
3913 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
3914 message through mail and include the original message
3915 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
3916 the process/prefix convention.
3919 @kindex S o p (Summary)
3920 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
3921 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
3922 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3923 headers of the forwarded article.
3926 @kindex S O p (Summary)
3927 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
3929 @cindex making digests
3930 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
3931 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
3932 process/prefix convention.
3935 @kindex S u (Summary)
3936 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
3937 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
3938 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
3939 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
3942 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
3945 @node Canceling and Superseding
3946 @section Canceling Articles
3947 @cindex canceling articles
3948 @cindex superseding articles
3950 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
3951 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
3953 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
3955 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
3957 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
3958 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
3959 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
3960 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
3961 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
3962 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3964 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
3965 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
3968 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
3969 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
3970 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
3972 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
3973 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
3974 your original article.
3976 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
3978 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
3979 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
3980 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
3983 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
3984 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
3985 have posted almost the same article twice.
3987 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
3988 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
3989 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
3990 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
3991 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
3992 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
3993 header by substituting one of those words for the word
3994 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
3995 you would do normally. The previous article will be
3996 canceled/superseded.
3998 Just remember, kids: There is no `c' in `supersede'.
4001 @node Marking Articles
4002 @section Marking Articles
4003 @cindex article marking
4004 @cindex article ticking
4007 There are several marks you can set on an article.
4009 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
4010 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
4011 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
4013 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
4016 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
4017 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
4018 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
4022 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
4026 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
4027 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
4031 @node Unread Articles
4032 @subsection Unread Articles
4034 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
4039 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
4040 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
4042 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
4043 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
4044 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
4045 tick it. However, articles can be expired, so if you want to keep an
4046 article forever, you'll have to make it persistent (@pxref{Persistent
4050 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
4051 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
4053 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
4054 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
4055 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
4058 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
4059 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
4061 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
4066 @subsection Read Articles
4067 @cindex expirable mark
4069 All the following marks mark articles as read.
4074 @vindex gnus-del-mark
4075 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
4076 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
4079 @vindex gnus-read-mark
4080 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
4083 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
4084 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
4085 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
4088 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
4089 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
4092 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
4093 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
4096 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
4097 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
4100 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
4101 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
4104 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
4105 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
4108 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
4109 @sc{SOUP}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
4112 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
4113 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
4117 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
4118 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
4119 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
4123 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
4124 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
4126 One more special mark, though:
4130 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
4131 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
4133 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
4134 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
4135 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
4136 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by gnus at any time.
4141 @subsection Other Marks
4142 @cindex process mark
4145 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
4151 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
4152 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
4153 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
4154 in the article, and gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
4155 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}
4158 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
4159 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
4160 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
4161 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
4164 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
4165 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
4166 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}
4169 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
4170 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
4171 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
4172 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
4175 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
4176 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
4177 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
4178 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
4179 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
4182 @vindex gnus-process-mark
4183 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
4184 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
4185 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
4186 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
4187 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
4191 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
4192 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
4193 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
4195 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
4196 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
4197 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
4201 @subsection Setting Marks
4202 @cindex setting marks
4204 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
4209 @kindex M c (Summary)
4210 @kindex M-u (Summary)
4211 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
4212 @cindex mark as unread
4213 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
4214 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
4220 @kindex M t (Summary)
4221 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
4222 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
4223 @xref{Article Caching}
4228 @kindex M ? (Summary)
4229 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
4230 Mark the current article as dormant
4231 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}
4235 @kindex M d (Summary)
4237 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
4238 Mark the current article as read
4239 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
4243 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
4244 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
4245 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
4250 @kindex M k (Summary)
4251 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
4252 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
4253 and then select the next unread article
4254 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
4258 @kindex M K (Summary)
4259 @kindex C-k (Summary)
4260 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
4261 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
4262 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
4265 @kindex M C (Summary)
4266 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
4267 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
4268 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
4271 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
4272 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
4273 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
4274 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
4277 @kindex M H (Summary)
4278 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
4279 Catchup the current group to point
4280 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
4283 @kindex C-w (Summary)
4284 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
4285 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
4286 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
4289 @kindex M V k (Summary)
4290 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
4291 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
4292 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
4296 @kindex M e (Summary)
4298 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
4299 Mark the current article as expirable
4300 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
4303 @kindex M b (Summary)
4304 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
4305 Set a bookmark in the current article
4306 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
4309 @kindex M B (Summary)
4310 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
4311 Remove the bookmark from the current article
4312 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
4315 @kindex M V c (Summary)
4316 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
4317 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
4318 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4321 @kindex M V u (Summary)
4322 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
4323 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
4324 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
4327 @kindex M V m (Summary)
4328 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
4329 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
4330 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
4331 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4334 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
4335 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
4336 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
4337 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
4338 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
4339 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
4340 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
4341 The default is @code{t}.
4344 @node Setting Process Marks
4345 @subsection Setting Process Marks
4346 @cindex setting process marks
4353 @kindex M P p (Summary)
4354 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
4355 Mark the current article with the process mark
4356 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
4357 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
4361 @kindex M P u (Summary)
4362 @kindex M-# (Summary)
4363 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
4364 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
4367 @kindex M P U (Summary)
4368 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
4369 Remove the process mark from all articles
4370 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
4373 @kindex M P i (Summary)
4374 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
4375 Invert the list of process marked articles
4376 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
4379 @kindex M P R (Summary)
4380 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
4381 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
4382 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
4385 @kindex M P r (Summary)
4386 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
4387 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
4390 @kindex M P t (Summary)
4391 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4392 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4393 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4396 @kindex M P T (Summary)
4397 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4398 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4399 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4402 @kindex M P v (Summary)
4403 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
4404 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
4405 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
4408 @kindex M P s (Summary)
4409 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
4410 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4413 @kindex M P S (Summary)
4414 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
4415 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
4416 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
4419 @kindex M P a (Summary)
4420 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
4421 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4424 @kindex M P b (Summary)
4425 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
4426 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
4427 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
4430 @kindex M P k (Summary)
4431 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
4432 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
4433 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
4436 @kindex M P y (Summary)
4437 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
4438 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
4439 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
4442 @kindex M P w (Summary)
4443 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
4444 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
4445 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
4454 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
4455 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
4456 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
4459 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
4460 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
4461 additional articles.
4467 @kindex / / (Summary)
4468 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
4469 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
4470 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
4473 @kindex / a (Summary)
4474 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
4475 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
4476 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
4480 @kindex / u (Summary)
4482 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
4483 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
4484 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
4485 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
4486 dormant articles will also be excluded.
4489 @kindex / m (Summary)
4490 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
4491 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
4492 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
4495 @kindex / t (Summary)
4496 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
4497 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
4498 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}). If given a prefix, limit to
4499 articles younger than that number of days.
4502 @kindex / n (Summary)
4503 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
4504 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
4505 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
4506 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4509 @kindex / w (Summary)
4510 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
4511 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
4512 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
4516 @kindex / v (Summary)
4517 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
4518 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
4519 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
4523 @kindex M S (Summary)
4524 @kindex / E (Summary)
4525 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
4526 Include all expunged articles in the limit
4527 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
4530 @kindex / D (Summary)
4531 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
4532 Include all dormant articles in the limit
4533 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
4536 @kindex / * (Summary)
4537 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
4538 Include all cached articles in the limit
4539 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
4542 @kindex / d (Summary)
4543 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
4544 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
4545 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
4548 @kindex / T (Summary)
4549 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
4550 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
4553 @kindex / c (Summary)
4554 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
4555 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
4556 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
4559 @kindex / C (Summary)
4560 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
4561 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
4562 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
4563 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
4571 @cindex article threading
4573 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
4574 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
4575 hierarchical fashion.
4577 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
4578 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
4579 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
4580 or simply missing. Weird news propagation excarcerbates the problem,
4581 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
4582 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
4583 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
4585 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
4589 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
4592 A tree-like article structure.
4595 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
4598 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
4599 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
4600 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
4601 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
4602 called loose threads.
4604 @item thread gathering
4605 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
4607 @item sparse threads
4608 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
4609 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
4615 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
4616 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
4620 @node Customizing Threading
4621 @subsection Customizing Threading
4622 @cindex customizing threading
4625 * Loose Threads:: How gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
4626 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
4627 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
4628 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
4633 @subsubsection Loose Threads
4636 @cindex loose threads
4639 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
4640 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
4641 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
4642 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
4643 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
4644 read or killed the root in a previous session.
4646 When there is no real root of a thread, gnus will have to fudge
4647 something. This variable says what fudging method gnus should use.
4648 There are four possible values:
4652 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
4653 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-adopt.ps,width=7.5cm}}
4654 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-empty.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4655 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-none.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4656 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-dummy.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4661 @cindex adopting articles
4666 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
4667 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
4668 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
4669 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
4672 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
4673 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
4674 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
4675 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
4676 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
4677 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
4678 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
4681 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
4682 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
4683 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
4687 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
4688 display them after one another.
4691 Don't gather loose threads.
4694 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4695 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4696 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
4697 variable is @code{nil}, gnus requires an exact match between the
4698 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
4699 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
4700 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
4701 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
4702 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
4703 variable to a really low number, you'll find that gnus will gather
4704 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
4706 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
4707 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, gnus will
4708 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
4711 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4712 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4713 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
4714 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
4715 simplification is used.
4717 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4718 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4719 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
4720 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
4722 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
4724 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4730 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
4731 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
4732 "answer" "reference" "announce"
4733 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
4738 (mapconcat 'identity
4739 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
4741 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
4744 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
4747 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
4748 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
4749 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
4750 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
4751 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
4752 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
4754 Useful functions to put in this list include:
4757 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
4758 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
4759 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
4761 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
4762 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
4765 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
4766 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
4767 Remove excessive whitespace.
4770 You may also write your own functions, of course.
4773 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4774 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4775 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
4776 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
4777 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
4778 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
4779 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
4780 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
4782 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4783 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4784 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
4785 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
4786 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
4787 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
4788 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
4789 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
4790 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
4794 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4795 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4796 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
4797 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
4799 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4800 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4801 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
4804 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
4808 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4809 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
4815 @node Filling In Threads
4816 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
4819 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
4820 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
4821 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
4822 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you would
4823 like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still connect as
4824 many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable to
4825 @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than that
4826 number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case, fetching
4827 old headers only works if the backend you are using carries overview
4828 files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
4829 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
4830 expired by the server, there's not much gnus can do about that.
4832 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
4833 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
4834 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
4836 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
4837 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
4838 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
4839 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
4840 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
4841 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
4842 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where gnus guesses that an article
4843 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
4844 lines. If you select a gap, gnus will try to fetch the article in
4845 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, gnus will display all these
4846 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
4847 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, gnus won't cut
4848 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
4849 @code{nil} by default.
4854 @node More Threading
4855 @subsubsection More Threading
4858 @item gnus-show-threads
4859 @vindex gnus-show-threads
4860 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
4861 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
4862 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
4863 slower and more awkward.
4865 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4866 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4867 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
4870 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
4871 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
4872 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
4873 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
4874 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
4875 threads are expunged.
4877 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
4878 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
4879 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
4882 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
4883 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
4884 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
4885 this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subject change is ignored. If it
4886 is @code{nil}, which is the default, a change in the subject will result
4889 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
4890 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
4891 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
4897 @node Low-Level Threading
4898 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
4902 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
4903 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
4904 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
4905 @code{(gnus-set-summary-default-charset)}, which sets up local value of
4906 @code{default-mime-charset} in summary buffer based on variable
4907 @code{gnus-newsgroup-default-charset-alist}.
4909 @item gnus-alter-header-function
4910 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
4911 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
4912 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
4913 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
4914 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
4915 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
4916 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
4917 meaningful. Here's one example:
4920 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
4922 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
4923 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
4925 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
4927 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
4934 @node Thread Commands
4935 @subsection Thread Commands
4936 @cindex thread commands
4942 @kindex T k (Summary)
4943 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
4944 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
4945 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
4946 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
4947 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
4952 @kindex T l (Summary)
4953 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
4954 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
4955 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
4956 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
4959 @kindex T i (Summary)
4960 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
4961 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
4962 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
4965 @kindex T # (Summary)
4966 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4967 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
4968 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4971 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
4972 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4973 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
4974 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4977 @kindex T T (Summary)
4978 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
4979 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
4982 @kindex T s (Summary)
4983 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
4984 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
4985 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
4988 @kindex T h (Summary)
4989 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
4990 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
4993 @kindex T S (Summary)
4994 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
4995 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
4998 @kindex T H (Summary)
4999 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
5000 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
5003 @kindex T t (Summary)
5004 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
5005 Re-thread the current article's thread
5006 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
5007 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
5010 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
5011 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
5012 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
5013 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
5017 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
5018 understand the numeric prefix.
5023 @kindex T n (Summary)
5024 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
5025 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
5028 @kindex T p (Summary)
5029 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
5030 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
5033 @kindex T d (Summary)
5034 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
5035 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
5038 @kindex T u (Summary)
5039 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
5040 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
5043 @kindex T o (Summary)
5044 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
5045 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
5048 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
5049 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
5050 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
5051 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
5052 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
5053 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
5054 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
5055 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
5056 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
5057 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
5058 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
5059 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
5066 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
5067 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
5068 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
5069 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5070 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
5071 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5072 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
5073 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
5074 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which is a list of functions.
5075 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
5076 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
5077 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
5078 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
5079 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
5081 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
5082 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
5083 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread. If you use
5084 more than one function, the primary sort key should be the last function
5085 in the list. You should probably always include
5086 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
5087 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
5088 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
5089 ascending article order.
5091 If you would like to sort by score, then by subject, and finally by
5092 number, you could do something like:
5095 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5096 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5097 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5098 gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score))
5101 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
5102 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
5103 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
5104 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
5105 which the articles arrived.
5107 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
5111 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5113 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
5114 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
5117 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
5118 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
5119 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
5120 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
5123 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
5124 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
5125 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
5126 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
5127 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
5128 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
5129 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
5130 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
5131 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
5132 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
5133 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
5134 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
5135 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
5137 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
5141 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
5142 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
5143 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
5148 @node Asynchronous Fetching
5149 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
5150 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
5151 @cindex article pre-fetch
5154 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
5155 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
5156 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
5157 article appears. Why can't gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
5158 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
5160 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
5161 article fetching, especially the way gnus does it.
5163 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
5164 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
5165 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
5166 article 3, but since gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
5167 connection is blocked.
5169 To avoid these situations, gnus will open two (count 'em two)
5170 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
5171 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
5172 extra connection takes some time, so gnus startup will be slower.
5174 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
5175 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
5176 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
5177 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
5180 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
5183 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
5184 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
5185 happen automatically.
5187 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
5188 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
5189 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
5190 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
5191 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
5192 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
5193 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
5195 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
5196 @findex gnus-async-read-p
5197 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
5198 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
5199 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
5200 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
5201 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
5202 data structure as the only parameter.
5204 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter
5205 than 100 lines, you could say something like:
5208 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
5209 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
5210 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
5211 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
5214 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
5217 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
5218 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down gnus too much. It's
5219 probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
5221 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
5222 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
5223 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
5224 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
5228 Remove articles when they are read.
5231 Remove articles when exiting the group.
5234 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
5236 @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
5237 If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
5238 from the next group.
5241 @node Article Caching
5242 @section Article Caching
5243 @cindex article caching
5246 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
5247 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
5248 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
5249 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
5250 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
5252 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
5254 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5255 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
5256 @vindex gnus-use-cache
5257 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
5258 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
5259 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
5260 cache is flat or hierarchal is controlled by the
5261 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
5263 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
5264 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
5265 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
5266 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
5267 as dormant, and don't worry.
5269 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
5271 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
5272 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
5273 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
5274 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
5275 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
5276 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
5277 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
5278 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
5279 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
5280 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
5282 @findex gnus-jog-cache
5283 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
5284 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
5285 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
5286 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
5287 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
5288 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
5289 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
5290 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
5291 not then be downloaded by this command.
5293 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
5294 It is likely that you do not want caching on some groups. For instance,
5295 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
5296 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
5297 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space. To limit the caching,
5298 you could set the @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to
5299 @samp{^nnml}, for instance. This variable is @code{nil} by
5302 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
5303 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
5304 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
5305 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
5306 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
5307 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, gnus
5308 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
5309 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
5310 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
5314 @node Persistent Articles
5315 @section Persistent Articles
5316 @cindex persistent articles
5318 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
5319 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
5320 useful in my opinion.
5322 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
5323 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
5324 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
5325 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
5326 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
5327 the expiry going on at the news server.
5329 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
5330 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
5331 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
5337 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
5338 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
5341 @kindex M-* (Summary)
5342 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
5343 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
5344 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
5348 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
5350 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
5351 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
5352 interested in persistent articles:
5355 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
5359 @node Article Backlog
5360 @section Article Backlog
5362 @cindex article backlog
5364 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
5365 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
5366 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where gnus will buffer
5367 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
5368 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
5369 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
5370 that, turning the backlog on will slow gnus down a little bit, and
5371 increase memory usage some.
5373 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
5374 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, gnus will store
5375 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
5376 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, gnus will store
5377 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
5378 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
5379 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
5381 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
5384 @node Saving Articles
5385 @section Saving Articles
5386 @cindex saving articles
5388 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
5389 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
5390 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
5391 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
5392 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
5394 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
5395 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, gnus will not delete
5396 unwanted headers before saving the article.
5398 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
5399 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
5400 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
5401 deleted before saving.
5407 @kindex O o (Summary)
5409 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
5410 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
5411 Save the current article using the default article saver
5412 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
5415 @kindex O m (Summary)
5416 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
5417 Save the current article in mail format
5418 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
5421 @kindex O r (Summary)
5422 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
5423 Save the current article in rmail format
5424 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
5427 @kindex O f (Summary)
5428 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
5429 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
5430 Save the current article in plain file format
5431 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
5434 @kindex O F (Summary)
5435 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
5436 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
5437 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
5440 @kindex O b (Summary)
5441 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
5442 Save the current article body in plain file format
5443 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
5446 @kindex O h (Summary)
5447 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
5448 Save the current article in mh folder format
5449 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
5452 @kindex O v (Summary)
5453 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
5454 Save the current article in a VM folder
5455 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
5458 @kindex O p (Summary)
5459 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
5460 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
5461 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
5464 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
5465 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
5466 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
5467 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
5468 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
5469 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
5470 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
5471 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
5472 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
5473 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
5474 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
5475 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
5479 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
5480 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
5481 gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the four ready-made
5482 functions below, or you can create your own.
5486 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5487 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5488 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
5489 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5490 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
5491 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5492 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5494 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5495 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5496 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
5497 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
5498 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5499 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5501 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
5502 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
5503 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
5504 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5505 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
5506 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5507 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5509 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5510 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5511 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
5512 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5513 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5515 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5516 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5517 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
5518 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
5519 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
5522 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
5523 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
5524 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
5525 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
5526 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
5528 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5529 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5530 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
5531 reader to use this setting.
5534 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
5535 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
5536 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
5537 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
5540 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
5541 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
5542 available functions that generate names:
5546 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
5547 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
5548 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5550 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
5551 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5552 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5554 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
5555 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
5556 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5558 @item gnus-plain-save-name
5559 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5560 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5563 @vindex gnus-split-methods
5564 You can have gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp
5565 into the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would
5566 like to save articles related to gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and
5567 articles related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable
5571 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
5572 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
5573 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
5574 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
5577 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
5578 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
5579 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
5580 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
5581 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
5582 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
5583 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
5584 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
5585 called returns a string or a list of strings.
5587 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
5588 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
5589 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
5590 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
5592 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
5593 means that gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
5594 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file name.
5596 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
5597 lots of mail groups called things like
5598 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
5599 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
5600 following will do just that:
5603 (defun my-save-name (group)
5604 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
5605 (substring group (match-end 0))))
5607 (setq gnus-split-methods
5608 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
5613 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5614 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
5615 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
5616 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
5617 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
5618 all the files in the top level directory
5619 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
5620 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
5621 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
5622 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
5624 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
5625 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
5626 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
5627 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
5628 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
5631 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
5635 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
5636 (setq gnus-default-article-saver 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
5639 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
5640 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
5641 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
5642 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
5645 @node Decoding Articles
5646 @section Decoding Articles
5647 @cindex decoding articles
5649 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
5650 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
5653 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
5654 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
5655 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
5656 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
5657 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
5658 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
5662 @cindex article series
5663 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
5664 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
5665 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
5666 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
5667 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
5669 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
5670 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
5671 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
5673 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, gnus
5674 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
5675 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
5677 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
5678 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
5679 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
5682 @node Uuencoded Articles
5683 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
5685 @cindex uuencoded articles
5690 @kindex X u (Summary)
5691 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
5692 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
5693 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
5696 @kindex X U (Summary)
5697 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
5698 Uudecodes and saves the current series
5699 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5702 @kindex X v u (Summary)
5703 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
5704 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
5707 @kindex X v U (Summary)
5708 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
5709 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
5710 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
5714 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
5715 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
5716 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
5717 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
5718 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5720 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
5721 @sc{GNUS 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
5722 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
5723 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
5726 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
5727 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
5728 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
5729 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
5730 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
5731 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
5735 @node Shell Archives
5736 @subsection Shell Archives
5738 @cindex shell archives
5739 @cindex shared articles
5741 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
5742 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
5743 some commands to deal with these:
5748 @kindex X s (Summary)
5749 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
5750 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
5753 @kindex X S (Summary)
5754 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
5755 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
5758 @kindex X v s (Summary)
5759 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
5760 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
5763 @kindex X v S (Summary)
5764 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
5765 Unshars, views and saves the current series
5766 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
5770 @node PostScript Files
5771 @subsection PostScript Files
5777 @kindex X p (Summary)
5778 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
5779 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
5782 @kindex X P (Summary)
5783 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
5784 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
5785 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
5788 @kindex X v p (Summary)
5789 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
5790 View the current PostScript series
5791 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
5794 @kindex X v P (Summary)
5795 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
5796 View and save the current PostScript series
5797 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
5802 @subsection Other Files
5806 @kindex X o (Summary)
5807 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
5808 Save the current series
5809 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
5812 @kindex X b (Summary)
5813 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
5814 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
5815 doesn't really work yet.
5819 @node Decoding Variables
5820 @subsection Decoding Variables
5822 Adjective, not verb.
5825 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
5826 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
5827 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
5831 @node Rule Variables
5832 @subsubsection Rule Variables
5833 @cindex rule variables
5835 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
5836 variables are of the form
5839 (list '(regexp1 command2)
5846 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5847 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5849 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
5850 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
5853 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5854 (list '(\"\\\\.au$\" \"sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio\")))
5857 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5858 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5859 This variable is consulted if gnus couldn't make any matches from the
5860 user and default view rules.
5862 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5863 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5864 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
5869 @node Other Decode Variables
5870 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
5873 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
5875 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
5876 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
5877 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
5878 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
5879 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
5883 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
5884 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
5887 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
5888 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
5889 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
5892 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
5893 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
5894 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
5895 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
5896 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
5899 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
5900 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
5901 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
5903 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
5904 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
5905 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
5906 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
5907 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
5910 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
5911 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
5912 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
5914 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
5915 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
5916 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
5917 looking for files to display.
5919 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
5920 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
5921 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
5924 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
5925 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
5926 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
5929 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
5930 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
5931 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
5934 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
5935 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
5936 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
5939 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
5940 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
5941 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
5942 decoded articles as unread.
5944 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
5945 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
5946 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
5947 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
5949 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
5950 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
5951 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
5953 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
5954 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
5956 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
5957 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
5958 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
5959 @code{metamail} for viewing.
5961 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
5962 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
5963 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
5964 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
5965 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
5966 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC1153---no easy way
5967 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
5968 simply dropped them.
5973 @node Uuencoding and Posting
5974 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
5978 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
5979 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
5980 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
5981 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
5982 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
5983 for you when you post the article.
5985 @item gnus-uu-post-length
5986 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
5987 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
5988 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
5990 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
5991 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
5992 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
5993 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
5994 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
5995 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
5996 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
5998 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
5999 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6000 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
6001 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
6002 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
6003 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
6004 Default is @code{t}.
6010 @subsection Viewing Files
6011 @cindex viewing files
6012 @cindex pseudo-articles
6014 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, gnus will attempt
6015 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
6016 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
6017 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, gnus will
6018 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
6019 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
6020 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
6022 Finally, gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
6023 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
6024 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
6025 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
6027 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
6028 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
6029 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
6031 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
6032 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
6033 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
6034 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
6035 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
6037 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
6038 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
6039 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
6040 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
6041 a list of parameters to that command.
6043 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
6044 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
6045 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
6047 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
6048 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
6049 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
6052 @node Article Treatment
6053 @section Article Treatment
6055 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
6056 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
6057 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
6058 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
6059 these articles easier.
6062 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
6063 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
6064 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
6065 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
6066 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
6067 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
6068 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
6072 @node Article Highlighting
6073 @subsection Article Highlighting
6076 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
6077 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
6082 @kindex W H a (Summary)
6083 @findex gnus-article-highlight
6084 Highlight the current article (@code{gnus-article-highlight}).
6087 @kindex W H h (Summary)
6088 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
6089 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
6090 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
6091 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
6092 variable, which is a list where each element has the form @var{(regexp
6093 name content)}. @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
6094 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
6095 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
6096 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
6097 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
6100 @kindex W H c (Summary)
6101 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
6102 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
6104 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
6107 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6109 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6110 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
6111 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
6113 @item gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6114 @vindex gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6115 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
6117 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
6118 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
6119 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
6121 @item gnus-cite-face-list
6122 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
6123 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
6124 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
6125 gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
6126 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
6128 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
6129 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
6130 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
6132 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6133 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6134 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
6136 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6137 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6138 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
6139 that it's a citation.
6141 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6142 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6143 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
6145 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6146 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6147 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
6149 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
6150 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
6151 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
6152 cited text belonging to the attribution.
6158 @kindex W H s (Summary)
6159 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6160 @vindex gnus-signature-face
6161 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
6162 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
6163 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
6164 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
6165 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
6171 @node Article Fontisizing
6172 @subsection Article Fontisizing
6174 @cindex article emphasis
6176 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
6177 @kindex W e (Summary)
6178 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
6179 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*}. Gnus can make this look nicer by
6180 running the article through the @kbd{W e}
6181 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
6183 @vindex gnus-article-emphasis
6184 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
6185 @code{gnus-article-emphasis} variable. This is an alist where the first
6186 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
6187 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
6188 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
6189 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
6190 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
6194 (setq gnus-article-emphasis
6195 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
6196 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
6199 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
6200 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
6201 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
6202 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
6203 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
6204 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
6205 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
6206 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
6207 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
6208 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
6209 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
6210 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
6211 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
6213 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
6214 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
6215 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
6219 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
6223 @node Article Hiding
6224 @subsection Article Hiding
6225 @cindex article hiding
6227 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
6228 too much cruft in most articles.
6233 @kindex W W a (Summary)
6234 @findex gnus-article-hide
6235 Do maximum hiding on the summary buffer (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}).
6238 @kindex W W h (Summary)
6239 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
6240 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
6244 @kindex W W b (Summary)
6245 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
6246 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
6247 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
6250 @kindex W W s (Summary)
6251 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
6252 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
6256 @kindex W W p (Summary)
6257 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
6258 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
6259 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
6260 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
6261 signature has been hidden.
6264 @kindex W W P (Summary)
6265 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
6266 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
6267 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
6270 @kindex W W c (Summary)
6271 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
6272 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
6273 customizing the hiding:
6277 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6278 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6279 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
6280 50), hide the cited text.
6282 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6283 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6284 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
6287 @item gnus-cited-text-button-line-format
6288 @vindex gnus-cited-text-button-line-format
6289 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
6290 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
6291 by this format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
6296 Start point of the hidden text.
6298 End point of the hidden text.
6300 Length of the hidden text.
6303 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
6304 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
6305 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave shown.
6310 @kindex W W C (Summary)
6311 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
6312 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
6313 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
6314 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
6315 in @code{gnus-article-display-hook} (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
6319 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
6320 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
6321 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
6323 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
6324 citation customization.
6327 @node Article Washing
6328 @subsection Article Washing
6330 @cindex article washing
6332 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
6333 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
6335 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
6336 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
6342 @kindex W l (Summary)
6343 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
6344 Remove page breaks from the current article
6345 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article} for page
6349 @kindex W r (Summary)
6350 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
6351 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
6352 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
6353 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
6354 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
6355 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
6357 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
6358 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
6359 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
6360 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
6363 @kindex W t (Summary)
6364 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
6365 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
6366 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
6369 @kindex W v (Summary)
6370 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
6371 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
6372 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
6375 @kindex W m (Summary)
6376 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
6377 Toggle whether to display the article as @sc{mime} message
6378 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
6381 @kindex W o (Summary)
6382 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
6383 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
6386 @kindex W d (Summary)
6387 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
6388 Treat M******** sm*rtq**t*s (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}).
6391 @kindex W w (Summary)
6392 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
6393 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}). If you use this
6394 function in @code{gnus-article-display-hook}, it should be run fairly
6395 late and certainly after any highlighting.
6397 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
6401 @kindex W c (Summary)
6402 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
6403 Remove CR (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines)
6404 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
6407 @kindex W f (Summary)
6409 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
6410 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
6411 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
6412 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
6418 Look for and display any X-Face headers
6419 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
6420 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
6421 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
6422 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
6423 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
6424 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
6425 The default action under Emacs is to fork off an @code{xv} to view the
6426 face; under XEmacs the default action is to display the face before the
6427 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
6428 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
6429 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
6430 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends.) If you
6431 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
6435 @kindex W b (Summary)
6436 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
6437 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
6438 @xref{Article Buttons}
6441 @kindex W B (Summary)
6442 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
6443 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
6444 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
6447 @kindex W E l (Summary)
6448 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
6449 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
6450 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
6453 @kindex W E m (Summary)
6454 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
6455 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
6456 lines with a single empty line.
6457 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
6460 @kindex W E t (Summary)
6461 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
6462 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
6463 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
6466 @kindex W E a (Summary)
6467 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
6468 Do all the three commands above
6469 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
6472 @kindex W E A (Summary)
6473 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
6474 Remove all blank lines
6475 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
6478 @kindex W E s (Summary)
6479 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
6480 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
6481 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
6486 @node Article Buttons
6487 @subsection Article Buttons
6490 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
6491 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
6492 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
6493 button on these references.
6495 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
6496 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
6497 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
6502 @item gnus-button-alist
6503 @vindex gnus-button-alist
6504 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
6507 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6513 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
6514 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
6515 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
6518 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
6519 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
6520 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
6523 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
6524 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
6525 avoid false matches.
6528 This function will be called when you click on this button.
6531 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
6532 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
6536 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
6539 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
6542 @item gnus-header-button-alist
6543 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
6544 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
6545 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
6546 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
6549 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6552 @var{HEADER} is a regular expression.
6554 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
6555 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
6556 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
6557 default values of the variables above.
6559 @item gnus-article-button-face
6560 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
6561 Face used on buttons.
6563 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
6564 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
6565 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
6571 @subsection Article Date
6573 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
6574 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
6575 when the article was sent.
6580 @kindex W T u (Summary)
6581 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
6582 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
6583 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
6586 @kindex W T i (Summary)
6587 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
6589 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
6590 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
6593 @kindex W T l (Summary)
6594 @findex gnus-article-date-local
6595 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
6598 @kindex W T s (Summary)
6599 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
6600 @findex gnus-article-date-user
6601 @findex format-time-string
6602 Display the date using a user-defined format
6603 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
6604 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
6605 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
6606 for a list of possible format specs.
6609 @kindex W T e (Summary)
6610 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
6611 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
6612 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
6613 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
6614 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). If you want to have this line
6615 updated continually, you can put
6618 (gnus-start-date-timer)
6621 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
6622 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
6626 @kindex W T o (Summary)
6627 @findex gnus-article-date-original
6628 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
6629 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
6630 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
6631 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
6632 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
6637 @node Article Signature
6638 @subsection Article Signature
6640 @cindex article signature
6642 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6643 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
6644 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
6645 that says what is to be considered a signature is
6646 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
6647 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
6648 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
6649 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
6650 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
6653 (setq gnus-signature-separator
6654 '("^-- $" ; The standard
6655 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
6656 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
6657 ; line of dashes. Shame!
6658 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
6659 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
6660 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
6663 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
6666 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
6667 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
6672 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
6675 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
6678 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
6679 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
6681 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
6682 in question is not a signature.
6685 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
6686 listed above. Here's an example:
6689 (setq gnus-signature-limit
6690 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
6693 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
6694 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
6695 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
6696 signature after all.
6699 @node Article Commands
6700 @section Article Commands
6707 @kindex A P (Summary)
6708 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
6709 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
6710 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
6711 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
6712 run just before printing the buffer.
6717 @node Summary Sorting
6718 @section Summary Sorting
6719 @cindex summary sorting
6721 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
6722 can't really see why you'd want that.
6727 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
6728 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
6729 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
6732 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
6733 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
6734 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
6737 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
6738 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
6739 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
6742 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
6743 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
6744 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
6747 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
6748 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
6749 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
6752 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
6753 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
6754 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
6757 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
6758 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
6759 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
6760 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
6761 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
6765 @node Finding the Parent
6766 @section Finding the Parent
6767 @cindex parent articles
6768 @cindex referring articles
6773 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
6774 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
6775 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
6776 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
6777 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
6778 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
6779 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
6780 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
6781 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
6783 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
6784 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
6785 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, gnus will fetch the parent, the
6786 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
6787 @kbd{-3 ^}, gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
6791 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
6792 @kindex A R (Summary)
6793 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
6794 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
6797 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
6798 @kindex A T (Summary)
6799 Display the full thread where the current article appears
6800 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
6801 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
6802 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
6803 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
6804 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
6805 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
6807 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
6808 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
6809 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
6810 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
6811 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
6812 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
6815 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
6816 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
6818 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
6819 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
6820 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
6821 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
6822 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
6823 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
6824 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
6827 The current select method will be used when fetching by
6828 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
6829 by giving this command a prefix.
6831 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
6832 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
6833 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
6834 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
6835 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
6836 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
6839 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
6840 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
6841 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
6842 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
6843 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
6844 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
6847 @node Alternative Approaches
6848 @section Alternative Approaches
6850 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
6851 gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
6854 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
6855 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
6860 @subsection Pick and Read
6861 @cindex pick and read
6863 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
6864 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
6865 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
6866 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
6868 @findex gnus-pick-mode
6869 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
6870 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
6871 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
6872 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
6873 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
6875 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
6880 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
6881 Pick the article or thread on the current line
6882 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
6883 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
6884 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
6885 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
6886 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
6887 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
6890 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
6891 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
6892 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
6893 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
6897 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
6898 Unpick the thread or article
6899 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
6900 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
6901 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
6902 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
6903 the thread or article at that line.
6907 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
6908 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
6909 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
6910 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
6911 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
6912 will still be visible when you are reading.
6916 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
6917 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
6918 which is mapped to the same function
6919 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
6921 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
6924 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
6927 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
6928 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
6930 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
6931 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
6932 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
6934 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
6935 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
6936 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
6937 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
6938 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
6939 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
6940 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
6944 @subsection Binary Groups
6945 @cindex binary groups
6947 @findex gnus-binary-mode
6948 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
6949 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
6950 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
6951 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
6952 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
6953 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
6956 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
6957 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
6958 command, when you have turned on this mode
6959 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
6961 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
6962 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
6966 @section Tree Display
6969 @vindex gnus-use-trees
6970 If you don't like the normal gnus summary display, you might try setting
6971 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
6972 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
6975 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
6978 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
6979 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
6980 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
6982 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
6983 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
6984 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
6985 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
6986 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
6988 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
6989 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
6990 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
6991 default is @code{modeline}.
6993 @item gnus-tree-line-format
6994 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
6995 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
6996 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
6997 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
6998 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
6999 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
7005 The name of the poster.
7007 The @code{From} header.
7009 The number of the article.
7011 The opening bracket.
7013 The closing bracket.
7018 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
7020 Variables related to the display are:
7023 @item gnus-tree-brackets
7024 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
7025 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
7026 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @var{((real-open . real-close)
7027 (sparse-open . sparse-close) (dummy-open . dummy-close))}, and the
7028 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
7030 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
7031 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
7032 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
7033 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
7037 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
7038 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
7039 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will try to keep the tree
7040 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other gnus
7041 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
7042 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
7043 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
7044 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
7045 other windows displayed next to it.
7047 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
7048 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
7049 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
7050 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
7051 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
7052 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
7053 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
7057 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
7060 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
7070 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
7074 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
7075 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
7077 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
7079 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
7084 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
7085 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
7086 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
7089 (setq gnus-use-trees t
7090 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
7091 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
7092 (gnus-add-configuration
7096 (summary 0.75 point)
7101 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
7104 @node Mail Group Commands
7105 @section Mail Group Commands
7106 @cindex mail group commands
7108 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
7109 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
7111 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
7112 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7117 @kindex B e (Summary)
7118 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
7119 Expire all expirable articles in the group
7120 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
7123 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
7124 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
7125 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
7126 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
7127 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
7128 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
7131 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
7132 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
7133 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
7134 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
7135 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
7136 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
7139 @kindex B m (Summary)
7141 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
7142 Move the article from one mail group to another
7143 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
7146 @kindex B c (Summary)
7148 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
7149 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
7150 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
7151 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}).
7154 @kindex B B (Summary)
7155 @cindex crosspost mail
7156 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
7157 Crosspost the current article to some other group
7158 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
7159 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
7160 be properly updated.
7163 @kindex B i (Summary)
7164 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
7165 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
7166 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
7167 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
7170 @kindex B r (Summary)
7171 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
7172 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
7173 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
7174 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
7175 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
7179 @kindex B w (Summary)
7181 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
7182 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
7183 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
7184 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
7185 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
7186 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, gnus won't re-highlight the article.
7189 @kindex B q (Summary)
7190 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
7191 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
7192 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
7193 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
7196 @kindex B t (Summary)
7197 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
7198 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
7199 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
7202 @kindex B p (Summary)
7203 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
7204 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
7205 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
7206 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
7207 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
7208 article from your news server (or rather, from
7209 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
7210 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
7211 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
7212 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
7213 just not have arrived yet.
7217 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
7218 @cindex moving articles
7219 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have gnus
7220 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
7221 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
7222 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
7223 suggestions you find reasonable.
7226 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
7227 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
7228 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
7229 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
7233 @node Various Summary Stuff
7234 @section Various Summary Stuff
7237 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
7238 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
7239 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
7240 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
7244 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
7245 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
7246 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
7248 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
7249 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
7250 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
7251 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
7252 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
7253 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
7256 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7257 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7258 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
7259 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
7260 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
7262 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7263 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7264 When gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
7265 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
7266 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
7267 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
7268 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), gnus will rename the
7269 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
7270 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
7271 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
7276 @node Summary Group Information
7277 @subsection Summary Group Information
7282 @kindex H f (Summary)
7283 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
7284 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
7285 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
7286 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
7287 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
7288 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
7289 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
7290 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
7291 be used for fetching the file.
7294 @kindex H d (Summary)
7295 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
7296 Give a brief description of the current group
7297 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
7298 rereading the description from the server.
7301 @kindex H h (Summary)
7302 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
7303 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
7304 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
7307 @kindex H i (Summary)
7308 @findex gnus-info-find-node
7309 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
7313 @node Searching for Articles
7314 @subsection Searching for Articles
7319 @kindex M-s (Summary)
7320 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
7321 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
7322 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
7325 @kindex M-r (Summary)
7326 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
7327 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
7328 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
7332 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
7333 This command will prompt you for a header field, a regular expression to
7334 match on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
7335 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If given a prefix, search
7339 @kindex M-& (Summary)
7340 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
7341 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
7342 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
7345 @node Summary Generation Commands
7346 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
7351 @kindex Y g (Summary)
7352 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
7353 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
7356 @kindex Y c (Summary)
7357 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
7358 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
7359 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
7364 @node Really Various Summary Commands
7365 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
7370 @kindex C-d (Summary)
7371 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
7372 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
7373 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
7374 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
7375 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
7376 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
7377 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
7378 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
7382 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
7383 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
7384 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
7385 several documents into one biiig group
7386 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
7387 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
7388 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
7389 command understands the process/prefix convention
7390 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7393 @kindex C-t (Summary)
7394 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
7395 Toggle truncation of summary lines
7396 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
7397 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
7398 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
7402 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
7403 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
7404 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
7407 @kindex M-C-e (Summary)
7408 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
7409 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
7410 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
7415 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
7416 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
7417 @cindex summary exit
7418 @cindex exiting groups
7420 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
7421 group and return you to the group buffer.
7427 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
7429 @findex gnus-summary-exit
7430 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
7431 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
7432 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
7433 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
7434 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
7435 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
7436 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
7437 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
7438 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
7439 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
7443 @kindex Z E (Summary)
7445 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
7446 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
7447 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
7451 @kindex Z c (Summary)
7453 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
7454 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
7455 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
7456 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
7459 @kindex Z C (Summary)
7460 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
7461 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
7462 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
7465 @kindex Z n (Summary)
7466 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
7467 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
7468 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
7471 @kindex Z R (Summary)
7472 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
7473 Exit this group, and then enter it again
7474 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
7475 all articles, both read and unread.
7479 @kindex Z G (Summary)
7480 @kindex M-g (Summary)
7481 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
7482 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
7483 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
7484 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
7485 articles, both read and unread.
7488 @kindex Z N (Summary)
7489 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
7490 Exit the group and go to the next group
7491 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
7494 @kindex Z P (Summary)
7495 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
7496 Exit the group and go to the previous group
7497 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
7500 @kindex Z s (Summary)
7501 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
7502 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
7503 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
7504 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
7505 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
7508 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
7509 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current
7512 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
7513 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
7514 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
7515 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
7516 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
7517 If you do that, gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
7518 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
7519 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
7520 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
7521 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
7522 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
7523 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
7525 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
7527 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
7528 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
7529 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
7530 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
7531 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
7532 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
7533 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
7534 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
7535 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
7538 @node Crosspost Handling
7539 @section Crosspost Handling
7543 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
7544 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
7545 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
7546 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
7547 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
7548 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
7551 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
7552 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
7553 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
7554 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
7555 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
7557 @cindex cross-posting
7560 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
7561 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
7562 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
7563 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
7564 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
7565 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
7566 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
7567 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
7568 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
7569 the cross reference mechanism.
7571 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
7572 @cindex overview.fmt
7573 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
7574 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
7575 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
7576 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
7577 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
7578 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
7581 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
7582 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
7583 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
7588 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
7591 @node Duplicate Suppression
7592 @section Duplicate Suppression
7594 By default, gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
7595 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
7596 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
7597 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various reasons.
7601 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
7602 is evil and not very common.
7605 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
7606 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
7609 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
7610 different @sc{nntp} servers.
7613 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
7616 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
7617 well, but these four are the most common situations.
7619 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
7620 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
7621 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
7622 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
7623 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
7624 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
7625 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
7628 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
7629 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
7630 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
7631 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
7632 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
7636 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
7637 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
7638 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
7640 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
7641 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
7642 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
7643 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
7644 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single gnus
7645 session are suppressed.
7647 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
7648 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
7649 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
7650 suppression list. The default is 10000.
7652 @item gnus-duplicate-file
7653 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
7654 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
7655 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
7658 If you have a tendency to stop and start gnus often, setting
7659 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
7660 you leave gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
7661 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
7662 so that means that if you stop and start gnus often, you should set
7663 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
7664 to you to figure out, I think.
7667 @node The Article Buffer
7668 @chapter The Article Buffer
7669 @cindex article buffer
7671 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
7672 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
7673 tell gnus otherwise.
7676 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
7677 * Using MIME:: Pushing to mime articles as @sc{mime} messages.
7678 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
7679 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
7680 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
7684 @node Hiding Headers
7685 @section Hiding Headers
7686 @cindex hiding headers
7687 @cindex deleting headers
7689 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
7690 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
7692 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
7693 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
7694 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
7695 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
7696 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
7697 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
7698 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
7699 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
7700 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
7702 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
7706 @item gnus-visible-headers
7707 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
7708 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
7709 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
7710 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
7712 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
7713 the article and the subject, you'd say:
7716 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
7719 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
7722 @item gnus-ignored-headers
7723 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
7724 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
7725 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
7726 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
7727 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
7729 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} field
7730 and the @code{Xref} field, you might say:
7733 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
7736 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
7739 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
7740 variable will have no effect.
7744 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
7745 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
7746 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
7747 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
7748 the headers are to be displayed.
7750 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
7751 and then the subject, you might say something like:
7754 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
7757 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
7758 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed
7761 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7762 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7763 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
7764 You can hide further boring headers by entering
7765 @code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers} into
7766 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}. What this function does depends on
7767 the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a list, but this
7768 list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is lists various
7769 @dfn{boring conditions} that gnus can check and remove from sight.
7771 These conditions are:
7774 Remove all empty headers.
7776 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
7779 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
7780 @code{Newsgroups} header.
7782 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
7785 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
7788 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
7790 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
7793 To include the four first elements, you could say something like;
7796 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
7797 '(empty newsgroups followup-to reply-to))
7800 This is also the default value for this variable.
7804 @section Using @sc{mime}
7807 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
7808 while people stand around yawning.
7810 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
7811 while all newsreaders die of fear.
7813 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
7814 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
7815 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
7817 @vindex gnus-show-mime
7818 @vindex gnus-article-display-method-for-mime
7819 @vindex gnus-strict-mime
7820 @findex gnus-article-display-mime-message
7821 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
7822 @code{gnus-article-display-method-for-mime}, which is
7823 @code{gnus-article-display-mime-message} by default. This function
7824 calls the SEMI MIME-View program to actually do the work. For more
7825 information on SEMI MIME-View, see its manual page (however it is not
7826 existed yet, sorry).
7828 Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
7829 @sc{mime} all the time. However, if @code{gnus-strict-mime} is
7830 non-@code{nil}, the @sc{mime} method will only be used if there are
7831 @sc{mime} headers in the article. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime}
7832 set, then you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article
7833 buffer. These can't be avoided.
7835 In GNUS or Gnus, it might be best to just use the toggling functions
7836 from the summary buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance,
7837 you enter the group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it,
7838 @sc{mime} has decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible
7839 sing-a-long song comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find
7840 the volume button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to
7841 look at you, and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you
7842 can't find the program to control the volume, and everybody else in the
7843 room suddenly decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel
7846 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
7848 To avoid such kind of situation, gnus stops to use
7849 @code{metamail-buffer}. So now, you can set @code{gnus-show-mime} to
7850 non-@code{nil} every-time, then you can push button in the article
7851 buffer when there are nobody else.
7854 @node Customizing Articles
7855 @section Customizing Articles
7856 @cindex article customization
7858 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7859 The @code{gnus-article-display-hook} is called after the article has
7860 been inserted into the article buffer. It is meant to handle all
7861 treatment of the article before it is displayed.
7863 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7864 By default this hook just contains @code{gnus-article-hide-headers},
7865 @code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}, and
7866 @code{gnus-article-maybe-highlight}, but there are thousands, nay
7867 millions, of functions you can put in this hook. For an overview of
7868 functions @pxref{Article Highlighting}, @pxref{Article Hiding},
7869 @pxref{Article Washing}, @pxref{Article Buttons} and @pxref{Article
7870 Date}. Note that the order of functions in this hook might affect
7871 things, so you may have to fiddle a bit to get the desired results.
7873 You can, of course, write your own functions. The functions are called
7874 from the article buffer, and you can do anything you like, pretty much.
7875 There is no information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can
7876 change everything. However, you shouldn't delete any headers. Instead
7877 make them invisible if you want to make them go away.
7880 @node Article Keymap
7881 @section Article Keymap
7883 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
7884 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
7885 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
7886 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
7889 A few additional keystrokes are available:
7894 @kindex SPACE (Article)
7895 @findex gnus-article-next-page
7896 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
7899 @kindex DEL (Article)
7900 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
7901 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
7904 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
7905 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
7906 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
7907 @kbd{C-c ^}, gnus will try to get that article from the server
7908 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
7911 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
7912 @findex gnus-article-mail
7913 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
7914 given a prefix, include the mail.
7918 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
7919 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
7920 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
7924 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
7925 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
7926 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
7929 @kindex TAB (Article)
7930 @findex gnus-article-next-button
7931 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
7932 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
7935 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
7936 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
7937 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
7943 @section Misc Article
7947 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
7948 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
7949 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
7950 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
7953 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
7954 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
7955 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
7956 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
7957 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
7958 the contents of the article buffer.
7960 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7961 @item gnus-article-display-hook
7962 This hook is called as the last thing when displaying an article, and is
7963 intended for modifying the contents of the buffer, doing highlights,
7964 hiding headers, and the like.
7966 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
7967 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
7968 Hook called in article mode buffers.
7970 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
7971 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
7972 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
7973 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
7975 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
7976 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
7977 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
7978 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
7979 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with one
7984 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
7985 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
7989 @vindex gnus-break-pages
7991 @item gnus-break-pages
7992 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
7993 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
7994 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
7995 paging will not be done.
7997 @item gnus-page-delimiter
7998 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
7999 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
8004 @node Composing Messages
8005 @chapter Composing Messages
8006 @cindex composing messages
8009 @cindex sending mail
8014 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
8015 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
8016 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the article
8017 by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The Message
8018 Manual}. If you are in a foreign news group, and you wish to post the
8019 article using the foreign server, you can give a prefix to @kbd{C-c C-c}
8020 to make gnus try to post using the foreign server.
8023 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
8024 * Post:: Posting and following up.
8025 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
8026 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
8027 * Archived Messages:: Where gnus stores the messages you've sent.
8028 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
8029 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
8030 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
8033 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
8034 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
8040 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
8043 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
8044 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
8045 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
8046 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
8048 @item gnus-add-to-list
8049 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
8050 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
8051 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
8059 Variables for composing news articles:
8062 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-file
8063 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-file
8064 Gnus will keep a @code{Message-ID} history file of all the mails it has
8065 sent. If it discovers that it has already sent a mail, it will ask the
8066 user whether to re-send the mail. (This is primarily useful when
8067 dealing with @sc{soup} packets and the like where one is apt to send the
8068 same packet multiple times.) This variable says what the name of this
8069 history file is. It is @file{~/News/Sent-Message-IDs} by default. Set
8070 this variable to @code{nil} if you don't want gnus to keep a history
8073 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-length
8074 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-length
8075 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the history
8076 file. It is 1000 by default.
8081 @node Posting Server
8082 @section Posting Server
8084 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
8085 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
8087 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
8089 @vindex gnus-post-method
8091 It can be quite complicated. Normally, gnus will use the same native
8092 server. However. If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
8093 reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
8094 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
8095 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
8098 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
8101 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
8102 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
8103 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
8104 the ``current'' server for posting.
8106 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
8107 gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
8109 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
8110 If that's the case, gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
8113 Finally, if you want to always post using the same select method as
8114 you're reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
8115 groups from different private servers), you can set this variable to
8120 @section Mail and Post
8122 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
8126 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
8127 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
8128 @cindex mailing lists
8130 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
8131 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
8132 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
8133 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
8134 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
8135 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
8136 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
8137 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
8138 still a pain, though.
8142 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
8143 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
8144 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
8147 @findex ispell-message
8149 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
8153 @node Archived Messages
8154 @section Archived Messages
8155 @cindex archived messages
8156 @cindex sent messages
8158 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
8159 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
8160 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
8161 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
8164 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
8165 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server gnus is to
8166 use to store sent messages. The default is:
8170 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
8171 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
8172 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
8173 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
8176 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
8177 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likeable select method
8178 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
8179 directory chosen, you could say something like:
8182 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
8183 '(nnfolder "archive"
8184 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
8185 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
8186 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
8189 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
8191 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
8192 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
8193 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
8195 This variable can be used to do the following:
8199 Messages will be saved in that group.
8200 @item a list of strings
8201 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
8202 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
8203 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
8205 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
8210 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
8212 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
8215 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
8217 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
8220 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
8222 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8223 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
8224 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
8225 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
8230 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8231 '((if (message-news-p)
8236 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
8237 messages in one file per month:
8240 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8241 '((if (message-news-p)
8243 (concat "mail." (format-time-string
8244 "%Y-%m" (current-time))))))
8247 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
8248 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
8250 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
8251 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
8252 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
8253 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
8254 gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
8255 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
8256 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
8257 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
8258 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
8259 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
8261 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
8262 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
8263 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
8264 this will disable archiving.
8267 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
8268 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
8269 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
8270 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
8271 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
8274 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
8275 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
8276 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
8279 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
8280 but the latter is the preferred method.
8284 @node Posting Styles
8285 @section Posting Styles
8286 @cindex posting styles
8289 All them variables, they make my head swim.
8291 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
8292 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
8293 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
8296 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
8297 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
8298 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
8299 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
8300 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
8305 (signature "Peace and happiness")
8306 (organization "What me?"))
8308 (signature "Death to everybody"))
8309 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
8310 (organization "Emacs is it")))
8313 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
8314 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
8315 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
8316 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
8317 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
8318 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
8319 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
8320 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
8322 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
8323 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
8324 If it's a function symbol, that function will be called with no
8325 arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
8326 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
8327 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
8330 Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
8331 attribute consists of a @var{(name . value)} pair. The attribute name
8332 can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
8333 @code{organization}, @code{address} or @code{name}. The attribute name
8334 can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as a header name,
8335 and the value will be inserted in the headers of the article.
8337 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function (the
8338 return value will be used), a variable (its value will be used) or a
8339 list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value will be used).
8341 So here's a new example:
8344 (setq gnus-posting-styles
8346 (signature-file "~/.signature")
8348 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
8349 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
8351 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
8352 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
8353 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
8354 (posting-from-work-p
8355 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
8356 (address "user@@bar.foo")
8357 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
8359 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
8366 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
8367 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
8368 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
8369 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
8370 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
8372 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
8373 some sort using the gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
8374 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
8375 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
8376 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
8380 @vindex nndraft-directory
8381 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
8382 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
8383 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
8384 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
8385 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
8386 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
8388 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
8389 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
8392 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
8393 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
8394 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
8395 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
8396 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
8397 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
8398 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
8399 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
8400 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
8401 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
8402 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
8403 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
8404 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
8405 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
8407 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
8408 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
8409 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
8411 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
8413 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
8414 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
8415 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
8417 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
8420 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
8421 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
8422 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
8423 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
8424 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
8425 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
8426 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
8429 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
8430 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
8431 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
8434 @node Rejected Articles
8435 @section Rejected Articles
8436 @cindex rejected articles
8438 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
8439 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
8440 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
8441 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
8443 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of gnus.
8444 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
8445 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
8446 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So gnus saves these
8447 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
8449 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
8450 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
8451 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
8454 @node Select Methods
8455 @chapter Select Methods
8456 @cindex foreign groups
8457 @cindex select methods
8459 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
8460 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
8461 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
8462 personal mail group.
8464 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
8465 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
8466 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
8467 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
8468 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
8469 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
8471 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
8472 we do just that (@pxref{The Server Buffer}).
8474 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
8477 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
8478 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
8479 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
8480 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
8481 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
8483 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
8486 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
8487 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
8488 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
8489 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
8490 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
8491 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
8495 @node The Server Buffer
8496 @section The Server Buffer
8498 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
8499 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
8500 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
8501 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
8502 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
8503 backend represents a virtual server.
8505 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
8506 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
8507 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
8508 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
8510 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
8511 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
8512 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
8513 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
8514 Anyways, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
8515 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
8516 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
8518 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
8519 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
8522 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
8523 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
8524 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
8525 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
8526 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
8527 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
8528 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
8531 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
8532 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
8535 @node Server Buffer Format
8536 @subsection Server Buffer Format
8537 @cindex server buffer format
8539 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
8540 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
8541 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
8542 variable, with some simple extensions:
8547 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
8550 The name of this server.
8553 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
8556 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
8559 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
8560 The mode line can also be customized by using the
8561 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
8562 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
8572 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
8575 @node Server Commands
8576 @subsection Server Commands
8577 @cindex server commands
8583 @findex gnus-server-add-server
8584 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
8588 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
8589 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
8592 @kindex SPACE (Server)
8593 @findex gnus-server-read-server
8594 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
8598 @findex gnus-server-exit
8599 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
8603 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
8604 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
8608 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
8609 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
8613 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
8614 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
8618 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
8619 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
8623 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
8624 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
8625 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
8630 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
8631 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
8632 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
8633 a mail backend that has gotten out of synch.
8638 @node Example Methods
8639 @subsection Example Methods
8641 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
8644 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
8647 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
8653 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
8654 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
8657 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
8658 @var{(variable form)} pairs.
8660 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
8661 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
8665 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
8668 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
8669 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
8671 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
8672 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
8673 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
8677 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
8680 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
8683 Here's the method for a public spool:
8687 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
8688 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
8691 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
8692 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
8693 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
8694 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
8695 should probably look something like this:
8699 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
8700 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
8701 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
8702 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
8703 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
8706 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
8707 compressed connection over the modem line, you could create a virtual
8708 server that would look something like this:
8712 (nntp-address "copper.uio.no")
8713 (nntp-rlogin-program "ssh")
8714 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
8715 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
8716 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
8717 ("telnet" "news.uio.no" "nntp")))
8720 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
8721 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
8722 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
8723 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
8726 @node Creating a Virtual Server
8727 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
8729 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
8730 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
8732 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
8733 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
8734 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
8736 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
8738 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
8739 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
8740 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
8741 will contain the following:
8751 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
8752 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
8753 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
8756 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
8757 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
8758 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
8761 @node Server Variables
8762 @subsection Server Variables
8764 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
8765 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
8766 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
8767 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
8768 won't change the "derived" variables.
8770 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
8771 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
8772 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
8773 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
8774 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
8775 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
8776 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
8777 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
8778 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
8782 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
8783 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
8784 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
8788 @node Servers and Methods
8789 @subsection Servers and Methods
8791 Wherever you would normally use a select method
8792 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
8793 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
8794 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
8798 @node Unavailable Servers
8799 @subsection Unavailable Servers
8801 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
8802 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
8803 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
8804 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
8805 actually the case or not.
8807 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
8808 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
8809 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
8810 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
8811 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
8812 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
8813 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
8814 it will regard that server as ``down''.
8816 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
8817 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
8819 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{The Server Buffer}) and poke it
8820 with the following commands:
8826 @findex gnus-server-open-server
8827 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
8828 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
8832 @findex gnus-server-close-server
8833 Close the connection (if any) to the server
8834 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
8838 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
8839 Mark the current server as unreachable
8840 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
8843 @kindex M-o (Server)
8844 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
8845 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
8846 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
8849 @kindex M-c (Server)
8850 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
8851 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
8852 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
8856 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
8857 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
8858 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
8864 @section Getting News
8865 @cindex reading news
8866 @cindex news backends
8868 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
8869 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
8870 or it can read from a local spool.
8873 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
8874 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
8879 @subsection @sc{nntp}
8882 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
8883 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
8884 server as the, uhm, address.
8886 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
8887 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
8888 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
8889 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
8891 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
8892 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
8893 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
8895 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
8900 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
8901 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
8902 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
8904 @cindex authentification
8905 @cindex nntp authentification
8906 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
8907 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
8908 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
8909 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
8910 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
8911 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
8912 present in this hook.
8914 @item nntp-authinfo-function
8915 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
8916 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
8917 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
8918 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
8919 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
8920 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
8921 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
8922 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
8923 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
8924 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
8925 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
8929 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
8932 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs. The
8933 valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
8934 @samp{default} and @samp{force}. (The latter is not a valid
8935 @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} token, which is the only way the
8936 @file{.authinfo} file format deviates from the @file{.netrc} file
8941 Here's an example file:
8944 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
8945 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
8948 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
8949 have to be first, for instance.
8951 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
8952 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
8953 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
8954 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
8955 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
8956 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
8957 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
8959 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
8960 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
8966 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
8967 previously mentioned.
8969 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
8971 @item nntp-server-action-alist
8972 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
8973 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
8974 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
8975 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
8978 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
8982 You probably don't want to do that, though.
8984 The default value is
8987 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
8988 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
8991 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
8992 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
8994 @item nntp-maximum-request
8995 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
8996 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
8997 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
8998 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
8999 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
9000 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
9001 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
9003 @c @item nntp-connection-timeout
9004 @c @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
9005 @c If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
9006 @c regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
9007 @c responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
9008 @c time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
9009 @c somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
9010 @c that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
9011 @c connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
9012 @c no timeouts are done.
9014 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
9015 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
9016 @c @cindex PPP connections
9017 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
9018 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
9019 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
9020 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
9021 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
9022 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
9023 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
9024 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
9025 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
9026 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
9028 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
9029 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
9030 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
9031 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
9034 @item nntp-server-hook
9035 @vindex nntp-server-hook
9036 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
9039 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
9040 @findex nntp-open-telnet
9041 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
9042 @item nntp-open-connection-function
9043 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
9044 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Four pre-made
9045 functions are supplied:
9048 @item nntp-open-network-stream
9049 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
9052 @item nntp-open-rlogin
9053 Does an @samp{rlogin} on the
9054 remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet} to the @sc{nntp} server
9057 @code{nntp-open-rlogin}-related variables:
9061 @item nntp-rlogin-program
9062 @vindex nntp-rlogin-program
9063 Program used to log in on remote machines. The default is @samp{rsh},
9064 but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
9066 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
9067 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
9068 This list will be used as the parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
9070 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
9071 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
9072 User name on the remote system.
9076 @item nntp-open-telnet
9077 Does a @samp{telnet} to the remote system and then another @samp{telnet}
9078 to get to the @sc{nntp} server.
9080 @code{nntp-open-telnet}-related variables:
9083 @item nntp-telnet-command
9084 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
9085 Command used to start @code{telnet}.
9087 @item nntp-telnet-switches
9088 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
9089 List of strings to be used as the switches to the @code{telnet} command.
9091 @item nntp-telnet-user-name
9092 @vindex nntp-telnet-user-name
9093 User name for log in on the remote system.
9095 @item nntp-telnet-passwd
9096 @vindex nntp-telnet-passwd
9097 Password to use when logging in.
9099 @item nntp-telnet-parameters
9100 @vindex nntp-telnet-parameters
9101 A list of strings executed as a command after logging in
9104 @item nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
9105 @vindex nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
9106 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the remote machine. The default is
9107 @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
9109 @item nntp-open-telnet-envuser
9110 @vindex nntp-open-telnet-envuser
9111 If non-@code{nil}, the @code{telnet} session (client and server both)
9112 will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for login name.
9113 This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
9117 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
9118 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
9119 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
9120 you must have SSLay installed
9121 (@file{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also need
9122 @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distributeion, for instance). You then
9123 define a server as follows:
9126 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
9128 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
9130 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
9131 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
9132 (nntp-port-number "snews")
9133 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
9138 @item nntp-end-of-line
9139 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
9140 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
9141 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
9142 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
9144 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
9145 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
9146 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
9150 @vindex nntp-address
9151 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
9153 @item nntp-port-number
9154 @vindex nntp-port-number
9155 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
9158 @item nntp-buggy-select
9159 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
9160 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
9162 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
9163 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
9164 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
9165 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
9168 @item nntp-xover-commands
9169 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
9172 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
9173 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
9177 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
9178 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
9179 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
9180 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
9181 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
9182 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
9183 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
9184 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
9185 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
9186 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
9187 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
9189 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
9190 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
9191 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
9193 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
9194 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
9195 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
9196 server closes connection.
9198 @item nntp-record-commands
9199 @vindex nntp-record-commands
9200 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
9201 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestep) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
9202 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
9203 that doesn't seem to work.
9209 @subsection News Spool
9213 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
9214 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
9215 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
9218 Anyways, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
9219 anything else) as the address.
9221 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
9222 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
9223 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
9224 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
9228 @item nnspool-inews-program
9229 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
9230 Program used to post an article.
9232 @item nnspool-inews-switches
9233 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
9234 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
9236 @item nnspool-spool-directory
9237 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
9238 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
9239 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
9241 @item nnspool-nov-directory
9242 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
9243 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
9244 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
9246 @item nnspool-lib-dir
9247 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
9248 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
9250 @item nnspool-active-file
9251 @vindex nnspool-active-file
9252 The path to the active file.
9254 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
9255 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
9256 The path to the group descriptions file.
9258 @item nnspool-history-file
9259 @vindex nnspool-history-file
9260 The path to the news history file.
9262 @item nnspool-active-times-file
9263 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
9264 The path to the active date file.
9266 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
9267 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
9268 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
9271 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
9272 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
9274 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
9275 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
9276 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
9282 @section Getting Mail
9283 @cindex reading mail
9286 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
9290 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
9291 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
9292 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
9293 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
9294 * Mail and Procmail:: Reading mail groups that procmail create.
9295 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
9296 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
9297 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
9298 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
9299 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
9300 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
9304 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
9305 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
9307 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
9308 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
9309 and things will happen automatically.
9311 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
9312 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
9315 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
9316 '((nnml "private")))
9319 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
9320 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
9321 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
9322 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
9323 like any other group.
9325 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
9328 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9329 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9330 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
9334 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
9335 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
9336 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
9339 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
9340 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
9341 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
9344 @node Splitting Mail
9345 @subsection Splitting Mail
9346 @cindex splitting mail
9347 @cindex mail splitting
9349 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
9350 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
9351 to be split into groups.
9354 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9355 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9356 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
9360 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
9361 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
9362 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
9363 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
9364 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
9365 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
9366 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
9369 ("list.\\1" "From:.*\\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
9372 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
9373 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
9374 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
9375 mail belongs in that group.
9377 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
9378 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
9379 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
9380 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
9381 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
9382 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
9384 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
9385 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
9386 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
9387 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
9388 thinks should carry this mail message.
9390 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
9391 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
9392 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
9393 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
9395 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
9396 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
9397 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
9398 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
9399 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
9401 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
9404 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
9405 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
9406 links. If that's the case for you, set
9407 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
9408 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
9410 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
9411 @kindex nnmail-split-history
9412 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
9413 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command.
9415 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
9416 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
9417 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
9418 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
9419 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
9420 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
9421 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
9422 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
9426 @node Mail Backend Variables
9427 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
9429 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
9433 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
9434 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
9435 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
9436 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
9438 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
9439 @item nnmail-spool-file
9443 @vindex nnmail-pop-password
9444 @vindex nnmail-pop-password-required
9445 The backends will look for new mail in this file. If this variable is
9446 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
9447 themselves. If you are using a POP mail server and your name is
9448 @samp{larsi}, you should set this variable to @samp{po:larsi}. If
9449 your name is not @samp{larsi}, you should probably modify that
9450 slightly, but you may have guessed that already, you smart & handsome
9451 devil! You can also set this variable to @code{pop}, and Gnus will try
9452 to figure out the POP mail string by itself. In any case, Gnus will
9453 call @code{movemail} which will contact the POP server named in the
9454 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable. If the POP server needs a
9455 password, you can either set @code{nnmail-pop-password-required} to
9456 @code{t} and be prompted for the password, or set
9457 @code{nnmail-pop-password} to the password itself.
9459 @code{nnmail-spool-file} can also be a list of mailboxes.
9461 Your Emacs has to have been configured with @samp{--with-pop} before
9462 compilation. This is the default, but some installations have it
9465 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
9466 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
9467 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
9468 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
9469 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
9470 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
9472 @vindex nnmail-use-procmail
9473 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
9474 @item nnmail-use-procmail
9475 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will look in
9476 @code{nnmail-procmail-directory} for incoming mail. All the files in
9477 that directory that have names ending in @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix}
9478 will be considered incoming mailboxes, and will be searched for new
9481 @vindex nnmail-crash-box
9482 @item nnmail-crash-box
9483 When a mail backend reads a spool file, mail is first moved to this
9484 file, which is @file{~/.gnus-crash-box} by default. If this file
9485 already exists, it will always be read (and incorporated) before any
9488 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9489 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9490 This is run in a buffer that holds all the new incoming mail, and can be
9491 used for, well, anything, really.
9493 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
9494 @item nnmail-split-hook
9495 @findex article-decode-rfc1522
9496 @findex RFC1522 decoding
9497 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
9498 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
9499 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
9500 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
9501 in the buffer will show up in any files. @code{gnus-article-decode-rfc1522}
9502 is one likely function to add to this hook.
9504 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9505 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
9506 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9507 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
9508 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
9509 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
9510 starting to handle the new mail) and
9511 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
9512 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
9513 default file modes the new mail files get:
9516 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9517 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
9519 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
9520 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
9523 @item nnmail-tmp-directory
9524 @vindex nnmail-tmp-directory
9525 This variable says where to move incoming mail to -- while processing
9526 it. This is usually done in the same directory that the mail backend
9527 inhabits (e.g., @file{~/Mail/}), but if this variable is non-@code{nil},
9528 it will be used instead.
9530 @item nnmail-movemail-program
9531 @vindex nnmail-movemail-program
9532 This program is executed to move mail from the user's inbox to her home
9533 directory. The default is @samp{movemail}.
9535 This can also be a function. In that case, the function will be called
9536 with two parameters -- the name of the inbox, and the file to be moved
9539 @item nnmail-delete-incoming
9540 @vindex nnmail-delete-incoming
9541 @cindex incoming mail files
9542 @cindex deleting incoming files
9543 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will delete the temporary incoming
9544 file after splitting mail into the proper groups. This is @code{t} by
9547 @c This is @code{nil} by
9548 @c default for reasons of security.
9550 @c Since Red Gnus is an alpha release, it is to be expected to lose mail.
9551 (No Gnus release since (ding) Gnus 0.10 (or something like that) have
9552 lost mail, I think, but that's not the point. (Except certain versions
9553 of Red Gnus.)) By not deleting the Incoming* files, one can be sure not
9554 to lose mail -- if Gnus totally whacks out, one can always recover what
9557 You may delete the @file{Incoming*} files at will.
9559 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
9560 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
9561 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
9562 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
9563 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
9564 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
9565 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
9567 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
9568 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
9570 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
9572 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
9573 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
9574 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
9575 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
9576 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
9581 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
9582 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
9583 @cindex mail splitting
9584 @cindex fancy mail splitting
9586 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
9587 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
9588 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
9589 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
9590 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
9591 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
9593 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
9596 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
9597 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
9598 ;; from real errors.
9599 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
9601 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
9602 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
9603 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
9604 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
9605 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
9606 ;; Other mailing lists...
9607 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
9608 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
9610 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
9611 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
9615 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
9616 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
9617 the five possible split syntaxes:
9622 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
9623 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
9627 @var{(FIELD VALUE SPLIT)}: If the split is a list, the first element of
9628 which is a string, then store the message as specified by SPLIT, if
9629 header FIELD (a regexp) contains VALUE (also a regexp).
9632 @var{(| SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
9633 @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each SPLIT until one of them
9634 matches. A SPLIT is said to match if it will cause the mail message to
9635 be stored in one or more groups.
9638 @var{(& SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
9639 @code{&}, then process all SPLITs in the list.
9642 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
9643 this message. Use with extreme caution.
9646 @var{(: function arg1 arg2 ...)}: If the split is a list, and the first
9647 element is @code{:}, then the second element will be called as a
9648 function with @var{args} given as arguments. The function should return
9653 In these splits, @var{FIELD} must match a complete field name.
9654 @var{VALUE} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
9655 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
9656 field names or words. In other words, all @var{VALUE}'s are wrapped in
9657 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
9659 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
9660 @var{FIELD} and @var{VALUE} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
9661 are expanded as specified by the variable
9662 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
9663 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
9666 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
9667 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
9668 when all this splitting is performed.
9670 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
9671 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
9672 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
9675 (any "debian-\\(\\w*\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
9678 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
9679 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\1}
9680 up to @samp{\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
9681 groupings 1 through 9.
9684 @node Mail and Procmail
9685 @subsection Mail and Procmail
9690 Many people use @code{procmail} (or some other mail filter program or
9691 external delivery agent---@code{slocal}, @code{elm}, etc) to split
9692 incoming mail into groups. If you do that, you should set
9693 @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{procmail} to ensure that the mail
9694 backends never ever try to fetch mail by themselves.
9696 If you have a combined @code{procmail}/POP/mailbox setup, you can do
9697 something like the following:
9699 @vindex nnmail-use-procmail
9701 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
9702 (setq nnmail-spool-file
9703 '("/usr/spool/mail/my-name" "po:my-name"))
9706 This also means that you probably don't want to set
9707 @code{nnmail-split-methods} either, which has some, perhaps, unexpected
9710 When a mail backend is queried for what groups it carries, it replies
9711 with the contents of that variable, along with any groups it has figured
9712 out that it carries by other means. None of the backends, except
9713 @code{nnmh}, actually go out to the disk and check what groups actually
9714 exist. (It's not trivial to distinguish between what the user thinks is
9715 a basis for a newsgroup and what is just a plain old file or directory.)
9717 This means that you have to tell Gnus (and the backends) by hand what
9720 Let's take the @code{nnmh} backend as an example:
9722 The folders are located in @code{nnmh-directory}, say, @file{~/Mail/}.
9723 There are three folders, @file{foo}, @file{bar} and @file{mail.baz}.
9725 Go to the group buffer and type @kbd{G m}. When prompted, answer
9726 @samp{foo} for the name and @samp{nnmh} for the method. Repeat
9727 twice for the two other groups, @samp{bar} and @samp{mail.baz}. Be sure
9728 to include all your mail groups.
9730 That's it. You are now set to read your mail. An active file for this
9731 method will be created automatically.
9733 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
9734 @vindex nnmail-procmail-directory
9735 If you use @code{nnfolder} or any other backend that store more than a
9736 single article in each file, you should never have procmail add mails to
9737 the file that Gnus sees. Instead, procmail should put all incoming mail
9738 in @code{nnmail-procmail-directory}. To arrive at the file name to put
9739 the incoming mail in, append @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix} to the group
9740 name. The mail backends will read the mail from these files.
9742 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
9743 When Gnus reads a file called @file{mail.misc.spool}, this mail will be
9744 put in the @code{mail.misc}, as one would expect. However, if you want
9745 Gnus to split the mail the normal way, you could set
9746 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to @code{t}.
9748 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
9749 If you use @code{procmail} to split things directly into an @code{nnmh}
9750 directory (which you shouldn't do), you should set
9751 @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} to non-@code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
9752 ever expiring the final article (i.e., the article with the highest
9753 article number) in a mail newsgroup. This is quite, quite important.
9755 Here's an example setup: The incoming spools are located in
9756 @file{~/incoming/} and have @samp{""} as suffixes (i.e., the incoming
9757 spool files have the same names as the equivalent groups). The
9758 @code{nnfolder} backend is to be used as the mail interface, and the
9759 @code{nnfolder} directory is @file{~/fMail/}.
9762 (setq nnfolder-directory "~/fMail/")
9763 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
9764 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/incoming/")
9765 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnfolder "")))
9766 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "")
9770 @node Incorporating Old Mail
9771 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
9773 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
9774 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
9775 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
9778 Doing so can be quite easy.
9780 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
9781 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
9782 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
9783 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
9784 your @code{nnml} groups.
9790 Go to the group buffer.
9793 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
9794 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
9797 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
9800 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
9801 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
9804 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
9805 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
9808 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
9809 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
9810 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
9811 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
9812 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
9814 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
9815 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
9816 using the new mail backend.
9820 @subsection Expiring Mail
9821 @cindex article expiry
9823 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
9824 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
9825 different approach to mail reading.
9827 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
9828 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
9829 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
9830 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
9831 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
9832 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
9835 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
9836 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
9837 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
9838 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
9839 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
9840 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
9841 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
9842 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
9844 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
9845 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
9846 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
9847 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
9848 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
9849 column in the summary buffer.
9851 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
9852 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
9853 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
9854 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
9857 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
9859 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
9860 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
9861 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
9864 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
9865 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
9866 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
9867 groups expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
9868 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
9870 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
9871 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
9874 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
9875 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
9878 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
9879 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
9881 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
9882 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
9883 don't really mix very well.
9885 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
9886 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
9887 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
9888 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
9891 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
9892 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
9893 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
9894 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
9897 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
9899 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
9901 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
9903 ((string= group "mail.junk")
9905 ((string= group "important")
9911 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
9912 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
9914 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
9915 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
9916 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
9919 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
9920 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
9922 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
9923 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
9924 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
9925 easier for procmail users.
9927 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
9928 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
9929 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
9930 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
9931 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
9932 caution. Even more dangerous is the
9933 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
9934 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
9935 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
9936 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
9937 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
9938 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
9939 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
9942 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
9946 @subsection Washing Mail
9947 @cindex mail washing
9948 @cindex list server brain damage
9949 @cindex incoming mail treatment
9951 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
9952 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC822 doesn't explicitly
9953 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
9954 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
9955 Yes, but RFC822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
9956 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
9958 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
9959 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
9960 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
9963 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
9964 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
9965 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
9966 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
9969 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9970 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9971 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
9972 grand, sweeping gestures. Functions to be used include:
9975 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
9976 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
9977 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
9978 Emacs running on MS machines.
9982 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
9983 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
9984 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
9985 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
9988 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
9989 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
9990 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
9991 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
9993 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
9994 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
9995 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
9996 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
9997 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
9998 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
9999 also be a list of regexp.
10001 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
10002 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
10005 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
10006 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
10009 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
10010 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
10011 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
10015 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
10016 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
10017 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
10021 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
10022 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
10023 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
10030 @subsection Duplicates
10032 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
10033 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
10034 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
10035 @cindex duplicate mails
10036 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
10037 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
10038 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
10039 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
10040 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
10041 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
10042 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
10043 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
10044 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
10045 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
10046 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
10047 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
10048 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
10050 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
10051 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
10052 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
10053 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
10055 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
10058 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
10059 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
10063 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
10064 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
10065 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
10066 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
10067 (any mail "mail.misc")
10074 (setq nnmail-split-methods
10075 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
10080 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
10081 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
10082 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
10083 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
10084 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
10087 @node Not Reading Mail
10088 @subsection Not Reading Mail
10090 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
10091 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
10092 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
10094 If you set @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{nil}, none of the backends
10095 will ever attempt to read incoming mail, which should help.
10097 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10098 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
10099 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
10100 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
10101 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
10102 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
10103 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
10104 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
10105 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
10106 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
10107 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
10109 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
10110 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
10114 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
10115 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
10117 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
10118 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
10119 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
10122 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
10123 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
10124 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
10125 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
10126 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
10130 @node Unix Mail Box
10131 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
10133 @cindex unix mail box
10135 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
10136 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
10137 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
10138 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
10139 which group it belongs in.
10141 Virtual server settings:
10144 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
10145 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
10146 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
10148 @item nnmbox-active-file
10149 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
10150 The name of the active file for the mail box.
10152 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
10153 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
10154 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
10160 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
10164 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
10165 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
10166 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
10167 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each mail
10168 article to say which group it belongs in.
10170 Virtual server settings:
10173 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
10174 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
10175 The name of the rmail mbox file.
10177 @item nnbabyl-active-file
10178 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
10179 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
10181 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10182 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10183 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
10188 @subsubsection Mail Spool
10190 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
10192 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
10193 format. It should be used with some caution.
10195 @vindex nnml-directory
10196 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
10197 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
10198 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
10199 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
10201 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
10204 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
10205 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
10206 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
10207 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
10208 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
10209 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
10210 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
10211 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
10213 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
10214 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
10215 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
10216 backend when it comes to reading mail.
10218 Virtual server settings:
10221 @item nnml-directory
10222 @vindex nnml-directory
10223 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
10225 @item nnml-active-file
10226 @vindex nnml-active-file
10227 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
10229 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
10230 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
10231 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
10234 @item nnml-get-new-mail
10235 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
10236 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
10238 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
10239 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
10240 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
10242 @item nnml-nov-file-name
10243 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
10244 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
10246 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
10247 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
10248 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
10252 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
10253 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
10254 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
10255 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
10256 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
10257 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
10258 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
10263 @subsubsection MH Spool
10265 @cindex mh-e mail spool
10267 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
10268 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
10269 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
10270 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
10272 Virtual server settings:
10275 @item nnmh-directory
10276 @vindex nnmh-directory
10277 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
10279 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
10280 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
10281 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
10284 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
10285 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
10286 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
10287 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
10288 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
10289 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
10290 to set this variable to @code{t}.
10295 @subsubsection Mail Folders
10297 @cindex mbox folders
10298 @cindex mail folders
10300 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
10301 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
10302 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
10305 Virtual server settings:
10308 @item nnfolder-directory
10309 @vindex nnfolder-directory
10310 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
10312 @item nnfolder-active-file
10313 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
10314 The name of the active file.
10316 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
10317 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
10318 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
10320 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
10321 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
10322 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
10325 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
10326 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
10327 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
10328 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
10329 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
10330 @code{nnfolder-directory}.
10333 @node Other Sources
10334 @section Other Sources
10336 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
10337 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
10341 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
10342 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
10343 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
10344 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{SOUP} packets ``offline''.
10345 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
10346 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
10350 @node Directory Groups
10351 @subsection Directory Groups
10353 @cindex directory groups
10355 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
10356 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
10359 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
10360 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
10361 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
10362 backend to read directories. Big deal.
10364 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
10365 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
10366 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
10367 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
10368 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
10370 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
10372 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
10373 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
10374 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
10375 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
10378 @node Anything Groups
10379 @subsection Anything Groups
10382 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
10383 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
10384 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
10387 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
10388 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
10389 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
10390 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're
10391 forgetting. @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it
10392 snoops each file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e.,
10393 the first few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head.
10394 If this is just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source
10395 file), @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It
10396 will use file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
10399 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
10400 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
10401 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
10402 in the article buffer, just as usual.
10404 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
10405 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
10406 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
10407 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
10409 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
10410 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
10411 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
10412 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
10413 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
10414 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
10415 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
10416 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
10421 @item nneething-map-file-directory
10422 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
10423 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
10424 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
10426 @item nneething-exclude-files
10427 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
10428 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
10429 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
10431 @item nneething-map-file
10432 @vindex nneething-map-file
10433 Name of the map files.
10437 @node Document Groups
10438 @subsection Document Groups
10440 @cindex documentation group
10443 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
10444 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
10451 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
10456 The standard Unix mbox file.
10458 @cindex MMDF mail box
10460 The MMDF mail box format.
10463 Several news articles appended into a file.
10466 @cindex rnews batch files
10467 The rnews batch transport format.
10468 @cindex forwarded messages
10471 Forwarded articles.
10475 @cindex MIME digest
10476 @cindex 1153 digest
10477 @cindex RFC 1153 digest
10478 @cindex RFC 341 digest
10479 MIME (RFC 1341) digest format.
10481 @item standard-digest
10482 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
10485 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
10488 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
10489 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
10490 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
10493 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
10494 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
10495 group. And that's it.
10497 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
10498 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
10499 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
10500 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
10501 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
10502 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
10503 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
10504 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
10505 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
10506 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
10508 Virtual server variables:
10511 @item nndoc-article-type
10512 @vindex nndoc-article-type
10513 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
10514 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
10515 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-digest}, @code{standard-digest},
10516 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs} or @code{guess}.
10518 @item nndoc-post-type
10519 @vindex nndoc-post-type
10520 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
10521 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
10526 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
10530 @node Document Server Internals
10531 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
10533 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
10534 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
10535 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
10536 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
10538 First, here's an example document type definition:
10542 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
10543 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
10546 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
10547 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
10548 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
10549 types can be defined with very few settings:
10552 @item first-article
10553 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
10554 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
10557 @item article-begin
10558 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
10559 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
10561 @item head-begin-function
10562 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
10565 @item nndoc-head-begin
10566 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
10569 @item nndoc-head-end
10570 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
10571 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
10573 @item body-begin-function
10574 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
10578 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
10581 @item body-end-function
10582 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
10586 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
10589 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
10590 regexp will be totally ignored.
10594 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
10595 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
10596 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
10597 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
10598 something that's palatable for Gnus:
10601 @item prepare-body-function
10602 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
10603 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
10604 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
10606 @item article-transform-function
10607 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
10608 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
10609 body of the article.
10611 @item generate-head-function
10612 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
10613 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
10614 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
10615 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
10619 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
10624 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
10625 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
10626 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
10627 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
10628 (head-end . "^ ?$")
10629 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
10630 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
10631 (subtype digest guess))
10634 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
10635 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
10636 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
10637 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
10638 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
10640 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
10641 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
10642 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
10643 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
10644 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
10645 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
10646 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
10647 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
10648 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
10649 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
10657 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
10658 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
10659 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
10661 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
10662 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
10663 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
10666 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something a that's a bit
10667 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
10668 that interested in doing things properly.
10670 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
10671 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
10674 First some terminology:
10679 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
10680 get news and/or mail from.
10683 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
10684 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
10687 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
10691 @item message packets
10692 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
10693 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
10694 default, where @var{X} is a number.
10696 @item response packets
10697 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
10698 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
10699 default, where @var{X} is a number.
10709 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
10710 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
10711 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
10712 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
10715 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
10718 You put the packet in your home directory.
10721 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
10722 the native or secondary server.
10725 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
10726 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
10729 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
10733 You transfer this packet to the server.
10736 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
10739 You then repeat until you die.
10743 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
10744 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
10747 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
10748 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
10749 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
10753 @node SOUP Commands
10754 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
10756 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
10760 @kindex G s b (Group)
10761 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
10762 Pack all unread articles in the current group
10763 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
10764 process/prefix convention.
10767 @kindex G s w (Group)
10768 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
10769 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
10772 @kindex G s s (Group)
10773 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
10774 Send all replies from the replies packet
10775 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
10778 @kindex G s p (Group)
10779 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
10780 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
10783 @kindex G s r (Group)
10784 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
10785 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
10788 @kindex O s (Summary)
10789 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
10790 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
10791 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
10792 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10797 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
10802 @item gnus-soup-directory
10803 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
10804 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
10805 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
10807 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
10808 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
10809 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
10810 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
10812 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
10813 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
10814 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
10815 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
10817 @item gnus-soup-packer
10818 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
10819 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
10820 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
10822 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
10823 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
10824 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
10825 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
10827 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
10828 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
10829 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
10831 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
10832 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
10833 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
10834 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
10840 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
10843 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
10844 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
10845 you can read them at leisure.
10847 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
10851 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
10852 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
10853 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
10854 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
10856 @item nnsoup-directory
10857 @vindex nnsoup-directory
10858 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
10859 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
10861 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
10862 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
10863 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
10864 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
10866 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
10867 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
10868 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
10869 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
10870 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
10872 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
10873 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
10874 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
10875 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
10877 @item nnsoup-active-file
10878 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
10879 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
10880 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
10881 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
10882 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
10884 @item nnsoup-packer
10885 @vindex nnsoup-packer
10886 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
10887 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
10889 @item nnsoup-unpacker
10890 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
10891 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
10892 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
10894 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
10895 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
10896 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
10899 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
10900 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
10901 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
10904 @item nnsoup-always-save
10905 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
10906 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
10912 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
10914 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
10915 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
10916 more for that to happen.
10918 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
10919 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
10920 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
10923 In specific, this is what it does:
10926 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
10927 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
10930 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
10931 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
10932 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
10936 @subsection Web Searches
10940 @cindex InReference
10941 @cindex Usenet searches
10942 @cindex searching the Usenet
10944 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
10945 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
10946 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
10947 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
10948 searches without having to use a browser.
10950 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
10951 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
10952 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
10953 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
10954 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
10956 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
10957 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
10958 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
10959 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
10960 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
10961 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
10962 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
10963 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
10964 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
10965 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
10968 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
10969 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
10970 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'
\e$BsU
\e(Bre} is to
10971 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
10972 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
10973 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
10975 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
10976 to use @code{nnweb}.
10978 Virtual server variables:
10983 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
10984 are @code{dejanews}, @code{dejanewsold}, @code{altavista} and
10988 @vindex nnweb-search
10989 The search string to feed to the search engine.
10991 @item nnweb-max-hits
10992 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
10993 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
10996 @item nnweb-type-definition
10997 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
10998 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
10999 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
11004 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
11008 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
11011 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
11014 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
11018 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
11025 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
11026 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
11027 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
11030 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
11031 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
11032 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
11034 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
11040 @item nngateway-address
11041 @vindex nngateway-address
11042 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
11044 @item nngateway-header-transformation
11045 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
11046 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
11047 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
11048 transformation should be called, and defaults to
11049 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
11050 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
11053 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
11054 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
11055 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
11058 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
11061 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
11064 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
11067 The following pre-defined functions exist:
11069 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
11072 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
11073 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
11074 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
11076 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
11078 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
11079 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
11080 @code{nngateway-address}.
11085 (setq gnus-post-method
11086 '(nngateway "mail2news@@replay.com"
11087 (nngateway-header-transformation
11088 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
11096 So, to use this, simply say something like:
11099 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
11103 @node Combined Groups
11104 @section Combined Groups
11106 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
11110 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
11111 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
11115 @node Virtual Groups
11116 @subsection Virtual Groups
11118 @cindex virtual groups
11119 @cindex merging groups
11121 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
11124 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
11125 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
11126 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
11128 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
11129 regexp to match component groups.
11131 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
11132 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
11133 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
11134 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
11135 the virtual group.)
11137 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
11138 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
11141 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
11144 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
11145 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
11147 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
11148 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
11149 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
11150 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
11153 "^nntp\\+some\\.server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+some\\.server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
11156 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
11157 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
11158 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
11160 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
11161 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
11162 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
11163 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
11164 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
11166 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
11167 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
11168 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
11170 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
11171 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
11172 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
11173 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
11174 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
11175 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
11176 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
11177 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
11178 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
11179 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
11180 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
11183 @node Kibozed Groups
11184 @subsection Kibozed Groups
11188 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
11189 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
11190 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
11191 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
11193 @kindex G k (Group)
11194 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
11197 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
11198 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
11199 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
11200 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
11202 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
11203 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
11204 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
11206 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
11207 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
11208 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
11209 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
11210 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
11211 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
11212 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
11213 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
11215 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
11216 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
11217 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
11218 Stranger things have happened.
11220 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
11221 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
11223 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
11224 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
11225 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
11226 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
11227 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
11228 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
11230 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
11231 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
11234 @node Gnus Unplugged
11235 @section Gnus Unplugged
11240 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
11242 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
11243 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
11244 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
11245 read news. Believe it or not.
11247 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
11248 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
11249 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
11250 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
11251 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
11253 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
11254 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
11255 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
11256 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
11257 reading news on a machine.
11259 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
11263 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
11264 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
11268 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
11269 @file{.gnus.el} file:
11276 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
11278 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
11281 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
11282 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
11283 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
11284 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
11285 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
11286 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
11287 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
11288 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
11293 @subsection Agent Basics
11295 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
11297 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
11298 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
11299 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
11300 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
11302 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
11303 connected to the net continuously.
11305 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
11306 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
11308 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
11313 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
11314 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
11315 already fetched while in this mode.
11318 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
11319 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
11320 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged}.
11323 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
11324 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{J
11325 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
11326 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
11329 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
11330 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
11331 then you read the news offline.
11334 And then you go to step 2.
11337 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
11343 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
11344 backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
11345 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
11346 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
11347 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
11348 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
11351 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}
11358 @node Agent Categories
11359 @subsection Agent Categories
11361 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
11362 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
11363 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
11364 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
11365 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
11366 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
11367 you're interested in the articles anyway.
11369 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
11370 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
11371 Gnus has its own buffer for creating and managing categories.
11374 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
11375 * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
11376 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
11380 @node Category Syntax
11381 @subsubsection Category Syntax
11383 A category consists of two things.
11387 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
11388 are eligible for downloading; and
11391 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
11392 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
11393 score} is wholly unrelated to normal scores.)
11396 A predicate consists of predicates with logical operators sprinkled in
11399 Perhaps some examples are in order.
11401 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
11402 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
11408 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
11409 short (for some value of ``short'').
11411 Here's a more complex predicate:
11420 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
11421 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
11424 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
11425 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
11426 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
11428 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
11429 you want to do, you can write your own.
11433 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
11434 lines; default 100.
11437 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
11438 lines; default 200.
11441 True iff the article has a download score less than
11442 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
11445 True iff the article has a download score greater than
11446 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
11449 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
11450 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
11451 checksum and sees whether articles match.
11460 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
11461 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
11462 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
11465 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
11466 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
11467 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
11468 following headers can be scored on: @code{From}, @code{Subject},
11469 @code{Date}, @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars}, @code{Message-ID},
11470 and @code{References}.
11473 @node The Category Buffer
11474 @subsubsection The Category Buffer
11476 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
11477 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
11478 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
11480 The following commands are available in this buffer:
11484 @kindex q (Category)
11485 @findex gnus-category-exit
11486 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
11489 @kindex k (Category)
11490 @findex gnus-category-kill
11491 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
11494 @kindex c (Category)
11495 @findex gnus-category-copy
11496 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
11499 @kindex a (Category)
11500 @findex gnus-category-add
11501 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
11504 @kindex p (Category)
11505 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
11506 Edit the predicate of the current category
11507 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
11510 @kindex g (Category)
11511 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
11512 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
11513 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
11516 @kindex s (Category)
11517 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
11518 Edit the download score rule of the current category
11519 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
11522 @kindex l (Category)
11523 @findex gnus-category-list
11524 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
11528 @node Category Variables
11529 @subsubsection Category Variables
11532 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
11533 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
11534 Hook run in category buffers.
11536 @item gnus-category-line-format
11537 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
11538 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
11539 Variables}). Legal elements are:
11543 The name of the category.
11546 The number of groups in the category.
11549 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
11550 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
11551 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
11553 @item gnus-agent-short-article
11554 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
11555 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
11557 @item gnus-agent-long-article
11558 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
11559 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
11561 @item gnus-agent-low-score
11562 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
11563 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
11566 @item gnus-agent-high-score
11567 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
11568 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
11574 @node Agent Commands
11575 @subsection Agent Commands
11577 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
11578 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged} command works in all modes, and
11579 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
11583 * Group Agent Commands::
11584 * Summary Agent Commands::
11585 * Server Agent Commands::
11588 You can run a complete batch fetch from the command line with the
11589 following incantation:
11591 @cindex gnus-agent-batch-fetch
11593 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch-fetch
11598 @node Group Agent Commands
11599 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
11603 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
11604 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
11605 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
11606 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
11609 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
11610 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
11611 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
11614 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
11615 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
11616 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
11617 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
11620 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
11621 @findex gnus-group-send-drafts
11622 Send all sendable messages in the draft group
11623 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}). @xref{Drafts}
11626 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
11627 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
11628 Add the current group to an Agent category
11629 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}).
11634 @node Summary Agent Commands
11635 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
11639 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
11640 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
11641 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
11644 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
11645 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
11646 Remove the downloading mark from the article
11647 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
11650 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
11651 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
11652 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
11655 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
11656 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
11657 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
11662 @node Server Agent Commands
11663 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
11667 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
11668 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
11669 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
11670 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
11673 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
11674 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
11675 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
11676 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
11682 @subsection Agent Expiry
11684 @vindex gnus-agent-expiry-days
11685 @findex gnus-agent-expiry
11686 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expiry
11687 @cindex Agent expiry
11688 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
11691 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
11692 @code{gnus-agent-expiry} command that will expire all read articles that
11693 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expiry-days} days. It can be run
11694 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
11695 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
11696 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
11698 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
11699 if @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
11700 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
11701 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
11702 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
11705 @node Outgoing Messages
11706 @subsection Outgoing Messages
11708 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
11709 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
11710 after posting, and edit them at will.
11712 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
11713 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
11714 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
11715 messages in the draft group.
11719 @node Agent Variables
11720 @subsection Agent Variables
11723 @item gnus-agent-directory
11724 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
11725 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
11726 @file{~/News/agent/}.
11728 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
11729 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
11730 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
11731 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
11732 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
11735 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
11736 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
11737 Hook run when connecting to the network.
11739 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
11740 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
11741 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
11746 @node Example Setup
11747 @subsection Example Setup
11749 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
11750 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
11751 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
11754 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over NNTP
11755 ;;; from your ISP's server.
11756 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "nntp.your-isp.com"))
11758 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
11759 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
11760 (setenv "MAILHOST" "pop.your-isp.com")
11761 (setq nnmail-spool-file "po:username")
11763 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
11764 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
11766 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
11770 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
11771 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
11774 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
11775 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
11776 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
11777 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
11778 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
11781 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
11782 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
11783 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
11784 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
11785 back all the killed groups.)
11787 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
11788 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
11789 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
11792 @node Batching Agents
11793 @subsection Batching Agents
11795 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
11796 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
11797 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
11801 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
11810 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
11811 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
11812 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
11815 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
11816 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
11817 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
11818 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
11819 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
11821 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
11822 before generating the summary buffer.
11824 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
11825 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
11826 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
11828 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
11829 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
11830 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
11831 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
11834 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
11835 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
11836 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
11837 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
11838 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
11839 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
11840 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
11841 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
11842 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
11843 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
11844 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
11845 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
11846 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
11847 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
11848 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
11849 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
11853 @node Summary Score Commands
11854 @section Summary Score Commands
11855 @cindex score commands
11857 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
11858 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
11859 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
11860 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
11861 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
11863 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
11864 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
11865 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
11866 score file the current one.
11868 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
11873 @kindex V s (Summary)
11874 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
11875 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
11878 @kindex V S (Summary)
11879 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
11880 Display the score of the current article
11881 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
11884 @kindex V t (Summary)
11885 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
11886 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
11887 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
11890 @kindex V R (Summary)
11891 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
11892 Run the current summary through the scoring process
11893 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
11894 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
11895 effect you're having.
11898 @kindex V c (Summary)
11899 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
11900 Make a different score file the current
11901 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
11904 @kindex V e (Summary)
11905 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
11906 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
11907 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
11911 @kindex V f (Summary)
11912 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
11913 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
11914 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
11917 @kindex V F (Summary)
11918 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
11919 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
11920 after editing score files.
11923 @kindex V C (Summary)
11924 @findex gnus-score-customize
11925 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
11926 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
11930 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
11935 @kindex V m (Summary)
11936 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
11937 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
11938 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
11941 @kindex V x (Summary)
11942 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
11943 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
11944 expunge all articles below this score
11945 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
11948 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
11949 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
11952 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
11953 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
11957 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
11958 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
11960 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
11961 keys are available:
11965 Score on the author name.
11968 Score on the subject line.
11971 Score on the Xref line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
11974 Score on thread---the References line.
11980 Score on the number of lines.
11983 Score on the Message-ID.
11986 Score on followups.
11996 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
11997 what headers you are scoring on.
12009 Substring matching.
12012 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
12041 Greater than number.
12046 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
12047 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
12048 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
12052 Temporary score entry.
12055 Permanent score entry.
12058 Immediately scoring.
12063 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
12064 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
12065 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
12066 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
12068 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
12069 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
12070 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
12071 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
12072 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
12074 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
12075 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
12076 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
12077 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
12078 current score file.
12080 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
12081 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
12082 pretend they are keymaps or not.
12085 @node Group Score Commands
12086 @section Group Score Commands
12087 @cindex group score commands
12089 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
12094 @kindex W f (Group)
12095 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
12096 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
12097 all the time. This command will flush the cache
12098 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
12102 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
12104 @findex gnus-batch-score
12105 @cindex batch scoring
12107 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l gnus -f gnus-batch-score
12111 @node Score Variables
12112 @section Score Variables
12113 @cindex score variables
12117 @item gnus-use-scoring
12118 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
12119 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
12120 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
12122 @item gnus-kill-killed
12123 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
12124 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
12125 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
12126 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
12127 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
12128 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
12129 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
12131 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
12132 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
12133 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
12134 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
12135 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
12137 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
12138 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
12139 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
12140 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
12142 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
12143 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
12144 @cindex score cache
12145 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
12146 score files. However, if this might make you Emacs grow big and
12147 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
12148 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
12149 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
12150 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
12153 @item gnus-save-score
12154 @vindex gnus-save-score
12155 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
12156 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
12157 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
12159 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
12160 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
12161 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
12162 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
12163 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
12164 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
12165 manually entered data.
12167 @item gnus-summary-default-score
12168 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
12169 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
12171 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
12172 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
12173 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
12174 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
12175 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
12176 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
12178 @item gnus-score-over-mark
12179 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
12180 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
12181 default. Default is @samp{+}.
12183 @item gnus-score-below-mark
12184 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
12185 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
12186 default. Default is @samp{-}.
12188 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
12189 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
12190 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
12191 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
12193 Predefined functions available are:
12196 @item gnus-score-find-single
12197 @findex gnus-score-find-single
12198 Only apply the group's own score file.
12200 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
12201 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
12202 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
12203 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
12204 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
12205 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
12206 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
12207 then a regexp match is done.
12209 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
12210 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
12212 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
12213 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
12214 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
12215 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
12217 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
12218 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
12219 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
12220 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
12221 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE}.
12224 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
12225 functions will be called, and all the returned lists of score files will
12226 be applied. These functions can also return lists of score alists
12227 directly. In that case, the functions that return these non-file score
12228 alists should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file
12229 functions, to ensure that the last score file returned is the local
12232 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
12233 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
12234 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
12235 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
12236 are expired. It's 7 by default.
12238 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
12239 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
12240 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
12241 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
12242 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
12243 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
12244 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
12247 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
12248 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
12249 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
12251 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
12252 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
12253 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
12254 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
12255 threading---according to the current value of
12256 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
12257 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
12258 simplified in this manner.
12263 @node Score File Format
12264 @section Score File Format
12265 @cindex score file format
12267 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
12268 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
12269 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
12271 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
12275 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
12277 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
12279 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
12281 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
12286 (mark-and-expunge -10)
12290 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
12291 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
12292 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
12293 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
12297 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
12298 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
12300 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
12301 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
12302 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
12304 Six keys are supported by this alist:
12309 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
12310 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
12311 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
12312 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
12313 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
12314 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
12315 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
12316 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
12317 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
12318 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
12319 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
12320 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
12321 to articles that matches these score entries.
12323 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
12324 score entry has one to four elements.
12328 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
12329 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
12333 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
12334 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
12335 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
12336 is successful. If this element is not present, the
12337 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
12338 instead. This is 1000 by default.
12341 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
12342 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
12343 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
12344 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
12345 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
12348 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
12349 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
12350 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
12351 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
12354 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
12355 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
12356 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
12357 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
12358 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
12359 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
12360 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
12361 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
12362 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
12363 instead, if you feel like.
12366 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
12367 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
12369 These predicates are true if
12372 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
12375 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
12376 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
12383 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
12384 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
12385 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
12386 it's not. I think.)
12388 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some backends (like
12389 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
12390 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
12391 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
12394 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
12395 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
12396 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
12397 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
12398 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
12399 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
12400 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
12404 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
12405 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
12406 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
12407 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
12408 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
12409 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
12410 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
12411 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
12414 @item Head, Body, All
12415 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
12419 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
12420 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
12421 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
12422 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
12423 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
12424 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
12425 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
12429 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
12430 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{X}, then you add a
12431 @samp{thread} match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each
12432 article that has @var{X} in its @code{References} header. (These new
12433 @samp{thread} matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching
12434 articles.) This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an
12435 entire thread, even though some articles in the thread may not have
12436 complete @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
12437 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
12438 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
12442 @cindex Score File Atoms
12444 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
12445 lower than this number will be marked as read.
12448 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
12449 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
12451 @item mark-and-expunge
12452 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
12453 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
12456 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
12457 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
12458 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
12459 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
12460 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
12463 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
12464 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
12467 @item exclude-files
12468 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
12469 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
12473 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
12474 ignored when handling global score files.
12477 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
12478 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
12479 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
12480 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
12483 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
12484 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
12485 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
12486 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
12488 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
12492 (mark-and-expunge -100)
12495 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
12496 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
12497 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
12498 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
12499 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
12501 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where there
12502 exist a few interesting threads which can't be found automatically by
12503 ordinary scoring rules.
12506 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
12507 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
12508 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
12509 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
12510 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
12511 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
12512 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
12513 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
12514 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
12515 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
12516 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
12520 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
12521 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
12522 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
12523 file for a number of groups.
12526 @cindex local variables
12527 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
12528 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
12529 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
12530 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
12531 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
12535 @node Score File Editing
12536 @section Score File Editing
12538 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
12539 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
12540 with a mode for that.
12542 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
12543 additional commands:
12548 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
12549 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
12550 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
12551 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
12554 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
12555 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
12556 Insert the current date in numerical format
12557 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
12558 you were wondering.
12561 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
12562 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
12563 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
12564 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
12565 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
12570 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
12572 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
12573 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
12575 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
12576 e} to begin editing score files.
12579 @node Adaptive Scoring
12580 @section Adaptive Scoring
12581 @cindex adaptive scoring
12583 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
12584 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
12585 stupidity, to be precise.
12587 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
12588 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
12589 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
12590 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
12591 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
12592 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
12593 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
12594 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
12595 variable to @code{(word line)}.
12597 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
12598 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
12599 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
12600 might look something like this:
12603 (defvar gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
12604 '((gnus-unread-mark)
12605 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
12606 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
12607 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
12608 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
12609 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
12610 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
12611 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
12612 (gnus-ancient-mark)
12613 (gnus-low-score-mark)
12614 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
12617 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
12618 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
12619 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
12620 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
12621 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
12622 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
12625 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
12626 will be applied to each article.
12628 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
12629 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
12630 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
12631 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
12633 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
12634 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
12635 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
12636 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
12638 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
12639 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
12640 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
12641 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
12643 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
12644 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
12645 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
12646 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
12647 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
12648 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
12650 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
12651 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
12652 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
12653 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
12654 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
12655 aspirins afterwards.)
12657 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
12658 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
12659 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
12661 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
12662 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
12663 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
12665 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
12666 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
12667 let you use different rules in different groups.
12669 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
12670 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
12671 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
12674 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
12675 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
12676 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
12677 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
12678 the length of the match is less than
12679 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
12680 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
12683 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
12684 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
12685 headers. If you adapt on words, the
12686 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
12687 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
12690 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
12691 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
12692 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
12693 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
12694 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
12697 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
12698 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
12699 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
12700 score with 30 points.
12702 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
12703 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
12704 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
12705 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
12706 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
12708 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
12709 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
12710 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
12711 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
12713 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
12714 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
12715 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
12716 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
12718 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
12719 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
12720 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
12722 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
12723 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
12724 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
12725 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
12728 @node Home Score File
12729 @section Home Score File
12731 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
12732 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
12733 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
12734 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
12736 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
12737 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
12738 could perhaps use the same home score file.
12740 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
12741 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
12746 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
12750 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
12751 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
12755 A list. The elements in this list can be:
12759 @var{(regexp file-name)}. If the @var{regexp} matches the group name,
12760 the @var{file-name} will will be used as the home score file.
12763 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
12764 the home score file.
12767 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
12770 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
12775 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
12778 (setq gnus-home-score-file
12779 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
12782 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
12783 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
12785 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
12787 (setq gnus-home-score-file
12788 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
12791 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
12792 Other functions include
12795 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
12796 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
12797 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
12798 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
12802 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
12803 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
12804 their own home score files:
12807 (setq gnus-home-score-file
12808 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
12809 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
12810 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
12811 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
12814 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
12815 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
12816 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
12817 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
12818 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
12820 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
12821 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
12822 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
12823 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
12824 precedence over this variable.
12827 @node Followups To Yourself
12828 @section Followups To Yourself
12830 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
12831 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
12832 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
12833 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
12834 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
12835 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
12839 @item gnus-score-followup-article
12840 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
12841 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
12844 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
12845 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
12846 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
12850 @vindex message-sent-hook
12851 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
12852 @code{message-sent-hook}.
12854 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
12855 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
12859 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
12860 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
12863 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
12864 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
12869 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore.no>"
12873 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
12874 is system-dependent.
12878 @section Scoring Tips
12879 @cindex scoring tips
12885 @cindex scoring crossposts
12886 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
12887 the @code{Xref} header.
12889 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
12892 @item Multiple crossposts
12893 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
12894 more than, say, 3 groups:
12896 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
12899 @item Matching on the body
12900 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
12901 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
12902 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
12903 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
12904 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
12905 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
12906 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
12909 @item Marking as read
12910 You will probably want to mark articles that has a score below a certain
12911 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
12912 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
12916 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
12918 @item Negated character classes
12919 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
12920 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
12921 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
12925 @node Reverse Scoring
12926 @section Reverse Scoring
12927 @cindex reverse scoring
12929 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
12930 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
12931 like this in your score file:
12935 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
12940 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
12941 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
12944 @node Global Score Files
12945 @section Global Score Files
12946 @cindex global score files
12948 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
12949 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
12950 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
12952 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
12953 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
12954 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
12956 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
12957 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
12958 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
12959 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
12960 files are applicable to which group.
12962 Say you want to use the score file
12963 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
12964 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory:
12967 (setq gnus-global-score-files
12968 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
12969 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
12972 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
12973 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
12974 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
12975 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
12976 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
12978 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
12979 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
12981 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
12982 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
12983 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
12984 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
12985 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
12986 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
12988 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
12994 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
12996 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
12998 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
13000 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
13001 lowered out of existence.
13003 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
13004 articles completely.
13007 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
13008 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
13009 old articles for a long time.
13012 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
13013 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
13014 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
13015 holding our breath yet?
13019 @section Kill Files
13022 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
13023 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
13024 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
13026 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
13027 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
13028 files into score files.
13030 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
13031 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
13032 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
13033 that isn't a very good idea.
13035 Normal kill files look like this:
13038 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13039 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
13043 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
13044 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
13046 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
13047 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
13050 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
13055 @kindex M-k (Summary)
13056 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
13057 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
13060 @kindex M-K (Summary)
13061 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
13062 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
13065 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
13070 @kindex M-k (Group)
13071 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
13072 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
13075 @kindex M-K (Group)
13076 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
13077 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
13080 Kill file variables:
13083 @item gnus-kill-file-name
13084 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
13085 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
13086 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
13087 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
13088 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
13089 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
13091 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
13092 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
13093 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
13094 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
13097 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
13098 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
13099 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
13100 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
13101 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
13102 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
13103 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
13104 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
13105 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
13107 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
13108 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
13109 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
13114 @node Converting Kill Files
13115 @section Converting Kill Files
13117 @cindex converting kill files
13119 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
13120 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
13121 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
13124 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
13125 You can fetch it from
13126 @file{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-other/gnus-kill-to-score}.
13128 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
13129 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
13130 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
13138 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
13139 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
13140 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
13142 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
13143 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
13144 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
13145 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
13146 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
13147 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
13148 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
13149 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
13153 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
13154 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
13155 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
13156 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
13160 @node Using GroupLens
13161 @subsection Using GroupLens
13163 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
13165 @samp{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
13166 better bit in town at the moment.
13168 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
13172 @item gnus-use-grouplens
13173 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
13174 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
13175 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
13177 @item grouplens-pseudonym
13178 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
13179 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
13180 with the Better Bit Bureau.
13182 @item grouplens-newsgroups
13183 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
13184 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
13188 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
13189 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
13190 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
13191 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
13192 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
13193 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
13196 @node Rating Articles
13197 @subsection Rating Articles
13199 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
13200 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
13201 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
13202 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
13205 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
13210 @kindex r (GroupLens)
13211 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
13212 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
13215 @kindex k (GroupLens)
13216 @findex grouplens-score-thread
13217 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
13218 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
13219 threads in rec.humor.
13223 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
13224 the score of the article you're reading.
13229 @kindex n (GroupLens)
13230 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
13231 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
13234 @kindex , (GroupLens)
13235 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
13236 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
13240 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
13241 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
13244 @node Displaying Predictions
13245 @subsection Displaying Predictions
13247 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
13248 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
13249 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
13250 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
13251 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
13253 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
13254 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
13255 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
13256 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
13257 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
13258 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
13259 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
13260 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
13261 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
13262 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
13263 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
13264 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
13265 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
13267 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
13268 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
13269 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
13270 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
13272 The following are valid values for that variable.
13275 @item prediction-spot
13276 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
13279 @item confidence-interval
13280 A numeric confidence interval.
13282 @item prediction-bar
13283 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
13285 @item confidence-bar
13286 Numerical confidence.
13288 @item confidence-spot
13289 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
13291 @item prediction-num
13292 Plain-old numeric value.
13294 @item confidence-plus-minus
13295 Prediction +/- confidence.
13300 @node GroupLens Variables
13301 @subsection GroupLens Variables
13305 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
13306 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
13307 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
13308 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%)
13311 @item grouplens-bbb-host
13312 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
13315 @item grouplens-bbb-port
13316 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
13318 @item grouplens-score-offset
13319 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
13320 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
13323 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
13324 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
13325 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
13330 @node Advanced Scoring
13331 @section Advanced Scoring
13333 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
13334 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
13335 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
13336 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
13337 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
13339 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
13343 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
13344 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
13345 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
13349 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
13350 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
13352 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
13353 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
13354 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
13355 non-@code{nil} value.
13357 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
13358 operator, and various match operators.
13365 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
13366 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
13367 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
13372 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
13373 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
13374 then this operator will return @code{false}.
13379 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
13380 logical negation of the value of its argument.
13384 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
13385 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
13386 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
13387 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
13388 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
13389 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
13390 the ancestry you want to go.
13392 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
13393 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
13394 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
13395 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
13396 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
13399 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
13400 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
13402 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
13403 when he's talking about Gnus:
13407 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13408 ("subject" "Gnus"))
13414 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
13418 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13425 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
13426 really don't want to read what he's written:
13430 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13431 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
13435 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
13436 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
13437 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
13444 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
13445 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
13446 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
13447 ("body" "white.*socks"))
13451 The possibilities are endless.
13454 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
13455 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
13457 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
13458 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
13459 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
13460 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
13461 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
13462 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
13463 @samp{subject}) first.
13465 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
13466 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
13477 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
13478 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
13484 ("subject" "Gnus")))
13491 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
13492 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
13497 @section Score Decays
13498 @cindex score decays
13501 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
13502 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
13503 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
13504 use them in any sensible way.
13506 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
13507 @findex gnus-decay-score
13508 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
13509 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
13510 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
13511 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
13512 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
13513 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
13514 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
13515 definition of that function:
13518 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
13519 "Decay SCORE according to `gnus-score-decay-constant' and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
13522 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
13524 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
13526 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
13529 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
13530 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
13531 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
13532 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
13536 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
13539 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
13542 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
13546 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
13547 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
13548 the new score, which should be an integer.
13550 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
13551 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
13558 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
13559 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
13560 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
13561 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
13562 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
13563 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
13564 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
13565 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
13566 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
13567 * Buttons:: Get tendonitis in ten easy steps!
13568 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
13569 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
13570 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
13571 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
13572 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
13573 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
13574 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
13575 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
13579 @node Process/Prefix
13580 @section Process/Prefix
13581 @cindex process/prefix convention
13583 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
13584 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
13586 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
13587 command to be performed on.
13591 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
13592 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
13593 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
13594 with the current one.
13596 @vindex transient-mark-mode
13597 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
13598 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
13600 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
13601 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
13604 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
13605 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
13607 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
13610 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
13611 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
13612 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
13613 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
13615 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
13616 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
13617 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
13618 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
13619 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
13620 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
13621 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
13622 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
13626 @section Interactive
13627 @cindex interaction
13631 @item gnus-novice-user
13632 @vindex gnus-novice-user
13633 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
13634 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
13635 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
13636 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
13639 @item gnus-expert-user
13640 @vindex gnus-expert-user
13641 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
13642 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
13643 matter how strange.
13645 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
13646 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
13647 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
13648 is @code{t} by default.
13650 @item gnus-interactive-exit
13651 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
13652 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
13657 @node Symbolic Prefixes
13658 @section Symbolic Prefixes
13659 @cindex symbolic prefixes
13661 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
13662 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
13663 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
13664 rule of 900 to the current article.
13666 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
13667 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
13668 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
13669 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
13670 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
13671 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
13672 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
13674 @kindex M-i (Summary)
13675 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
13676 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
13677 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
13678 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
13679 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a M-C-u} means ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u}
13680 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b M-C-u} means
13681 ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
13682 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
13684 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
13685 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
13686 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
13688 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
13692 @node Formatting Variables
13693 @section Formatting Variables
13694 @cindex formatting variables
13696 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
13697 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
13698 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
13699 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
13700 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
13703 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
13704 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
13705 lots of percentages everywhere.
13708 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
13709 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
13710 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
13711 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
13712 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
13715 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
13716 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
13717 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
13718 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
13719 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
13720 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
13721 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
13722 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
13724 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
13725 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
13727 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
13728 @findex gnus-update-format
13729 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
13730 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
13731 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
13732 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
13736 @node Formatting Basics
13737 @subsection Formatting Basics
13739 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
13740 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
13741 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
13743 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
13744 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
13745 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
13746 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
13747 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
13750 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
13751 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
13752 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
13753 less than 4 characters wide.
13756 @node Mode Line Formatting
13757 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
13759 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
13760 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
13761 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
13762 with the following two differences:
13767 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
13770 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
13771 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
13772 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
13773 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
13774 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
13775 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
13776 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
13781 @node Advanced Formatting
13782 @subsection Advanced Formatting
13784 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
13785 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
13786 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
13787 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
13789 These are the valid modifiers:
13794 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
13798 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
13803 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
13806 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
13811 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
13814 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
13817 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
13820 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
13824 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
13825 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
13826 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
13827 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
13828 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
13829 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
13830 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
13832 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
13833 last operation, padding.
13835 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
13836 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
13837 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
13838 @xref{Compilation}.
13841 @node User-Defined Specs
13842 @subsection User-Defined Specs
13844 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
13845 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
13846 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
13847 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
13848 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
13849 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
13850 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
13851 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
13852 should protect against that.
13854 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
13855 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
13856 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
13857 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
13861 @node Formatting Fonts
13862 @subsection Formatting Fonts
13864 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
13865 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
13866 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
13867 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
13870 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
13871 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
13872 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
13873 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
13874 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
13875 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
13877 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
13880 ;; Create three face types.
13881 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
13882 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
13884 ;; We want the article count to be in
13885 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
13886 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
13887 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
13889 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
13890 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
13892 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
13893 (setq gnus-group-line-format
13894 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
13897 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
13898 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
13900 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
13901 mode-line variables.
13904 @node Windows Configuration
13905 @section Windows Configuration
13906 @cindex windows configuration
13908 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
13910 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
13911 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
13912 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
13913 @code{t} by default.
13915 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
13916 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
13917 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
13920 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
13921 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
13922 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
13926 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
13927 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
13928 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
13929 possible names is listed below.
13931 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
13932 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
13935 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
13939 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
13940 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
13941 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
13942 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
13943 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
13944 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
13945 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
13946 size spec per split.
13948 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
13949 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
13950 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
13951 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
13952 present) gets focus.
13954 Here's a more complicated example:
13957 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
13958 (summary 0.25 point)
13959 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
13963 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
13964 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
13965 occupy, not a percentage.
13967 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
13968 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
13969 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
13970 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
13971 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
13974 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
13977 (article (horizontal 1.0
13982 (summary 0.25 point)
13987 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
13988 @code{horizontal} thingie?
13990 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
13991 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
13992 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
13993 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
13994 the screen is to be given to this strip.
13996 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
13997 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
13998 lines from the splits.
14000 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
14004 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
14005 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
14006 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
14007 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
14008 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
14009 size = number | frame-params
14010 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
14013 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
14014 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
14015 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
14016 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
14018 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
14019 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
14020 @cindex window height
14021 @cindex window width
14022 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
14023 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
14024 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
14025 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
14026 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
14027 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
14029 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
14030 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
14031 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
14032 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
14034 @findex gnus-configure-frame
14035 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
14036 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
14037 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
14038 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
14039 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
14040 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
14041 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
14042 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
14043 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
14044 configuration list.
14047 (gnus-configure-frame
14051 (article 0.3 point))
14059 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
14060 @code{frame} split:
14063 (gnus-configure-frame
14066 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
14068 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
14069 (user-position . t)
14070 (left . -1) (top . 1))
14075 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
14076 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
14077 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
14078 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
14079 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
14080 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
14081 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
14082 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
14085 Here's a list of all possible keys for
14086 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration}:
14088 @code{group}, @code{summary}, @code{article}, @code{server},
14089 @code{browse}, @code{message}, @code{pick}, @code{info},
14090 @code{summary-faq}, @code{edit-group}, @code{edit-server},
14091 @code{edit-score}, @code{post}, @code{reply}, @code{forward},
14092 @code{reply-yank}, @code{mail-bounce}, @code{draft}, @code{pipe},
14093 @code{bug}, @code{compose-bounce}, and @code{score-trace}.
14095 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
14096 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
14097 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
14101 (message (horizontal 1.0
14102 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
14104 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
14109 @findex gnus-add-configuration
14110 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
14111 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
14112 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
14113 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
14116 (gnus-add-configuration
14117 '(article (vertical 1.0
14119 (summary .25 point)
14123 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
14124 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
14125 Gnus has been loaded.
14127 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
14128 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
14129 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
14130 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
14131 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
14134 @node Faces and Fonts
14135 @section Faces and Fonts
14140 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
14141 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
14142 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
14147 @section Compilation
14148 @cindex compilation
14149 @cindex byte-compilation
14151 @findex gnus-compile
14153 Remember all those line format specification variables?
14154 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
14155 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
14156 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
14157 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
14158 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
14161 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
14162 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
14163 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
14164 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
14165 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
14166 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
14167 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
14171 @section Mode Lines
14174 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
14175 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
14176 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
14177 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
14178 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
14179 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
14180 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
14183 @cindex display-time
14185 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
14186 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
14187 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
14188 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
14189 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
14190 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
14191 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
14192 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
14195 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
14197 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
14198 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
14200 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
14201 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
14202 (length display-time-string)))))
14205 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
14206 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
14207 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
14208 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
14209 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
14212 @node Highlighting and Menus
14213 @section Highlighting and Menus
14215 @cindex highlighting
14218 @vindex gnus-visual
14219 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
14220 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
14221 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
14224 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
14225 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
14228 @item group-highlight
14229 Do highlights in the group buffer.
14230 @item summary-highlight
14231 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
14232 @item article-highlight
14233 Do highlights in the article buffer.
14235 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
14237 Create menus in the group buffer.
14239 Create menus in the summary buffers.
14241 Create menus in the article buffer.
14243 Create menus in the browse buffer.
14245 Create menus in the server buffer.
14247 Create menus in the score buffers.
14249 Create menus in all buffers.
14252 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
14253 buffers, you could say something like:
14256 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
14259 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
14262 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
14265 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
14266 in all Gnus buffers.
14268 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
14271 @item gnus-mouse-face
14272 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
14273 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
14274 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
14278 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
14282 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
14283 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
14284 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
14286 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
14287 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
14288 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
14290 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
14291 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
14292 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
14294 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
14295 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
14296 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
14298 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
14299 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
14300 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
14302 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
14303 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
14304 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
14315 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
14316 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
14317 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
14318 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
14319 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
14323 @vindex gnus-carpal
14324 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
14325 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
14326 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
14331 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
14332 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
14333 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
14335 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
14336 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
14337 Face used on buttons.
14339 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
14340 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
14341 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
14343 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
14344 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
14345 Buttons in the group buffer.
14347 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
14348 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
14349 Buttons in the summary buffer.
14351 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
14352 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
14353 Buttons in the server buffer.
14355 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
14356 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
14357 Buttons in the browse buffer.
14360 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
14361 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
14362 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
14370 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
14371 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
14372 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
14373 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
14374 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
14376 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
14377 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
14378 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
14380 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
14381 been idle for thirty minutes:
14384 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
14387 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
14391 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
14394 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
14395 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
14396 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
14398 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
14399 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
14400 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
14401 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
14403 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
14404 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
14405 @var{idle} minutes.
14407 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
14408 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
14411 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
14412 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
14413 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
14415 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
14416 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
14417 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
14418 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
14420 @vindex gnus-use-demon
14421 To set the whole thing in motion, though, you have to set
14422 @code{gnus-use-demon} to @code{t}.
14424 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
14425 your @file{.gnus} file:
14427 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
14429 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
14432 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
14433 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
14434 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
14435 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
14436 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
14437 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
14438 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
14439 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
14440 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
14441 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
14442 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
14444 @findex gnus-demon-init
14445 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
14446 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
14447 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
14448 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
14449 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
14451 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
14452 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
14453 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
14462 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
14463 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
14465 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
14466 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
14467 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
14468 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
14471 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
14472 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
14473 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
14474 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
14476 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
14477 this will make spam disappear.
14479 There are some variables to customize, of course:
14482 @item gnus-use-nocem
14483 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
14484 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
14487 @item gnus-nocem-groups
14488 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
14489 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
14490 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
14491 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
14493 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
14494 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
14495 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
14496 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
14497 "rbraver@@ohww.norman.ok.us" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
14498 "jem@@xpat.com" "snowhare@@xmission.com" "red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us
14499 (Richard E. Depew)")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
14501 Known despammers that you can put in this list include:
14504 @item clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;
14505 @cindex Chris Lewis
14506 Chris Lewis---Major Canadian despammer who has probably canceled more
14507 usenet abuse than anybody else.
14510 @cindex CancelMoose[tm]
14511 The CancelMoose[tm] on autopilot. The CancelMoose[tm] is reputed to be
14512 Norwegian, and was the person(s) who invented NoCeM.
14514 @item jem@@xpat.com;
14516 John Milburn---despammer located in Korea who is getting very busy these
14519 @item red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us (Richard E. Depew)
14520 Richard E. Depew---lone American despammer. He mostly cancels binary
14521 postings to non-binary groups and removes spews (regurgitated articles).
14524 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
14525 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
14526 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
14527 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
14528 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
14529 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
14530 @var{(issuer conditions ...)} elements in the list. Each condition is
14531 either a string (which is a regexp that matches types you want to use)
14532 or a list on the form @code{(not STRING)}, where @var{string} is a
14533 regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
14535 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
14536 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
14539 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
14542 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
14543 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
14546 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
14549 The specs are applied left-to-right.
14552 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
14553 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
14555 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
14556 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
14557 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
14558 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
14560 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
14561 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
14564 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
14566 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
14574 This might be dangerous, though.
14576 @item gnus-nocem-directory
14577 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
14578 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
14579 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
14581 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
14582 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
14583 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
14584 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
14585 might then see old spam.
14589 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
14590 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
14591 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
14592 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
14599 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
14600 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
14601 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
14603 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
14604 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
14605 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
14606 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
14607 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
14608 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
14609 @code{undo} function.
14611 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
14612 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
14613 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
14614 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
14615 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
14616 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
14617 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
14618 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
14619 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
14620 never be totally undoable.
14622 @findex gnus-undo-mode
14623 @vindex gnus-use-undo
14625 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
14626 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
14627 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo} command
14628 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
14633 @section Moderation
14636 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
14637 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
14638 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
14641 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
14645 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
14648 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
14650 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
14655 You split your incoming mail by matching on
14656 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
14657 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
14660 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
14661 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
14664 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
14665 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
14669 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
14672 (setq gnus-moderated-list
14673 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
14677 @node XEmacs Enhancements
14678 @section XEmacs Enhancements
14681 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
14685 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
14686 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
14687 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
14688 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
14701 So... You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
14702 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
14703 over your shoulder as you read news.
14706 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
14707 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
14708 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
14709 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
14710 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
14715 @subsubsection Picon Basics
14717 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
14726 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
14727 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
14728 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
14729 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
14730 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
14731 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
14732 @code{GIF} formats.
14735 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
14736 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
14737 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
14738 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string
14739 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
14741 @vindex gnus-picons-database
14742 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
14743 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at
14744 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
14745 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
14746 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
14749 @node Picon Requirements
14750 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
14752 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
14753 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
14756 Additionally, you must have @code{x} support compiled into XEmacs. To
14757 display color picons which are much nicer than the black & white one,
14758 you also need one of @code{xpm} or @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
14760 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
14761 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
14762 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
14763 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
14764 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
14768 @subsubsection Easy Picons
14770 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
14771 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
14774 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
14775 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
14776 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-picons-article-display-x-face)
14779 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
14780 containing the Picons databases.
14782 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
14785 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
14790 @subsubsection Hard Picons
14798 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
14799 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
14800 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
14801 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
14802 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
14807 @item gnus-picons-database
14808 @vindex gnus-picons-database
14809 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
14810 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
14811 subdirectories. This is only useful if
14812 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
14813 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
14815 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
14816 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
14817 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
14818 engine is @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
14819 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
14820 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
14821 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
14823 @item gnus-picons-display-where
14824 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
14825 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
14826 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
14827 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
14828 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
14829 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
14830 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
14832 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
14833 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
14834 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
14839 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
14840 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
14842 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
14843 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
14846 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
14847 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
14849 @item gnus-article-display-picons
14850 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
14851 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
14852 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer. Should be added to the
14853 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
14855 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
14856 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
14857 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present. This function
14858 should be added to @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
14862 Note: You must append them to the hook, so make sure to specify 't'
14863 for the append flag of @code{add-hook}:
14866 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
14870 @node Picon Useless Configuration
14871 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
14879 The following variables offer further control over how things are
14880 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
14881 don't need to worry about.
14885 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
14886 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
14887 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
14888 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
14890 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
14891 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
14892 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
14893 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
14895 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
14896 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
14897 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
14898 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
14899 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
14901 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
14902 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
14903 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
14904 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
14905 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
14906 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
14907 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
14909 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
14910 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
14911 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
14912 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
14914 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
14915 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
14916 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
14917 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
14918 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
14919 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
14920 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
14922 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
14923 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
14924 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
14925 Defaults to @code{nil}.
14927 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
14928 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
14929 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
14930 Defaults to @code{t}.
14932 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
14933 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
14934 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
14935 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
14937 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
14938 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
14939 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
14940 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
14942 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
14943 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
14944 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
14945 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
14946 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
14947 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
14948 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
14949 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
14960 @subsection Smileys
14965 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/BigFace.ps,height=20cm}}
14970 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
14971 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
14973 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
14974 @file{.gnus.el} file:
14977 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-smiley-display t)
14980 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
14981 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
14982 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
14983 text and maps that to file names.
14985 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
14986 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
14987 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
14988 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
14989 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
14990 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
14992 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
14993 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
14995 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
14996 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
14997 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
14999 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
15000 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
15004 @item smiley-data-directory
15005 @vindex smiley-data-directory
15006 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
15008 @item smiley-flesh-color
15009 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
15010 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
15012 @item smiley-features-color
15013 @vindex smiley-features-color
15014 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
15016 @item smiley-tongue-color
15017 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
15018 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
15020 @item smiley-circle-color
15021 @vindex smiley-circle-color
15022 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
15024 @item smiley-mouse-face
15025 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
15026 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
15032 @subsection Toolbar
15042 @item gnus-use-toolbar
15043 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
15044 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
15045 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
15046 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
15048 @item gnus-group-toolbar
15049 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
15050 The toolbar in the group buffer.
15052 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
15053 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
15054 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
15056 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
15057 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
15058 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
15064 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
15067 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
15068 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
15069 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
15070 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
15071 unusual directory structure.
15073 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
15074 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
15075 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
15076 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
15078 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
15079 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
15080 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
15081 Legal values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
15082 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
15083 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
15085 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
15086 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
15087 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
15101 @node Fuzzy Matching
15102 @section Fuzzy Matching
15103 @cindex fuzzy matching
15105 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
15106 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
15108 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
15109 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
15110 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
15112 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
15113 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
15114 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
15115 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
15116 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
15119 @node Thwarting Email Spam
15120 @section Thwarting Email Spam
15124 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
15126 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
15127 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
15128 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
15129 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
15130 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
15131 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
15132 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
15133 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
15136 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
15137 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
15138 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
15139 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
15140 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
15141 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
15145 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
15146 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
15148 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
15149 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
15150 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
15151 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
15152 sysadm whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
15153 part of the mail address.)
15156 (setq message-default-news-headers
15157 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
15160 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
15161 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
15166 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
15167 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
15168 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
15174 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
15175 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
15176 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
15177 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
15179 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
15180 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
15181 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
15182 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
15183 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
15184 your fancy split rule in this way:
15189 (to "larsi" "misc")
15193 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
15194 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
15195 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
15196 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
15197 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
15199 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
15200 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
15201 at @file{<URL:http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html>}.
15202 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
15203 cosmic balance somewhat.
15205 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
15206 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
15207 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
15208 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
15211 @node Various Various
15212 @section Various Various
15218 @item gnus-home-directory
15219 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
15220 defaults to @file{~/}.
15222 @item gnus-directory
15223 @vindex gnus-directory
15224 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
15225 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
15226 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
15228 Note that gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
15229 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
15230 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
15231 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
15233 @item gnus-default-directory
15234 @vindex gnus-default-directory
15235 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
15236 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
15237 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
15238 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
15239 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
15240 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
15243 @vindex gnus-verbose
15244 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
15245 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
15246 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
15247 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
15248 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
15250 @item gnus-verbose-backends
15251 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
15252 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
15253 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
15255 @item nnheader-max-head-length
15256 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
15257 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
15258 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
15259 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
15260 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
15261 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
15262 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
15263 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
15264 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
15266 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
15267 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
15268 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
15269 read when doing the operation described above.
15271 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
15272 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
15274 @cindex invalid characters in file names
15275 @cindex characters in file names
15276 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
15277 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
15278 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
15281 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
15285 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
15286 Windows (phooey) systems.
15288 @item gnus-hidden-properties
15289 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
15290 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
15291 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
15292 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
15294 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
15295 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
15296 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
15297 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
15298 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
15300 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
15301 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
15302 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
15311 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
15312 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
15314 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
15316 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
15322 Not because of victories @*
15325 but for the common sunshine,@*
15327 the largess of the spring.
15331 but for the day's work done@*
15332 as well as I was able;@*
15333 not for a seat upon the dais@*
15334 but at the common table.@*
15339 @chapter Appendices
15342 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
15343 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
15344 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
15345 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
15346 * A Programmers Guide to Gnus:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
15347 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
15348 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
15356 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
15357 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
15359 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage, you
15360 can point your (feh!) web browser to
15361 @file{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/}. This is also the primary
15362 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is known
15363 as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
15365 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
15366 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
15367 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
15368 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
15369 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
15370 appropriate name, don't you think?)
15372 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
15373 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
15374 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
15375 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
15377 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
15378 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
15379 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
15381 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
15382 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
15384 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
15385 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
15387 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37
15388 releases. If was released as ``Gnus 5.6.28' on March 8th 1998.
15390 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
15391 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'' --
15392 don't panic. Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away.
15393 Slowly. Whatever you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're
15394 out of its reach. Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up
15398 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
15399 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
15400 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
15401 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
15402 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
15403 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
15404 * Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
15411 What's the point of Gnus?
15413 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
15414 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
15415 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
15416 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
15417 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
15418 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
15419 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
15420 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
15421 keep track of millions of people who post?
15423 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
15424 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
15425 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
15426 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
15427 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
15428 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
15429 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
15430 every one of you to explore and invent.
15432 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
15433 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
15436 @node Compatibility
15437 @subsection Compatibility
15439 @cindex compatibility
15440 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
15441 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
15442 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
15447 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
15451 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
15454 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
15457 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
15458 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
15459 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
15460 important variables have their values copied into their global
15461 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
15462 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
15464 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
15465 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
15466 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
15467 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
15468 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
15472 @cindex highlighting
15473 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
15474 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
15475 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
15476 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
15477 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
15478 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
15481 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
15482 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
15483 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
15484 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
15486 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
15487 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
15488 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
15489 to stop doing it the old way.
15491 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
15493 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
15495 @cindex reporting bugs
15497 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
15498 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
15499 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
15501 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
15502 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
15503 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
15504 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
15509 @subsection Conformity
15511 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
15512 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
15519 There are no known breaches of this standard.
15523 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
15525 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
15526 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
15527 We do have some breaches to this one.
15532 Gnus does no MIME handling, and this standard-to-be seems to think that
15533 MIME is the bees' knees, so we have major breakage here.
15536 This is considered to be a ``vanity header'', while I consider it to be
15537 consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted articles
15538 coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use either of
15539 those for posting articles. I would not have known that if it wasn't
15540 for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
15545 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
15546 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
15551 @subsection Emacsen
15557 Gnus should work on :
15562 Emacs 19.32 and up.
15565 XEmacs 19.14 and up.
15568 Mule versions based on Emacs 19.32 and up.
15572 Gnus will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than that. Not
15573 reliably, at least.
15575 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
15576 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
15577 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
15582 @subsection Contributors
15583 @cindex contributors
15585 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
15586 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
15587 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
15588 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
15589 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
15590 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
15591 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
15592 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
15593 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
15594 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
15596 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
15602 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
15605 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
15606 well as numerous other things).
15609 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
15612 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
15615 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
15616 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
15619 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
15622 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
15623 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
15626 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
15629 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
15632 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
15635 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
15638 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
15639 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
15642 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
15645 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
15648 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
15651 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
15655 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
15658 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
15661 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
15664 Fran
\e$BmP
\e(Bis Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
15665 well as autoconf support.
15669 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
15670 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
15672 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
15677 David K
\e$BiH
\e(Bedal,
15681 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
15685 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
15707 Massimo Campostrini,
15715 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
15721 Michael Welsh Duggan,
15724 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
15728 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
15734 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
15736 Michelangelo Grigni,
15739 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
15741 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
15743 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
15748 Fran
\e$BmP
\e(Bis Felix Ingrand,
15749 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
15751 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
15759 Peter Skov Knudsen,
15760 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
15761 Thor Kristoffersen,
15763 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
15780 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
15781 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
15788 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
15792 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
15794 John McClary Prevost,
15799 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
15804 Christian von Roques,
15806 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
15812 Philippe Schnoebelen,
15814 Randal L. Schwartz,
15842 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka
15844 Shenghuo Zhu. @c Zhu
15846 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
15847 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
15848 (550kB and counting).
15850 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
15853 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
15854 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
15858 @subsection New Features
15859 @cindex new features
15862 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
15863 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.3/5.3.
15864 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
15865 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6.28.
15868 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
15869 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
15870 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
15874 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
15876 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
15881 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
15882 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
15885 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
15886 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
15889 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
15892 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
15893 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
15894 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
15897 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
15898 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
15899 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
15900 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
15903 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
15904 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
15907 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
15908 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
15909 (@pxref{The Active File}).
15912 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
15913 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
15916 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
15917 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
15918 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
15921 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
15922 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
15923 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
15926 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
15927 the @file{.emacs} file.
15930 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
15931 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15934 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
15935 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
15938 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
15939 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
15942 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
15943 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
15946 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
15947 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
15950 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
15953 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
15954 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
15957 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
15958 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
15961 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
15962 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
15965 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
15968 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
15969 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
15972 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
15976 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
15980 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
15981 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
15984 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
15990 @node September Gnus
15991 @subsubsection September Gnus
15995 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/september.ps,height=20cm}}
15999 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
16004 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
16005 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
16009 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
16010 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
16014 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
16018 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
16019 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
16022 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
16026 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
16029 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
16032 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
16035 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
16039 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
16040 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
16043 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
16047 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
16051 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
16055 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
16059 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
16062 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
16063 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
16066 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
16070 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
16071 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
16074 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
16077 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
16078 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
16079 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
16082 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
16086 The Gnus cache is much faster.
16089 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
16093 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
16094 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
16097 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
16098 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
16101 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
16102 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
16105 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
16106 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
16107 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
16110 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
16111 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
16114 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
16117 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
16120 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
16121 'gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head)
16125 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
16128 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
16131 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
16132 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
16135 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
16139 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
16142 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}}
16147 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
16150 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
16154 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
16157 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
16161 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
16164 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
16167 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
16168 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
16171 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
16172 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
16176 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
16177 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
16180 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
16184 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
16185 buffer to allow easier treatment.
16188 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
16191 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
16195 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
16199 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
16200 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
16203 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
16207 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
16208 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
16211 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
16212 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
16215 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
16219 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
16222 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
16223 'gnus-article-hide-boring-headers t)
16227 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
16230 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
16236 @subsubsection Red Gnus
16238 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
16242 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/red.ps,height=20cm}}
16249 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
16252 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
16253 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
16256 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
16257 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
16261 Article washing status can be displayed in the
16262 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
16265 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
16268 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
16269 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
16272 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
16276 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
16277 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
16281 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
16282 Server Internals}).
16285 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
16289 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
16292 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
16293 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
16296 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
16297 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
16298 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
16301 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
16302 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
16305 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
16306 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
16309 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
16313 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
16314 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
16317 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
16318 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
16321 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
16325 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
16328 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
16332 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
16333 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
16336 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
16337 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
16340 A new command for reading collections of documents
16341 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
16342 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
16345 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
16349 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the NNTP
16350 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
16353 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
16354 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
16355 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
16358 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
16359 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
16363 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
16367 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
16371 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}}
16376 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
16380 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
16384 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
16385 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
16388 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
16391 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-emphasize)
16398 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
16400 New features in Gnus 5.6.28:
16405 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
16406 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
16407 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
16410 The @code{nndraft} backend has returned, but works differently than
16411 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
16412 group, which is created automatically.
16415 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
16419 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
16422 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
16423 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
16426 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
16430 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
16433 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
16434 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
16437 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
16440 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
16441 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
16444 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
16445 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
16448 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
16449 control over simplification.
16452 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
16455 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
16459 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
16462 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
16465 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
16466 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
16467 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
16470 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
16471 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
16474 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
16478 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
16479 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
16482 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
16483 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
16486 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
16490 A history of where mails have been split is available.
16493 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
16496 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
16497 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
16500 A new function for citing in Message has been
16501 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
16504 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
16507 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
16511 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
16512 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
16515 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
16516 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
16519 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} backend.
16522 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
16527 @node Newest Features
16528 @subsection Newest Features
16531 Also known as the @dfn{todo list}. Sure to be implemented before the
16534 Be afraid. Be very afraid.
16536 (That a feature appears in this list doesn't necessarily mean that I've
16537 decided to actually implement it. It just means that I think it sounds
16540 (Yes, this is the actual, up-to-the-second todo list.)
16545 Native @sc{mime} support is something that should be done.
16548 Really do unbinhexing.
16551 I would like the zombie-page to contain an URL to the source of the
16552 latest version of gnus or some explanation on where to find it.
16555 A way to continue editing the latest Message composition.
16558 http://www.sonicnet.com/feature/ari3/
16561 facep is not declared.
16564 Include a section in the manual on why the number of articles
16565 isn't the same in the group buffer and on the SPC prompt.
16568 Interacting with rmail fcc isn't easy.
16573 <URL:http://www.falch.no/people/pepper/DSSSL-Lite/archives/>
16574 <URL:http://www.eit.com/software/hypermail/hypermail.html>
16575 <URL:http://homer.ncm.com/>
16576 <URL:http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_Web/HTML_Converters/>
16577 http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/9610/index.html
16578 <URL:http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HyperNews/get/www/html/converters.html>
16579 http://www.miranova.com/gnus-list/
16584 @samp{^-- } is made into - in LaTeX.
16587 gnus-kill is much slower than it was in GNUS 4.1.3.
16590 when expunging articles on low score, the sparse nodes keep hanging on?
16592 starting the first time seems to hang Gnus on some systems. Does
16593 NEWGROUPS answer too fast?
16595 nndir doesn't read gzipped files.
16597 FAQ doesn't have an up node?
16599 when moving mail from a procmail spool to the crash-box,
16600 the crash-box is only appropriate to one specific group.
16602 `t' `t' makes X-Faces disappear.
16604 nnmh-be-safe means that crossposted articles will
16605 be marked as unread.
16607 Orphan score entries don't show on "V t" score trace
16609 when clearing out data, the cache data should also be reset.
16611 rewrite gnus-summary-limit-children to be non-recursive
16612 to avoid exceeding lisp nesting on huge groups.
16614 expunged articles are counted when computing scores.
16616 implement gnus-batch-brew-soup
16618 ticked articles aren't easy to read in pick mode -- `n' and
16619 stuff just skips past them. Read articles are the same.
16621 topics that contain just groups with ticked
16622 articles aren't displayed.
16624 nndoc should always allocate unique Message-IDs.
16626 implement gnus-score-thread
16628 If there are mail groups the first time you use Gnus, Gnus'll
16629 make the mail groups killed.
16631 no "no news is good news" when using topics.
16633 when doing crosspost marking, the cache has to be consulted
16634 and articles have to be removed.
16636 nnweb should fetch complete articles when they are split into several
16639 scoring on head immediate doesn't work.
16641 finding short score file names takes forever.
16643 canceling articles in foreign groups.
16645 nntp-open-rlogin no longer works.
16647 C-u C-x C-s (Summary) switches to the group buffer.
16649 move nnmail-split-history out to the backends.
16651 nnweb doesn't work properly.
16653 using a virtual server name as `gnus-select-method' doesn't work?
16655 when killing/yanking a group from one topic to another in a slave, the
16656 master will yank it first to one topic and then add it to another.
16660 warn user about `=' redirection of a group in the active file?
16662 really unbinhex binhex files.
16664 take over the XEmacs menubar and offer a toggle between the XEmacs
16665 bar and the Gnus bar.
16668 push active file and NOV file parsing down into C code.
16669 `(canonize-message-id id)'
16670 `(mail-parent-message-id references n)'
16671 `(parse-news-nov-line &optional dependency-hashtb)'
16672 `(parse-news-nov-region beg end &optional dependency-hashtb fullp)'
16673 `(parse-news-active-region beg end hashtb)'
16678 nnml .overview directory with splits.
16682 postponed commands.
16684 the selected article show have its Subject displayed in its summary line.
16686 when entering groups, get the real number of unread articles from
16689 sort after gathering threads -- make false roots have the
16690 headers of the oldest orphan with a 0 article number?
16692 nndoc groups should inherit the score files of their parents? Also
16693 inherit copy prompts and save files.
16695 command to start up Gnus (if not running) and enter a mail mode buffer.
16697 allow editing the group description from the group buffer
16698 for backends that support that.
16700 gnus-hide,show-all-topics
16702 groups and sub-topics should be allowed to mingle inside each topic,
16703 and not just list all subtopics at the end.
16705 a command to remove all read articles that are not needed to connect
16706 threads -- `gnus-summary-limit-to-sparse-unread'?
16708 a variable to turn off limiting/cutting of threads in the tree buffer.
16710 a variable to limit how many files are uudecoded.
16712 add zombie groups to a special "New Groups" topic.
16714 server mode command: close/open all connections
16716 put a file date in gnus-score-alist and check whether the file
16717 has been changed before using it.
16719 on exit from a digest group, go to the next article in the parent group.
16721 hide (sub)threads with low score.
16723 when expiring, remove all marks from expired articles.
16725 gnus-summary-limit-to-body
16727 a regexp alist that says what level groups are to be subscribed
16728 on. Eg. -- `(("nnml:" . 1))'.
16730 easier interface to nnkiboze to create ephemeral groups that
16731 contain groups that match a regexp.
16733 allow newlines in <URL:> urls, but remove them before using
16736 If there is no From line, the mail backends should fudge one from the
16739 fuzzy simplifying should strip all non-alpha-numerical info
16740 from subject lines.
16742 gnus-soup-brew-soup-with-high-scores.
16744 nntp-ping-before-connect
16746 command to check whether NOV is evil. "list overview.fmt".
16748 when entering a group, Gnus should look through the score
16749 files very early for `local' atoms and set those local variables.
16751 message annotations.
16753 topics are always yanked before groups, and that's not good.
16755 (set-extent-property extent 'help-echo "String to display in minibuf")
16756 to display help in the minibuffer on buttons under XEmacs.
16758 allow group line format spec to say how many articles there
16763 support qmail maildir spools
16765 `run-with-idle-timer' in gnus-demon.
16767 stop using invisible text properties and start using overlays instead
16769 C-c C-f C-e to add an Expires header.
16771 go from one group to the next; everything is expunged; go to the
16772 next group instead of going to the group buffer.
16774 gnus-renumber-cache -- to renumber the cache using "low" numbers.
16776 record topic changes in the dribble buffer.
16778 `nnfolder-generate-active-file' should look at the folders it
16779 finds and generate proper active ranges.
16781 nneething-look-in-files-for-article-heads variable to control
16782 whether nneething should sniff all files in the directories.
16784 gnus-fetch-article -- start Gnus, enter group, display article
16786 gnus-dont-move-articles-to-same-group variable when respooling.
16788 when messages are crossposted between several auto-expirable groups,
16789 articles aren't properly marked as expirable.
16791 nneething should allow deletion/moving.
16793 TAB on the last button should go to the first button.
16795 if the car of an element in `mail-split-methods' is a function,
16796 and the function returns non-nil, use that as the name of the group(s) to
16799 command for listing all score files that have been applied.
16801 a command in the article buffer to return to `summary' config.
16803 `gnus-always-post-using-current-server' -- variable to override
16804 `C-c C-c' when posting.
16806 nnmail-group-spool-alist -- says where each group should use
16809 when an article is crossposted to an auto-expirable group, the article
16810 should be marker as expirable.
16812 article mode command/menu for "send region as URL to browser".
16814 on errors, jump to info nodes that explain the error. For instance,
16815 on invalid From headers, or on error messages from the nntp server.
16817 when gathering threads, make the article that has no "Re: " the parent.
16818 Also consult Date headers.
16820 a token in splits to call shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer
16822 `1 0 A M' to do matches on the active hashtb.
16824 duplicates -- command to remove Gnus-Warning header, use the read
16825 Message-ID, delete the "original".
16827 when replying to several messages at once, put the "other" message-ids
16828 into a See-Also header.
16830 support setext: URL:http://www.bsdi.com/setext/
16832 support ProleText: <URL:http://proletext.clari.net/prole/proletext.html>
16834 when browsing a foreign server, the groups that are already subscribed
16835 should be listed as such and not as "K".
16837 generate font names dynamically.
16839 score file mode auto-alist.
16841 allow nndoc to change/add/delete things from documents. Implement
16842 methods for each format for adding an article to the document.
16844 `gnus-fetch-old-headers' `all' value to incorporate
16845 absolutely all headers there is.
16847 function like `|', but concatenate all marked articles
16848 and pipe them to the process.
16850 cache the list of killed (or active) groups in a separate file. Update
16851 the file whenever we read the active file or the list
16852 of killed groups in the .eld file reaches a certain length.
16854 function for starting to edit a file to put into
16855 the current mail group.
16857 score-find-trace should display the total score of the article.
16859 "ghettozie" -- score on Xref header and nix it out after using it
16860 to avoid marking as read in other groups it has been crossposted to.
16862 look at procmail splitting. The backends should create
16863 the groups automatically if a spool file exists for that group.
16865 function for backends to register themselves with Gnus.
16867 when replying to several process-marked articles,
16868 have all the From end up in Cc headers? Variable to toggle.
16870 command to delete a crossposted mail article from all
16871 groups it has been mailed to.
16873 `B c' and `B m' should be crosspost aware.
16875 hide-pgp should also hide PGP public key blocks.
16877 Command in the group buffer to respool process-marked groups.
16879 `gnus-summary-find-matching' should accept
16880 pseudo-"headers" like "body", "head" and "all"
16882 When buttifying <URL: > things, all white space (including
16883 newlines) should be ignored.
16885 Process-marking all groups in a topic should process-mark
16886 groups in subtopics as well.
16888 Add non-native groups to the list of killed groups when killing them.
16890 nntp-suggest-kewl-config to probe the nntp server and suggest
16893 add edit and forward secondary marks.
16895 nnml shouldn't visit its .overview files.
16897 allow customizing sorting within gathered threads.
16899 `B q' shouldn't select the current article.
16901 nnmbox should support a newsgroups file for descriptions.
16903 allow fetching mail from several pop servers.
16905 Be able to specify whether the saving commands save the original
16906 or the formatted article.
16908 a command to reparent with the child process-marked (cf. `T ^'.).
16910 I think the possibility to send a password with nntp-open-rlogin
16911 should be a feature in Red Gnus.
16913 The `Z n' command should be possible to execute from a mouse click.
16915 more limiting functions -- date, etc.
16917 be able to limit on a random header; on body; using reverse matches.
16919 a group parameter (`absofucking-total-expiry') that will make Gnus expire
16920 even unread articles.
16922 a command to print the article buffer as postscript.
16924 variable to disable password fetching when opening by nntp-open-telnet.
16926 manual: more example servers -- nntp with rlogin, telnet
16928 checking for bogus groups should clean topic alists as well.
16930 canceling articles in foreign groups.
16932 article number in folded topics isn't properly updated by
16935 Movement in the group buffer to the next unread group should go to the
16936 next closed topic with unread messages if no group can be found.
16938 Extensive info pages generated on the fly with help everywhere --
16939 in the "*Gnus edit*" buffers, for instance.
16941 Topic movement commands -- like thread movement. Up, down, forward, next.
16943 a way to tick/mark as read Gcc'd articles.
16945 a way to say that all groups within a specific topic comes
16946 from a particular server? Hm.
16948 `gnus-article-fill-if-long-lines' -- a function to fill
16949 the article buffer if there are any looong lines there.
16951 `T h' should jump to the parent topic and fold it.
16953 a command to create an ephemeral nndoc group out of a file,
16954 and then splitting it/moving it to some other group/backend.
16956 a group parameter for nnkiboze groups that says that
16957 all kibozed articles should be entered into the cache.
16959 It should also probably be possible to delimit what
16960 `gnus-jog-cache' does -- for instance, work on just some groups, or on
16961 some levels, and entering just articles that have a score higher than
16964 nnfolder should append to the folder instead of re-writing
16965 the entire folder to disk when accepting new messages.
16967 allow all backends to do the proper thing with .gz files.
16969 a backend for reading collections of babyl files nnbabylfolder?
16971 a command for making the native groups into foreign groups.
16973 server mode command for clearing read marks from all groups
16976 when following up multiple articles, include all To, Cc, etc headers
16979 a command for deciding what the total score of the current
16980 thread is. Also a way to highlight based on this.
16982 command to show and edit group scores
16984 a gnus-tree-minimize-horizontal to minimize tree buffers
16987 command to generate nnml overview file for one group.
16989 `C-u C-u a' -- prompt for many crossposted groups.
16991 keep track of which mail groups have received new articles (in this session).
16992 Be able to generate a report and perhaps do some marking in the group
16995 gnus-build-sparse-threads to a number -- build only sparse threads
16996 that are of that length.
16998 have nnmh respect mh's unseen sequence in .mh_profile.
17000 cache the newsgroups descriptions locally.
17002 asynchronous posting under nntp.
17004 be able to control word adaptive scoring from the score files.
17006 a variable to make `C-c C-c' post using the "current" select method.
17008 `limit-exclude-low-scored-articles'.
17010 if `gnus-summary-show-thread' is a number, hide threads that have
17011 a score lower than this number.
17013 split newsgroup subscription variable up into "order" and "method".
17015 buttonize ange-ftp file names.
17017 a command to make a duplicate copy of the current article
17018 so that each copy can be edited separately.
17020 nnweb should allow fetching from the local nntp server.
17022 record the sorting done in the summary buffer so that
17023 it can be repeated when limiting/regenerating the buffer.
17025 nnml-generate-nov-databses should generate for
17028 when the user does commands in the group buffer, check
17029 the modification time of the .newsrc.eld file and use
17030 ask-user-about-supersession-threat. Also warn when trying
17031 to save .newsrc.eld and it has changed.
17033 M-g on a topic will display all groups with 0 articles in
17036 command to remove all topic stuff.
17038 allow exploding incoming digests when reading incoming mail
17039 and splitting the resulting digests.
17041 nnsoup shouldn't set the `message-' variables.
17043 command to nix out all nnoo state information.
17045 nnmail-process-alist that calls functions if group names
17046 matches an alist -- before saving.
17048 use buffer-invisibility-spec everywhere for hiding text.
17050 variable to activate each group before entering them
17051 to get the (new) number of articles. `gnus-activate-before-entering'.
17053 command to fetch a Message-ID from any buffer, even
17054 starting Gnus first if necessary.
17056 when posting and checking whether a group exists or not, just
17057 ask the nntp server instead of relying on the active hashtb.
17059 buttonize the output of `C-c C-a' in an apropos-like way.
17061 `G p' should understand process/prefix, and allow editing
17062 of several groups at once.
17064 command to create an ephemeral nnvirtual group that
17065 matches some regexp(s).
17067 nndoc should understand "Content-Type: message/rfc822" forwarded messages.
17069 it should be possible to score "thread" on the From header.
17071 hitting RET on a "gnus-uu-archive" pseudo article should unpack it.
17073 `B i' should display the article at once in the summary buffer.
17075 remove the "*" mark at once when unticking an article.
17077 `M-s' should highlight the matching text.
17079 when checking for duplicated mails, use Resent-Message-ID if present.
17081 killing and yanking groups in topics should be better. If killing one copy
17082 of a group that exists in multiple topics, only that copy should
17083 be removed. Yanking should insert the copy, and yanking topics
17084 should be possible to be interspersed with the other yankings.
17086 command for enter a group just to read the cached articles. A way to say
17087 "ignore the nntp connection; just read from the cache."
17089 `X u' should decode base64 articles.
17091 a way to hide all "inner" cited text, leaving just the most
17092 recently cited text.
17094 nnvirtual should be asynchronous.
17096 after editing an article, gnus-original-article-buffer should
17099 there should probably be a way to make Gnus not connect to the
17100 server and just read the articles in the server
17102 allow a `set-default' (or something) to change the default
17103 value of nnoo variables.
17105 a command to import group infos from a .newsrc.eld file.
17107 groups from secondary servers have the entire select method
17108 listed in each group info.
17110 a command for just switching from the summary buffer to the group
17113 a way to specify that some incoming mail washing functions
17114 should only be applied to some groups.
17116 Message `C-f C-t' should ask the user whether to heed
17117 mail-copies-to: never.
17119 new group parameter -- `post-to-server' that says to post
17120 using the current server. Also a variable to do the same.
17122 the slave dribble files should autosave to the slave file names.
17124 a group parameter that says what articles to display on group entry, based
17127 a way to visually distinguish slave Gnusae from masters. (Whip instead
17130 Use DJ Bernstein "From " quoting/dequoting, where applicable.
17132 Why is hide-citation-maybe and hide-citation different? Also
17135 group user-defined meta-parameters.
17139 From: John Griffith <griffith@@sfs.nphil.uni-tuebingen.de>
17141 I like the option for trying to retrieve the FAQ for a group and I was
17142 thinking it would be great if for those newsgroups that had archives
17143 you could also try to read the archive for that group. Part of the
17144 problem is that archives are spread all over the net, unlike FAQs.
17145 What would be best I suppose is to find the one closest to your site.
17147 In any case, there is a list of general news group archives at
17148 ftp://ftp.neosoft.com/pub/users/claird/news.lists/newsgroup_archives.html
17155 From: Jason L Tibbitts III <tibbs@@hpc.uh.edu>
17156 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
17158 (gnus-group-add-parameter group
17159 (cons 'gnus-group-date-last-entered (list (current-time-string))))))
17161 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
17162 "Return the date the group was last read."
17163 (cond ((car (gnus-group-get-parameter gnus-tmp-group 'gnus-group-date-last-entered)))
17168 tanken var at n
\e$BiS
\e(B du bruker `gnus-startup-file' som prefix (FOO) til
\92é
\81lete
17169 opp en fil FOO-SERVER, FOO-SERVER.el, FOO-SERVER.eld, kan du la den v
\e$BkS
\e(Be en
17170 liste hvor du bruker hvert element i listen som FOO, istedet. da kunne man
17171 hatt forskjellige serveres startup-filer forskjellige steder.
17175 LMI> Well, nnbabyl could alter the group info to heed labels like
17176 LMI> answered and read, I guess.
17178 It could also keep them updated (the same for the Status: header of
17181 They could be used like this:
17185 `M l <name> RET' add label <name> to current message.
17186 `M u <name> RET' remove label <name> from current message.
17187 `/ l <expr> RET' limit summary buffer according to <expr>.
17189 <expr> would be a boolean expression on the labels, e.g.
17191 `/ l bug & !fixed RET'
17194 would show all the messages which are labeled `bug' but not labeled
17197 One could also imagine the labels being used for highlighting, or
17198 affect the summary line format.
17202 Sender: abraham@@dina.kvl.dk
17204 I'd like a gnus-find-file which work like find file, except that it
17205 would recognize things that looks like messages or folders:
17207 - If it is a directory containing numbered files, create an nndir
17210 - For other directories, create a nneething summary buffer.
17212 - For files matching "\\`From ", create a nndoc/mbox summary.
17214 - For files matching "\\`BABYL OPTIONS:", create a nndoc/baby summary.
17216 - For files matching "\\`[^ \t\n]+:", create an *Article* buffer.
17218 - For other files, just find them normally.
17220 I'd like `nneething' to use this function, so it would work on a
17221 directory potentially containing mboxes or babyl files.
17224 Please send a mail to bwarsaw@@cnri.reston.va.us (Barry A. Warsaw) and
17225 tell him what you are doing.
17228 Currently, I get prompted:
17232 decend into sci.something ?
17236 The problem above is that since there is really only one subsection of
17237 science, shouldn't it prompt you for only descending sci.something? If
17238 there was a sci.somethingelse group or section, then it should prompt
17239 for sci? first the sci.something? then sci.somethingelse?...
17242 Ja, det burde v
\e$BkS
\e(Be en m
\e$BiU
\e(Be
\92é
\81si slikt. Kanskje en ny variabel?
17243 `gnus-use-few-score-files'? S
\92é
\81kunne score-regler legges til den
17244 "mest" lokale score-fila. F. eks. ville no-gruppene betjenes av
17245 "no.all.SCORE", osv.
17248 What i want is for Gnus to treat any sequence or combination of the following
17249 as a single spoiler warning and hide it all, replacing it with a "Next Page"
17255 more than n blank lines
17257 more than m identical lines
17258 (which should be replaced with button to show them)
17260 any whitespace surrounding any of the above
17264 Well, we could allow a new value to `gnus-thread-ignore-subject' --
17265 `spaces', or something. (We could even default to that.) And then
17266 subjects that differ in white space only could be considered the
17267 "same" subject for threading purposes.
17270 Modes to preprocess the contents (e.g. jka-compr) use the second form
17271 "(REGEXP FUNCTION NON-NIL)" while ordinary modes (e.g. tex) use the first
17272 form "(REGEXP . FUNCTION)", so you could use it to distinguish between
17273 those two types of modes. (auto-modes-alist, insert-file-contents-literally.)
17276 Under XEmacs -- do funny article marks:
17279 soup - bowl of soup
17280 score below - dim light bulb
17281 score over - bright light bulb
17284 Yes. I think the algorithm is as follows:
17289 show-list-of-articles-in-group
17290 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
17291 if (no-more-articles-in-group-to-select)
17292 if (articles-selected)
17293 start-reading-selected-articles;
17294 junk-unread-articles;
17299 else if (key-pressed = '.')
17300 if (consolidated-menus) # same as hide-thread in Gnus
17301 select-thread-under-cursor;
17303 select-article-under-cursor;
17307 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
17308 if (more-pages-in-article)
17310 else if (more-selected-articles-to-read)
17317 My precise need here would have been to limit files to Incoming*.
17318 One could think of some `nneething-only-files' variable, but I guess
17319 it would have been unacceptable if one was using many unrelated such
17322 A more useful approach would be to, in response to the `G D' prompt, be
17323 allowed to say something like: `~/.mail/Incoming*', somewhat limiting
17324 the top-level directory only (in case directories would be matched by
17325 the wildcard expression).
17328 It would be nice if it also handled
17330 <URL:news://sunsite.auc.dk/>
17332 which should correspond to `B nntp RET sunsite.auc.dk' in *Group*.
17337 Take a look at w3-menu.el in the Emacs-W3 distribution - this works out
17338 really well. Each menu is 'named' by a symbol that would be on a
17339 gnus-*-menus (where * would be whatever, but at least group, summary, and
17340 article versions) variable.
17342 So for gnus-summary-menus, I would set to '(sort mark dispose ...)
17344 A value of '1' would just put _all_ the menus in a single 'GNUS' menu in
17345 the main menubar. This approach works really well for Emacs-W3 and VM.
17349 nndoc should take care to create unique Message-IDs for all its
17352 gnus-score-followup-article only works when you have a summary buffer
17353 active. Make it work when posting from the group buffer as well.
17354 (message-sent-hook).
17356 rewrite gnus-demon to use run-with-idle-timers.
17359 * Enhancements to Gnus:
17363 * gnus-servers (gnus-start-server-buffer?)--enters Gnus and goes
17364 straight to the server buffer, without opening any connections to
17367 * gnus-server-read-server-newsrc--produces a buffer very similar to
17368 the group buffer, but with only groups from that server listed;
17369 quitting this buffer returns to the server buffer.
17372 add a command to check the integrity of an nnfolder folder --
17373 go through the article numbers and see that there are no duplicates,
17377 `unsmileyfy-buffer' to undo smileification.
17380 a command to give all relevant info on an article, including all
17384 when doing `-request-accept-article', the backends should do
17385 the nnmail duplicate checking.
17388 allow `message-signature-file' to be a function to return the
17389 value of the signature file.
17392 In addition, I would love it if I could configure message-tab so that it
17393 could call `bbdb-complete-name' in other headers. So, some sort of
17396 (setq message-tab-alist
17397 '((message-header-regexp message-expand-group)
17398 ("^\\(To\\|[cC]c\\|[bB]cc\\)" bbdb-complete-name)))
17400 then you could run the relevant function to complete the information in
17404 cache the newsgroups file locally to avoid reloading it all the time.
17407 a command to import a buffer into a group.
17410 nnweb should allow fetching by Message-ID from servers.
17413 point in the article buffer doesn't always go to the
17414 beginning of the buffer when selecting new articles.
17417 a command to process mark all unread articles.
17420 `gnus-gather-threads-by-references-and-subject' -- first
17421 do gathering by references, and then go through the dummy roots and
17422 do more gathering by subject.
17425 gnus-uu-mark-in-numerical-order -- process mark articles in
17426 article numerical order.
17429 (gnus-thread-total-score
17430 (gnus-id-to-thread (mail-header-id (gnus-summary-article-header))))
17434 sorting by score is wrong when using sparse threads.
17437 a command to fetch an arbitrary article -- without having to be
17438 in the summary buffer.
17441 a new nncvs backend. Each group would show an article, using
17442 version branches as threading, checkin date as the date, etc.
17445 http://www.dejanews.com/forms/dnsetfilter_exp.html ?
17446 This filter allows one to construct advance queries on the Dejanews
17447 database such as specifying start and end dates, subject, author,
17448 and/or newsgroup name.
17451 new Date header scoring type -- older, newer
17454 use the summary toolbar in the article buffer.
17457 a command to fetch all articles that are less than X days old.
17460 in pick mode, `q' should save the list of selected articles in the
17461 group info. The next time the group is selected, these articles
17462 will automatically get the process mark.
17465 Isn't it possible to (also?) allow M-^ to automatically try the
17466 default server if it fails on the current server? (controlled by a
17467 user variable, (nil, t, 'ask)).
17470 make it possible to cancel articles using the select method for the
17474 `gnus-summary-select-article-on-entry' or something. It'll default
17475 to t and will select whatever article decided by `gnus-auto-select-first'.
17478 a new variable to control which selection commands should be unselecting.
17479 `first', `best', `next', `prev', `next-unread', `prev-unread' are
17483 be able to select groups that have no articles in them
17484 to be able to post in them (using the current select method).
17487 be able to post via DejaNews.
17490 `x' should retain any sortings that have been performed.
17493 allow the user to specify the precedence of the secondary marks. Also
17494 allow them to be displayed separately.
17497 gnus-summary-save-in-pipe should concatenate the results from
17498 the processes when doing a process marked pipe.
17501 a new match type, like Followup, but which adds Thread matches on all
17502 articles that match a certain From header.
17505 a function that can be read from kill-emacs-query-functions to offer
17506 saving living summary buffers.
17509 a function for selecting a particular group which will contain
17510 the articles listed in a list of article numbers/id's.
17513 a battery of character translation functions to translate common
17514 Mac, MS (etc) characters into ISO 8859-1.
17517 (defun article-fix-m$word ()
17518 "Fix M$Word smartquotes in an article."
17521 (let ((buffer-read-only nil))
17522 (goto-char (point-min))
17523 (while (search-forward "\221" nil t)
17524 (replace-match "`" t t))
17525 (goto-char (point-min))
17526 (while (search-forward "\222" nil t)
17527 (replace-match "'" t t))
17528 (goto-char (point-min))
17529 (while (search-forward "\223" nil t)
17530 (replace-match "\"" t t))
17531 (goto-char (point-min))
17532 (while (search-forward "\224" nil t)
17533 (replace-match "\"" t t)))))
17538 (add-hook 'gnus-exit-query-functions
17540 (if (and (file-exists-p nnmail-spool-file)
17541 (> (nnheader-file-size nnmail-spool-file) 0))
17542 (yes-or-no-p "New mail has arrived. Quit Gnus anyways? ")
17543 (y-or-n-p "Are you sure you want to quit Gnus? "))))
17547 allow message-default-headers to be a function.
17550 new Date score match types -- < > = (etc) that take floating point
17551 numbers and match on the age of the article.
17554 gnus-cacheable-groups
17558 > > > If so, I've got one gripe: It seems that when I fire up gnus 5.2.25
17559 > > > under xemacs-19.14, it's creating a new frame, but is erasing the
17560 > > > buffer in the frame that it was called from =:-O
17562 > > Hm. How do you start up Gnus? From the toolbar or with
17563 > > `M-x gnus-other-frame'?
17565 > I normally start it up from the toolbar; at
17566 > least that's the way I've caught it doing the
17571 all commands that react to the process mark should push
17572 the current process mark set onto the stack.
17575 gnus-article-hide-pgp
17576 Selv ville jeg nok ha valgt
\92é
\81slette den dersom teksten matcher
17578 "\\(This\s+\\)?[^ ]+ has been automatically signed by"
17580 og det er maks hundre tegn mellom match-end og ----linja. Men -det-
17581 er min type heuristikk og langt fra alles.
17584 `gnus-subscribe-sorted' -- insert new groups where they would have been
17585 sorted to if `gnus-group-sort-function' were run.
17588 gnus-(group,summary)-highlight should respect any `face' text props set
17592 use run-with-idle-timer for gnus-demon instead of the
17593 home-brewed stuff for better reliability.
17596 add a way to select which NoCeM type to apply -- spam, troll, etc.
17599 nndraft-request-group should tally autosave files.
17602 implement nntp-retry-on-break and nntp-command-timeout.
17605 gnus-article-highlight-limit that says when not to highlight (long)
17609 (nnoo-set SERVER VARIABLE VALUE)
17615 interrupitng agent fetching of articles should save articles.
17618 command to open a digest group, and copy all the articles there to the
17622 a variable to disable article body highlights if there's more than
17623 X characters in the body.
17626 handle 480/381 authinfo requests separately.
17629 include the texi/dir file in the distribution.
17632 format spec to "tab" to a position.
17635 Move all prompting to the new `M-n' default style.
17638 command to display all dormant articles.
17641 gnus-auto-select-next makeover -- list of things it should do.
17644 a score match type that adds scores matching on From if From has replied
17645 to something someone else has said.
17648 Read Netscape discussion groups:
17649 snews://secnews.netscape.com/netscape.communicator.unix
17652 One command to edit the original version if an article, and one to edit
17653 the displayed version.
17656 @kbd{T v} -- make all process-marked articles the children of the
17660 Switch from initial text to the new default text mechanism.
17663 How about making it possible to expire local articles? Will it be
17664 possible to make various constraints on when an article can be
17665 expired, e.g. (read), (age > 14 days), or the more interesting (read
17669 New limit command---limit to articles that have a certain string
17670 in the head or body.
17673 Allow breaking lengthy NNTP commands.
17676 gnus-article-highlight-limit, to disable highlighting in big articles.
17679 Editing an article should put the article to be edited
17680 in a special, unique buffer.
17683 A command to send a mail to the admin-address group param.
17686 A Date scoring type that will match if the article
17687 is less than a certain number of days old.
17690 New spec: %~(tab 56) to put point on column 56
17693 Allow Gnus Agent scoring to use normal score files.
17696 Rething the Agent active file thing. `M-g' doesn't update the active
17697 file, for instance.
17700 With dummy roots, `^' and then selecing the first article
17701 in any other dummy thread will make gnus highlight the
17702 dummy root instead of the first article.
17705 Propagate all group properties (marks, article numbers, etc) up to the
17706 topics for displaying.
17709 `n' in the group buffer with topics should go to the next group
17710 with unread articles, even if that group is hidden in a topic.
17713 gnus-posting-styles doesn't work in drafts.
17716 gnus-summary-limit-include-cached is slow when there are
17717 many articles in the cache, since it regenerates big parts of the
17718 summary buffer for each article.
17721 Solve the halting problem.
17730 @section The Manual
17734 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
17735 either @code{texi2dvi}
17737 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
17738 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
17740 to get what you hold in your hands now.
17742 The following conventions have been used:
17747 This is a @samp{string}
17750 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
17753 This is a @file{file}
17756 This is a @code{symbol}
17760 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
17764 (setq flargnoze "yes")
17767 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
17770 (setq flumphel 'yes)
17773 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
17774 ever get them confused.
17778 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
17779 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
17780 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
17781 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
17782 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
17783 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
17784 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
17792 @section Terminology
17794 @cindex terminology
17799 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
17800 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
17801 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
17802 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
17803 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
17807 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
17808 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
17809 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
17810 not posting, and replying is not following up.
17814 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
17818 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
17823 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
17824 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
17825 is all done by the backends.
17829 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
17830 default, way of getting news.
17834 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
17835 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
17840 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
17841 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
17845 A message that has been posted as news.
17848 @cindex mail message
17849 A message that has been mailed.
17853 A mail message or news article
17857 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
17862 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
17867 A line from the head of an article.
17871 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
17872 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
17876 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
17877 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
17878 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
17879 normal @sc{head} format.
17883 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
17884 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
17885 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
17886 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
17887 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
17888 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
17890 @item killed groups
17891 @cindex killed groups
17892 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
17893 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
17895 @item zombie groups
17896 @cindex zombie groups
17897 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
17900 @cindex active file
17901 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
17902 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
17903 is rather large, as you might surmise.
17906 @cindex bogus groups
17907 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
17908 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
17909 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
17912 @cindex activating groups
17913 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
17914 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
17915 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
17919 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
17921 @item select method
17922 @cindex select method
17923 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
17926 @item virtual server
17927 @cindex virtual server
17928 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
17929 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
17930 whole is a virtual server.
17934 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
17935 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
17938 @item ephemeral groups
17939 @cindex ephemeral groups
17940 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
17941 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
17942 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
17945 @cindex solid groups
17946 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
17947 group buffer are solid groups.
17949 @item sparse articles
17950 @cindex sparse articles
17951 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
17952 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
17956 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
17957 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
17961 @cindex thread root
17962 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
17963 articles in the thread.
17967 An article that has responses.
17971 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
17975 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
17976 specified by RFC1153.
17982 @node Customization
17983 @section Customization
17984 @cindex general customization
17986 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
17987 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
17988 for some quite common situations.
17991 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
17992 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
17993 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
17994 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
17998 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
17999 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
18001 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
18002 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
18003 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
18007 @item gnus-read-active-file
18008 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
18009 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
18010 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
18011 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
18012 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
18014 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
18015 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
18016 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
18017 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
18021 @node Slow Terminal Connection
18022 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
18024 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
18025 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
18026 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
18030 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
18031 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
18032 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
18033 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
18034 horizontal and vertical recentering.
18036 @item gnus-visible-headers
18037 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
18038 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
18039 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
18040 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
18042 @item gnus-article-display-hook
18043 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
18045 (setq gnus-article-display-hook
18046 '(gnus-article-hide-headers gnus-article-hide-signature
18047 gnus-article-hide-citation))
18050 @item gnus-use-full-window
18051 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
18052 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
18053 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
18054 want to read them anyway.
18056 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
18057 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
18060 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
18061 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
18062 lines, which might save some time.
18066 @node Little Disk Space
18067 @subsection Little Disk Space
18070 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
18071 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
18075 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
18076 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
18077 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
18078 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
18081 @item gnus-save-killed-list
18082 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
18083 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
18084 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
18085 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
18091 @subsection Slow Machine
18092 @cindex slow machine
18094 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
18095 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
18097 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
18098 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
18100 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
18101 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
18102 summary buffer faster.
18104 Set @code{gnus-article-display-hook} to @code{nil} to make article
18105 processing a bit faster.
18109 @node Troubleshooting
18110 @section Troubleshooting
18111 @cindex troubleshooting
18113 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
18121 Make sure your computer is switched on.
18124 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
18125 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
18129 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
18130 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
18131 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
18132 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
18135 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
18139 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
18140 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
18141 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
18142 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
18143 something like that.
18146 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
18149 @cindex reporting bugs
18151 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
18153 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
18154 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
18155 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
18156 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
18158 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
18159 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
18160 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
18161 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
18164 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
18165 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
18166 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
18167 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
18168 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
18169 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
18171 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
18172 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
18173 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
18176 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
18177 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
18179 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
18180 @cindex ding mailing list
18181 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
18182 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
18186 @node A Programmers Guide to Gnus
18187 @section A Programmer@'s Guide to Gnus
18189 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
18190 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
18191 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
18192 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
18195 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
18196 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
18197 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
18198 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
18199 and general methods of operation.
18202 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
18203 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
18204 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
18205 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
18206 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
18207 * Group Info:: The group info format.
18208 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
18209 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
18210 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
18214 @node Gnus Utility Functions
18215 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
18216 @cindex Gnus utility functions
18217 @cindex utility functions
18219 @cindex internal variables
18221 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
18222 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
18223 Below is a list of the most common ones.
18227 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
18228 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
18229 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
18231 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
18232 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
18233 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
18235 @item gnus-group-real-name
18236 @findex gnus-group-real-name
18237 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
18240 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
18241 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
18242 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
18243 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
18245 @item gnus-get-info
18246 @findex gnus-get-info
18247 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
18249 @item gnus-group-unread
18250 @findex gnus-group-unread
18251 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
18255 @findex gnus-active
18256 The active entry for @var{group}.
18258 @item gnus-set-active
18259 @findex gnus-set-active
18260 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
18262 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
18263 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
18264 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
18267 @item gnus-continuum-version
18268 @findex gnus-continuum-version
18269 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
18270 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
18273 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
18274 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
18275 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
18277 @item gnus-news-group-p
18278 @findex gnus-news-group-p
18279 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
18281 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
18282 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
18283 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
18285 @item gnus-server-to-method
18286 @findex gnus-server-to-method
18287 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
18289 @item gnus-server-equal
18290 @findex gnus-server-equal
18291 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
18293 @item gnus-group-native-p
18294 @findex gnus-group-native-p
18295 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
18297 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
18298 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
18299 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
18301 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
18302 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
18303 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
18305 @item group-group-find-parameter
18306 @findex group-group-find-parameter
18307 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
18308 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
18310 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
18311 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
18312 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
18314 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
18315 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
18316 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
18318 @item gnus-check-backend-function
18319 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
18320 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
18321 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
18324 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
18328 @item gnus-read-method
18329 @findex gnus-read-method
18330 Prompts the user for a select method.
18335 @node Backend Interface
18336 @subsection Backend Interface
18338 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
18339 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
18340 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
18341 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
18342 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
18343 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
18345 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
18346 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
18347 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
18348 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
18349 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
18350 been opened, the function should fail.
18352 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
18353 name. Take this example:
18357 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
18358 (nntp-port-number 4324))
18361 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
18362 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
18364 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
18365 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
18366 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
18368 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
18369 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
18370 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
18372 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
18373 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
18374 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
18375 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
18376 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
18377 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
18380 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
18381 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
18382 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
18383 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
18386 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
18389 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
18392 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
18393 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
18394 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
18395 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
18396 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
18397 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
18401 @node Required Backend Functions
18402 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
18406 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
18408 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
18409 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
18410 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
18411 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
18413 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
18414 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
18415 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
18416 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
18418 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
18419 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
18420 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
18421 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
18422 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
18423 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
18424 number, do maximum fetches.
18426 Here's an example HEAD:
18429 221 1056 Article retrieved.
18430 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
18431 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
18432 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
18433 Subject: Re: Something very droll
18434 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
18435 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
18437 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
18438 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
18439 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
18443 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
18444 these in the data buffer.
18446 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
18450 head = error / valid-head
18451 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
18452 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
18453 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
18454 header = <text> eol
18457 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
18458 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
18462 nov-buffer = *nov-line
18463 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
18464 field = <text except TAB>
18467 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
18471 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
18473 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
18474 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
18476 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
18477 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
18478 server. In fact, it should do so.
18480 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
18481 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
18484 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
18486 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
18487 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
18490 There should be no data returned.
18493 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
18495 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
18496 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
18497 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
18498 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
18500 There should be no data returned.
18503 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
18505 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
18506 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
18507 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
18508 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
18510 There should be no data returned.
18513 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
18515 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
18517 There should be no data returned.
18520 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
18522 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
18523 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
18524 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
18525 it would be nice if that were possible.
18527 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
18528 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
18529 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
18530 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
18531 into its article buffer.
18533 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
18534 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
18535 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
18536 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
18537 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
18538 on successful article retrieval.
18541 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
18543 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
18544 making @var{group} the current group.
18546 If @var{FAST}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
18549 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
18552 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
18555 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
18556 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
18557 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
18558 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
18559 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
18560 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
18561 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
18562 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
18565 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
18566 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
18567 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
18571 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
18573 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
18574 a no-op on most backends.
18576 There should be no data returned.
18579 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
18581 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
18584 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
18587 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
18588 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
18591 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
18592 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
18595 active-file = *active-line
18596 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
18598 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
18601 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
18602 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
18603 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
18606 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
18608 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
18609 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
18610 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
18611 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
18612 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
18613 clear if the posting could not be completed.
18615 There should be no result data from this function.
18620 @node Optional Backend Functions
18621 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
18625 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
18627 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
18628 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
18629 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
18631 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
18632 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
18633 former is in the same format as the data from
18634 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
18635 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
18638 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
18642 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
18644 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
18645 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
18646 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
18647 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
18648 should return the (altered) group info.
18650 There should be no result data from this function.
18653 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
18655 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
18656 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
18657 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
18658 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
18659 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
18660 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
18661 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
18662 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
18664 There should be no result data from this function.
18667 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
18669 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
18670 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
18671 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
18672 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
18673 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
18675 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
18676 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
18677 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
18680 There should be no result data from this function.
18683 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
18685 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
18686 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
18687 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
18688 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
18689 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
18690 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
18691 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
18693 There should be no result data from this function.
18696 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
18698 The result data from this function should be a description of
18702 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
18704 description = <text>
18707 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
18709 The result data from this function should be the description of all
18710 groups available on the server.
18713 description-buffer = *description-line
18717 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
18719 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
18720 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
18721 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
18724 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
18726 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
18728 There should be no return data.
18731 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
18733 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
18734 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
18735 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
18736 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
18737 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
18740 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
18743 There should be no result data returned.
18746 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
18749 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
18750 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
18752 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
18753 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
18754 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
18755 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
18756 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
18757 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
18759 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
18760 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
18763 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
18764 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
18766 There should be no data returned.
18769 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
18771 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
18772 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
18773 this function in short order.
18775 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
18776 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
18778 There should be no data returned.
18781 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
18783 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
18784 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
18786 There should be no data returned.
18789 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
18791 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
18792 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
18793 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
18795 There should be no data returned.
18798 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
18800 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
18801 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
18803 There should be no data returned.
18808 @node Error Messaging
18809 @subsubsection Error Messaging
18811 @findex nnheader-report
18812 @findex nnheader-get-report
18813 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
18814 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
18815 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
18816 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
18817 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
18818 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
18821 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
18823 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
18826 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
18827 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
18828 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
18829 takes one argument---the server symbol.
18831 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
18832 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
18833 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
18836 @node Writing New Backends
18837 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
18839 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
18840 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
18841 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
18842 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
18843 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
18846 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
18847 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
18848 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
18850 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
18851 package called @code{nnoo}.
18853 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
18854 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
18860 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
18861 parameters. For instance:
18864 (nnoo-declare nndir
18868 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
18869 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
18872 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
18873 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
18874 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
18876 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
18877 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
18878 a function in those backends.
18881 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
18882 "Where nndir will look for groups."
18883 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
18886 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
18887 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
18888 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
18890 @item nnoo-define-basics
18891 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
18895 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
18899 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
18900 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
18901 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
18903 @item nnoo-map-functions
18904 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
18905 functions from the parent backends.
18908 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
18909 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
18910 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
18913 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
18914 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
18915 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
18916 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
18919 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
18920 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
18921 haven't already been defined.
18927 nnmh-request-newgroups)
18931 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
18932 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
18933 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
18938 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
18941 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
18942 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
18946 (require 'nnheader)
18950 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
18952 (nnoo-declare nndir
18955 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
18956 "Where nndir will look for groups."
18957 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
18959 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
18960 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
18963 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
18964 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
18965 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
18967 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
18968 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
18970 ;;; Interface functions.
18972 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
18974 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
18975 (setq nndir-directory
18976 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
18978 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
18979 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
18980 (push `(nndir-current-group
18981 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
18983 (push `(nndir-top-directory
18984 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
18986 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
18988 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
18989 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
18990 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
18991 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
18992 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
18996 nnmh-status-message
18998 nnmh-request-newgroups))
19004 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
19005 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
19007 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
19008 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
19009 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
19010 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
19012 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
19013 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
19018 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
19021 The abilities can be:
19025 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
19027 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
19029 This backend supports both mail and news.
19031 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
19034 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
19035 articles and groups.
19037 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
19038 true for almost all backends.
19039 @item prompt-address
19040 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
19041 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
19042 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
19046 @node Mail-like Backends
19047 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
19049 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
19050 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
19051 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
19052 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
19055 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
19056 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
19057 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
19060 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
19061 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
19064 This function takes four parameters.
19068 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
19071 @item exit-function
19072 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
19074 @item temp-directory
19075 Where the temporary files should be stored.
19078 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
19079 performed for one group only.
19082 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
19083 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
19084 find the article number assigned to this article.
19086 The function also uses the following variables:
19087 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
19088 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
19089 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
19090 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
19094 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
19095 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
19099 @node Score File Syntax
19100 @subsection Score File Syntax
19102 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
19103 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
19104 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
19106 Here's a typical score file:
19110 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
19117 BNF definition of a score file:
19120 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
19121 element = rule / atom
19122 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
19123 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
19124 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
19125 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
19127 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
19128 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
19129 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
19130 date-header = "date"
19131 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
19132 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
19133 score = "nil" / <integer>
19134 date = "nil" / <natural number>
19135 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
19136 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
19137 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
19138 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
19139 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
19140 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
19141 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
19142 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
19143 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
19144 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
19145 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
19146 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
19147 exclude-files / read-only / touched
19148 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
19149 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
19150 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
19151 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
19152 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
19153 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
19154 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
19155 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
19156 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
19157 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
19158 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
19159 eval = "eval" space <form>
19160 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
19163 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
19166 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
19167 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
19168 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
19169 one looong line, then that's ok.
19171 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
19172 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
19176 @subsection Headers
19178 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
19179 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
19180 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
19181 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
19183 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
19184 RFC1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
19185 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
19186 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
19187 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
19188 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
19189 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
19191 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
19192 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
19193 @code{xref}. There are macros for accessing and setting these
19194 slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
19195 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
19197 The @code{xref} slot is really a @code{misc} slot. Any extra info will
19204 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
19205 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
19207 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
19208 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
19209 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
19210 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
19212 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
19216 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
19219 is transformed into
19222 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
19225 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
19226 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
19229 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
19232 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
19233 is slightly tricky:
19236 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
19242 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
19245 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
19251 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
19258 and is equal to the previous range.
19260 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
19261 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
19262 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
19266 range = simple-range / normal-range
19267 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
19268 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
19269 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
19270 number *[ " " contents ]
19273 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
19274 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
19275 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
19276 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
19277 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
19282 @subsection Group Info
19284 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
19285 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
19286 describes the group.
19288 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
19289 second is a more complex one:
19292 ("no.group" 5 (1 . 54324))
19294 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
19295 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
19297 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
19300 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
19301 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
19302 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
19303 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
19304 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
19305 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
19306 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
19307 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
19308 this section is about.
19310 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
19311 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
19312 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
19314 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
19317 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
19318 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
19319 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
19320 group = quote <string> quote
19321 ralevel = rank / level
19322 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
19323 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
19324 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
19326 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
19327 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
19328 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
19329 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
19332 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
19333 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
19336 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
19337 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
19340 @item gnus-info-group
19341 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
19342 @findex gnus-info-group
19343 @findex gnus-info-set-group
19344 Get/set the group name.
19346 @item gnus-info-rank
19347 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
19348 @findex gnus-info-rank
19349 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
19350 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
19352 @item gnus-info-level
19353 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
19354 @findex gnus-info-level
19355 @findex gnus-info-set-level
19356 Get/set the group level.
19358 @item gnus-info-score
19359 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
19360 @findex gnus-info-score
19361 @findex gnus-info-set-score
19362 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
19364 @item gnus-info-read
19365 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
19366 @findex gnus-info-read
19367 @findex gnus-info-set-read
19368 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
19370 @item gnus-info-marks
19371 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
19372 @findex gnus-info-marks
19373 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
19374 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
19376 @item gnus-info-method
19377 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
19378 @findex gnus-info-method
19379 @findex gnus-info-set-method
19380 Get/set the group select method.
19382 @item gnus-info-params
19383 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
19384 @findex gnus-info-params
19385 @findex gnus-info-set-params
19386 Get/set the group parameters.
19389 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
19390 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
19392 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
19393 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
19394 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
19395 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
19398 @node Extended Interactive
19399 @subsection Extended Interactive
19400 @cindex interactive
19401 @findex gnus-interactive
19403 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
19404 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
19405 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
19408 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
19409 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
19414 The best thing to do would have been to implement
19415 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
19416 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
19417 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
19418 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
19419 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
19420 @code{interactive}.
19422 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
19427 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
19428 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
19432 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
19433 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
19434 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
19437 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
19441 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
19445 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
19451 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
19452 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
19456 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
19457 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
19458 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
19460 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
19461 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
19462 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
19463 Gnus, that's very useful.
19465 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
19466 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
19467 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
19468 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
19469 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
19470 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
19471 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
19472 following function:
19475 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
19479 (,function ,@@args))
19483 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
19484 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
19485 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
19488 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
19489 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
19490 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
19492 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
19493 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
19494 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
19497 @node Various File Formats
19498 @subsection Various File Formats
19501 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
19502 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
19506 @node Active File Format
19507 @subsubsection Active File Format
19509 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
19510 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
19513 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
19516 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
19517 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
19518 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
19519 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
19520 no.general 1000 900 y
19523 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
19526 active = *group-line
19527 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
19528 group = <non-white-space string>
19530 high-number = <non-negative integer>
19531 low-number = <positive integer>
19532 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
19535 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
19536 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
19539 @node Newsgroups File Format
19540 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
19542 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
19543 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
19544 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
19547 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
19548 Here's the definition:
19552 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
19553 group = <non-white-space string>
19555 description = <string>
19560 @node Emacs for Heathens
19561 @section Emacs for Heathens
19563 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
19564 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
19565 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
19566 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
19567 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
19568 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
19569 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
19573 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
19574 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
19579 @subsection Keystrokes
19583 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
19586 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
19589 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
19590 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
19591 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
19592 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
19593 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
19594 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
19596 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
19597 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
19598 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
19599 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
19600 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
19601 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
19602 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
19604 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
19605 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
19606 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
19607 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
19608 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
19609 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
19610 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
19612 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
19613 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
19614 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
19615 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
19616 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
19622 @subsection Emacs Lisp
19624 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
19625 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
19626 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
19627 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
19629 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
19630 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
19631 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
19632 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
19633 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
19634 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
19635 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
19638 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
19639 write the following:
19642 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
19645 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
19646 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
19647 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
19650 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
19651 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
19652 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
19653 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
19654 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
19656 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
19657 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
19658 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
19662 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
19666 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
19669 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
19670 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
19673 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
19676 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
19677 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
19680 @include gnus-faq.texi