1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*- -*- coding: iso-latin-1 -*-
4 @settitle T-gnus 6.15 Manual
10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
15 @setchapternewpage odd
19 \documentclass[twoside,a4paper,openright,11pt]{book}
20 \usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
21 \usepackage{pagestyle}
29 \newcommand{\gnuschaptername}{}
30 \newcommand{\gnussectionname}{}
32 \newcommand{\gnusbackslash}{/}
34 \newcommand{\gnusxref}[1]{See ``#1'' on page \pageref{#1}}
35 \newcommand{\gnuspxref}[1]{see ``#1'' on page \pageref{#1}}
37 \newcommand{\gnuskindex}[1]{\index{#1}}
38 \newcommand{\gnusindex}[1]{\index{#1}}
40 \newcommand{\gnustt}[1]{{\fontfamily{pfu}\fontsize{10pt}{10}\selectfont #1}}
41 \newcommand{\gnuscode}[1]{\gnustt{#1}}
42 \newcommand{\gnussamp}[1]{``{\fontencoding{OT1}\fontfamily{pfu}\fontsize{10pt}{10}\selectfont #1}''}
43 \newcommand{\gnuslisp}[1]{\gnustt{#1}}
44 \newcommand{\gnuskbd}[1]{`\gnustt{#1}'}
45 \newcommand{\gnusfile}[1]{`\gnustt{#1}'}
46 \newcommand{\gnusdfn}[1]{\textit{#1}}
47 \newcommand{\gnusi}[1]{\textit{#1}}
48 \newcommand{\gnusstrong}[1]{\textbf{#1}}
49 \newcommand{\gnusemph}[1]{\textit{#1}}
50 \newcommand{\gnusvar}[1]{{\fontsize{10pt}{10}\selectfont\textsl{\textsf{#1}}}}
51 \newcommand{\gnussc}[1]{\textsc{#1}}
52 \newcommand{\gnustitle}[1]{{\huge\textbf{#1}}}
53 \newcommand{\gnusauthor}[1]{{\large\textbf{#1}}}
54 \newcommand{\gnusresult}[1]{\gnustt{=> #1}}
56 \newcommand{\gnusbullet}{{${\bullet}$}}
57 \newcommand{\gnusdollar}{\$}
58 \newcommand{\gnusampersand}{\&}
59 \newcommand{\gnuspercent}{\%}
60 \newcommand{\gnushash}{\#}
61 \newcommand{\gnushat}{\symbol{"5E}}
62 \newcommand{\gnusunderline}{\symbol{"5F}}
63 \newcommand{\gnusnot}{$\neg$}
64 \newcommand{\gnustilde}{\symbol{"7E}}
65 \newcommand{\gnusless}{{$<$}}
66 \newcommand{\gnusgreater}{{$>$}}
67 \newcommand{\gnusbraceleft}{{$>$}}
68 \newcommand{\gnusbraceright}{{$>$}}
70 \newcommand{\gnushead}{\raisebox{-1cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-head.eps,height=1cm}}}
71 \newcommand{\gnusinteresting}{
72 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\gnushead]{\gnushead}
75 \newcommand{\gnuscleardoublepage}{\ifodd\count0\mbox{}\clearpage\thispagestyle{empty}\mbox{}\clearpage\else\clearpage\fi}
77 \newcommand{\gnuspagechapter}[1]{
84 \newcommand{\gnuschapter}[2]{
86 \ifdim \gnusdimen = 0pt\setcounter{page}{1}\pagestyle{gnus}\pagenumbering{arabic} \gnusdimen 1pt\fi
88 \renewcommand{\gnussectionname}{}
89 \renewcommand{\gnuschaptername}{#2}
92 \begin{picture}(500,500)(0,0)
93 \put(480,350){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{#1}}
94 \put(40,300){\makebox(500,50)[bl]{{\Huge\bf{#2}}}}
99 \newcommand{\gnusfigure}[3]{
101 \mbox{}\ifodd\count0\hspace*{-0.8cm}\else\hspace*{-3cm}\fi\begin{picture}(440,#2)
108 \newcommand{\gnusicon}[1]{
109 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\raisebox{-1.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/#1-up.ps,height=1.5cm}}]{\raisebox{-1cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/#1-up.ps,height=1cm}}}
112 \newcommand{\gnuspicon}[1]{
113 \margindex{\epsfig{figure=#1,width=2cm}}
116 \newcommand{\gnusxface}[2]{
117 \margindex{\epsfig{figure=#1,width=1cm}\epsfig{figure=#2,width=1cm}}
120 \newcommand{\gnussmiley}[2]{
121 \margindex{\makebox[2cm]{\hfill\epsfig{figure=#1,width=0.5cm}\hfill\epsfig{figure=#2,width=0.5cm}\hfill}}
124 \newcommand{\gnusitemx}[1]{\mbox{}\vspace*{-\itemsep}\vspace*{-\parsep}\item#1}
126 \newcommand{\gnussection}[1]{
127 \renewcommand{\gnussectionname}{#1}
131 \newenvironment{codelist}%
136 \newenvironment{kbdlist}%
142 \newenvironment{dfnlist}%
147 \newenvironment{stronglist}%
152 \newenvironment{samplist}%
157 \newenvironment{varlist}%
162 \newenvironment{emphlist}%
167 \newlength\gnusheadtextwidth
168 \setlength{\gnusheadtextwidth}{\headtextwidth}
169 \addtolength{\gnusheadtextwidth}{1cm}
171 \newpagestyle{gnuspreamble}%
176 \hspace*{-0.23cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\mbox{}}\textbf{\hfill\roman{page}}}
180 \hspace*{-3.25cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\textbf{\roman{page}\hfill\mbox{}}}
189 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo.eps,height=1cm}}
191 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo.eps,height=1cm}}
196 \newpagestyle{gnusindex}%
201 \hspace*{-0.23cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\textbf{\gnuschaptername\hfill\arabic{page}}}}
205 \hspace*{-3.25cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\textbf{\arabic{page}\hfill\gnuschaptername}}}
213 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo.eps,height=1cm}}
215 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo.eps,height=1cm}}
225 \makebox[12cm]{\hspace*{3.1cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\textbf{\arabic{chapter}.\arabic{section}} \textbf{\gnussectionname\hfill\arabic{page}}}}}
229 \makebox[12cm]{\hspace*{-2.95cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\textbf{\arabic{page}\hfill\gnuschaptername}}}}
237 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo.eps,height=1cm}}
239 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo.eps,height=1cm}}
244 \pagenumbering{roman}
245 \pagestyle{gnuspreamble}
255 %\addtolength{\oddsidemargin}{-5cm}
256 %\addtolength{\evensidemargin}{-5cm}
258 \addtolength{\textheight}{2cm}
260 \gnustitle{\gnustitlename}\\
263 \hspace*{0cm}\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo.eps,height=15cm}
266 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
273 \thispagestyle{empty}
275 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
276 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
279 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
280 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
281 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
282 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
283 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
284 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
285 License'' in the Emacs manual.
287 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
288 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
289 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
291 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
292 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
293 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
294 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
302 This file documents gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
304 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
306 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
307 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
308 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
309 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
310 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
311 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
312 License'' in the Emacs manual.
314 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
315 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
316 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
318 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
319 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
320 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
321 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
327 @title T-gnus 6.15 Manual
329 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
332 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
333 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
335 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
336 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
337 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
338 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
339 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
340 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
341 License'' in the Emacs manual.
343 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
344 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
345 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
347 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
348 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
349 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
350 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
359 @top The gnus Newsreader
363 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using gnus. The news
364 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
365 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
368 T-gnus provides MIME features based on SEMI API. So T-gnus supports
369 your right to read strange messages including big images or other
370 various kinds of formats. T-gnus also supports
371 internationalization/localization and multiscript features based on MULE
372 API. So T-gnus does not discriminate various language communities.
373 Oh, if you are a Klingon, please wait Unicode Next Generation.
375 This manual corresponds to T-gnus 6.15.
386 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
387 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
389 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
390 being accused of plagiarism:
392 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
393 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
394 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
395 can even read news with it!
397 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
398 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
399 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend gnus to make it behave
400 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
401 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
407 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
408 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
409 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
410 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
411 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
412 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
413 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
414 * Various:: General purpose settings.
415 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
416 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
417 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
418 * Key Index:: Key Index.
421 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
425 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
426 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
427 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
428 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
429 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
430 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
431 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
432 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
433 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
434 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
435 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
439 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
440 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
441 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
445 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
446 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
447 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
448 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
449 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
450 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
451 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
452 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
453 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
454 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
455 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
456 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
457 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
458 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
459 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
460 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
461 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
465 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
466 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
467 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
471 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
472 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
473 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
474 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
475 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
479 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
480 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
481 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
482 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
486 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
487 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
488 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
489 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
490 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
491 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
492 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
493 * Threading:: How threads are made.
494 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
495 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
496 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
497 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
498 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
499 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
500 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
501 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
502 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
503 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
504 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
505 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
506 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
507 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
508 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
509 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
510 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
511 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
512 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
513 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
514 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
516 Summary Buffer Format
518 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
519 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
520 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
521 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
525 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
526 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
528 Reply, Followup and Post
530 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
531 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
532 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
533 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
537 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
538 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
539 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
540 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
541 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
542 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
546 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
547 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
549 Customizing Threading
551 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
552 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
553 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
554 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
558 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
559 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
560 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
561 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
562 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
563 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
567 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
568 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
569 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
573 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
574 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
575 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
576 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
577 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
578 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
579 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
580 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
582 Alternative Approaches
584 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
585 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
587 Various Summary Stuff
589 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
590 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
591 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
592 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
596 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
597 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
598 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
599 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
600 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
604 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
605 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
606 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
607 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
608 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
609 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
610 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
611 * Using GPG:: How to use GPG and MML to sign and encrypt messages
615 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
616 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
617 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
618 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
619 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
620 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
621 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
625 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
626 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
627 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
628 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
629 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
630 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
631 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
635 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
636 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
640 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
641 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
642 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
643 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
644 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
645 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
646 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
647 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
648 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
649 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
650 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
651 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
652 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
656 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
657 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
658 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
660 Choosing a Mail Backend
662 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
663 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
664 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
665 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
666 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
667 * Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
671 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
672 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
673 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
674 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
678 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
679 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
680 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
681 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
682 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
683 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
687 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
691 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
692 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
693 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
697 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
698 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
699 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
703 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
704 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
708 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
709 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
710 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
711 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
712 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
713 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
714 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
715 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
716 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
717 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
721 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
722 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
723 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
727 * Group Agent Commands::
728 * Summary Agent Commands::
729 * Server Agent Commands::
733 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
734 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
735 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
736 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
737 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
738 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
739 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
740 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
741 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
742 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
743 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
744 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
745 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
746 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
747 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
748 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
752 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
753 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
754 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
755 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
759 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
760 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
761 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
765 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
766 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
767 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
768 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
769 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
770 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
771 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
772 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
773 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
774 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
775 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
776 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
777 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
778 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
779 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
780 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
781 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
782 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
786 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
787 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
788 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
789 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
790 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
794 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
795 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
796 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
797 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
801 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
802 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
803 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
804 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
805 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
809 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
810 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
811 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
812 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
813 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
814 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
815 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
816 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
820 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
821 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
822 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
823 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
824 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
825 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
826 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
827 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
828 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
832 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
833 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
834 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
835 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
836 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
840 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
841 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
842 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
843 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
847 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
848 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
849 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
850 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
851 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
852 * Group Info:: The group info format.
853 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
854 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
855 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
859 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
860 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
861 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
862 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
863 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
864 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
868 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
869 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
873 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
874 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
880 @chapter Starting gnus
885 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting gnus
886 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
889 @findex gnus-other-frame
890 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
891 If you want to start gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
892 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
894 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
895 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
896 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
898 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
899 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
902 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
903 * The First Time:: What does gnus do the first time you start it?
904 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
905 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one gnus active at a time.
906 * Fetching a Group:: Starting gnus just to read a group.
907 * New Groups:: What is gnus supposed to do with new groups?
908 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
909 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
910 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
911 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
912 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
916 @node Finding the News
917 @section Finding the News
920 @vindex gnus-select-method
922 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where gnus should look for
923 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
924 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
925 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
928 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
929 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
932 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
935 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
938 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
941 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
942 certainly be much faster.
944 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
946 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
947 If this variable is not set, gnus will take a look at the
948 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
949 gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
950 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
951 that fails as well, gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
953 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
954 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
955 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
956 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
958 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
959 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
960 You can also make gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
961 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
962 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), gnus will let you choose between the servers
963 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
964 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
965 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
966 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
969 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
971 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
972 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
973 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
974 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
975 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
976 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
978 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
980 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
981 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
982 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
983 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
984 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
985 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
988 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
989 would typically set this variable to
992 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
997 @section The First Time
998 @cindex first time usage
1000 If no startup files exist, gnus will try to determine what groups should
1001 be subscribed by default.
1003 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1004 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, gnus
1005 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1006 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1009 Since she hasn't, gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1010 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1011 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1013 You'll also be subscribed to the gnus documentation group, which should
1014 help you with most common problems.
1016 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, gnus will just
1017 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1021 @node The Server is Down
1022 @section The Server is Down
1023 @cindex server errors
1025 If the default server is down, gnus will understandably have some
1026 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1027 the news groups, you may want to start gnus anyway.
1029 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1030 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1031 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1032 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1033 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1034 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1035 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1037 @findex gnus-no-server
1038 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1040 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1041 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1042 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start gnus. That might come in handy
1043 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1044 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1045 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1046 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1050 @section Slave Gnusae
1053 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one gnus at the
1054 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1055 are using the two different gnusae to read from two different servers),
1056 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1058 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1059 @code{.newsrc} file.
1061 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the gnus
1062 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1063 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1064 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1065 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1066 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1067 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1069 Anyway, you start one gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1070 however you do it). Each subsequent slave gnusae should be started with
1071 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1072 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1073 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master gnus
1074 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1075 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1076 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1078 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1079 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
1082 @node Fetching a Group
1083 @section Fetching a Group
1084 @cindex fetching a group
1086 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1087 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1088 group and I don't care whether gnus has been started or not''. This is
1089 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1090 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1091 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1097 @cindex subscription
1099 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1100 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1101 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1102 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1103 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1104 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1105 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1106 @code{always}, then gnus will query the backends for new groups even
1107 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1110 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1111 * Subscription Methods:: What gnus should do with new groups.
1112 * Filtering New Groups:: Making gnus ignore certain new groups.
1116 @node Checking New Groups
1117 @subsection Checking New Groups
1119 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1120 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1121 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1122 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, gnus will ask the
1123 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1124 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1125 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1126 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1127 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1128 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1130 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1131 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1132 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1133 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1134 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1135 work. I could write a function to make gnus guess whether the server
1136 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1137 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1138 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1139 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1140 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1142 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, gnus will
1143 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1144 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1145 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1146 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1147 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1150 @node Subscription Methods
1151 @subsection Subscription Methods
1153 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1154 What gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1155 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1157 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1158 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1160 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1164 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1165 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1166 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1167 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1168 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1170 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1171 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1172 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1173 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1175 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1176 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1177 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1179 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1180 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1181 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1182 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1183 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1184 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1185 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1186 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1187 up. Or something like that.
1189 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1190 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1191 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that gnus will ask
1192 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1193 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1195 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1196 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1197 Kill all new groups.
1199 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1200 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1201 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1202 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1203 topic parameter that looks like
1209 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1212 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1217 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1218 A closely related variable is
1219 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1220 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will ask you in a
1221 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1222 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1225 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1226 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1227 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1228 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1231 @node Filtering New Groups
1232 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1234 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1235 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1236 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1239 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1242 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1243 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1244 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1245 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1246 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1247 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1248 subscribing these groups.
1249 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1250 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1252 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1253 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1254 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1255 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1256 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1257 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1258 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1259 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1261 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1262 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1263 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1264 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1265 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1266 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1267 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1268 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1269 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
1270 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
1272 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1273 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1276 @node Changing Servers
1277 @section Changing Servers
1278 @cindex changing servers
1280 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1281 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1282 very flaky and you want to use another.
1284 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1285 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1289 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1290 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1291 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1292 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1295 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1296 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1297 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1298 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1300 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1301 @findex gnus-change-server
1302 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1303 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1304 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1305 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1306 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1308 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1309 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1310 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1311 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1312 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1314 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1315 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1316 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1317 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1318 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1319 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1321 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1322 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1323 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1327 @section Startup Files
1328 @cindex startup files
1333 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1334 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1336 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1337 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1338 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1339 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1340 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1341 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1342 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1344 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1345 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1346 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1347 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1348 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1349 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1351 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1352 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1353 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1354 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1355 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from gnus faster.
1356 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1357 gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1358 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes gnus ignore the
1359 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1360 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1362 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1363 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1364 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1365 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1366 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1367 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1368 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1369 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1370 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1371 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1372 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1373 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1375 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1376 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1377 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1378 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1380 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1381 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1382 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1383 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1384 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1385 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1386 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1387 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1388 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1389 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1392 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1393 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1395 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1396 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1399 @vindex gnus-init-file
1400 When gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1401 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1402 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1403 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1404 @file{site-init} files with gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1405 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1406 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1407 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1408 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1414 @cindex dribble file
1417 Whenever you do something that changes the gnus data (reading articles,
1418 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1419 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1420 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1421 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1424 If gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1425 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1428 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1429 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, gnus won't create and
1430 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1432 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1433 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1434 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, gnus will dribble
1435 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1436 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1437 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
1439 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1440 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1441 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1444 @node The Active File
1445 @section The Active File
1447 @cindex ignored groups
1449 When gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1450 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1451 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1453 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1454 Before examining the active file, gnus deletes all lines that match the
1455 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1456 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make gnus
1457 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1458 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1459 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1462 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1463 @c if you set it to anything else.
1465 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1467 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1468 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent gnus from
1469 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1471 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1472 you actually subscribe to.
1474 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1475 variable to @code{nil} will probably make gnus slower, not faster. At
1476 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow gnus down
1477 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1479 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1480 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1481 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1482 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1483 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1484 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1486 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1487 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1488 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1491 If this variable is @code{nil}, gnus will ask for group info in total
1492 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1493 @sc{nntp} server, gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1494 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1495 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1496 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1498 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1499 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1501 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1502 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1504 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1505 secondary select methods.
1508 @node Startup Variables
1509 @section Startup Variables
1513 @item gnus-load-hook
1514 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1515 A hook run while gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1516 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1517 times you start gnus.
1519 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1520 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1521 A hook run after starting up gnus successfully.
1523 @item gnus-startup-hook
1524 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1525 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1527 @item gnus-started-hook
1528 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1529 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1532 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1533 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1534 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1535 generating the group buffer.
1537 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1538 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1539 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1540 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1541 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1542 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1543 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1544 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1546 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1547 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1548 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1549 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1550 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1551 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1553 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1554 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1555 Message displayed by gnus when no groups are available.
1557 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1558 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1559 If non-@code{nil}, play the gnus jingle at startup.
1561 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1562 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1563 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1564 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1570 @chapter Group Buffer
1571 @cindex group buffer
1573 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1574 is the first buffer shown when gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1575 long as gnus is active.
1579 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1580 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group.ps,height=9cm}}
1581 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1582 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1583 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1584 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1585 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1586 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1592 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1593 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1594 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1595 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1596 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1597 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1598 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1599 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1600 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1601 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1602 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1603 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1604 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1605 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1606 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1607 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1608 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1612 @node Group Buffer Format
1613 @section Group Buffer Format
1616 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1617 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1618 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1622 @node Group Line Specification
1623 @subsection Group Line Specification
1624 @cindex group buffer format
1626 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1627 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1629 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1632 25: news.announce.newusers
1633 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1638 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1639 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1640 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1641 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1643 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1644 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1645 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1646 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1647 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1648 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1650 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1652 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1653 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1654 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1655 never examined by gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1658 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1659 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1660 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1662 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1667 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1670 Whether the group is subscribed.
1673 Level of subscribedness.
1676 Number of unread articles.
1679 Number of dormant articles.
1682 Number of ticked articles.
1685 Number of read articles.
1688 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1689 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1692 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1695 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1704 Newsgroup description.
1707 @samp{m} if moderated.
1710 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1719 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1723 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1726 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1727 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1728 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1729 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1730 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1733 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1735 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1739 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1742 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1746 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1747 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1748 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1749 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1750 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1751 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1756 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1757 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1758 group, or a bogus native group.
1761 @node Group Modeline Specification
1762 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1763 @cindex group modeline
1765 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1766 The mode line can be changed by setting
1767 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1768 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1772 The native news server.
1774 The native select method.
1778 @node Group Highlighting
1779 @subsection Group Highlighting
1780 @cindex highlighting
1781 @cindex group highlighting
1783 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1784 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1785 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1786 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1787 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1789 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1793 (cond (window-system
1794 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1795 (defface my-group-face-1
1796 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1797 (defface my-group-face-2
1798 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1799 (defface my-group-face-3
1800 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1801 (defface my-group-face-4
1802 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1803 (defface my-group-face-5
1804 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1806 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1807 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1808 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1809 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1810 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1811 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1814 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1816 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1823 The number of unread articles in the group.
1827 Whether the group is a mail group.
1829 The level of the group.
1831 The score of the group.
1833 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1835 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1836 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1838 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1839 topic being inserted.
1842 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1843 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal gnus
1844 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1846 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1847 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1848 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1849 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1850 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1853 @node Group Maneuvering
1854 @section Group Maneuvering
1855 @cindex group movement
1857 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1858 expected, hopefully.
1864 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1865 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1866 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1872 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1873 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1874 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1878 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1879 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1883 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1884 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1888 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1889 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1890 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1894 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1895 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1896 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1899 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1905 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1906 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1907 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1912 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1913 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1914 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1918 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1919 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1920 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1923 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1924 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1925 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1926 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1930 @node Selecting a Group
1931 @section Selecting a Group
1932 @cindex group selection
1937 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1938 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1939 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1940 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1941 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1942 this command, gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1943 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1944 determines the number of articles gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1945 positive, gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1946 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
1948 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
1949 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
1950 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
1952 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
1953 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
1958 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1959 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1960 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1961 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1962 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1966 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1967 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1968 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1969 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1970 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1971 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1972 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1973 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
1974 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
1975 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
1978 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1979 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1980 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1981 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1982 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1985 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1986 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1987 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1988 doing any processing of its contents
1989 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1990 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1991 manner will have no permanent effects.
1995 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1996 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what gnus should consider
1997 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1998 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, gnus will query the user
1999 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2000 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2001 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2002 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2005 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2006 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2007 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
2008 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2013 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
2014 full summary buffer.
2017 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
2020 Select the highest scored article in the group when entering the
2025 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function will
2026 be called to place point on a subject line, and/or select some article.
2027 Useful functions include:
2030 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-subject
2031 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article, but
2032 don't select the article.
2034 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-article
2035 Select the first unread article.
2037 @item gnus-summary-best-unread-article
2038 Select the highest-scored unread article.
2042 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2043 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
2044 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2048 @node Subscription Commands
2049 @section Subscription Commands
2050 @cindex subscription
2058 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2059 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2060 Toggle subscription to the current group
2061 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2067 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2068 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2069 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2070 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2076 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2077 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2078 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2084 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2085 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2088 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2089 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2090 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2091 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2092 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2098 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2099 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2103 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2104 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2107 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2108 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2109 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2110 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2111 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2112 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2113 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2114 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2115 @file{.newsrc} file.
2119 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2129 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2130 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2131 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2132 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2133 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2134 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2139 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2140 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2141 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2145 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2146 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2147 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2149 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2150 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2151 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2152 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2153 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2154 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2161 @section Group Levels
2165 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2166 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2167 can ask gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2168 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2169 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2171 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2177 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2178 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2179 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2180 prompted for a level.
2183 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2184 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2185 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2186 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2187 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2188 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2189 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2190 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2191 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2192 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2193 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2194 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2195 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2196 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2197 reasons of efficiency.
2199 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2200 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2202 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2203 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2204 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2205 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2206 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2207 groups are hidden, in a way.
2209 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2210 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2211 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2212 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2213 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2214 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2216 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2217 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2218 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2219 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2220 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2221 list of killed groups.)
2223 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2224 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2225 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2227 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2228 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2229 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2230 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2231 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2232 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2233 relevant valid ranges.
2235 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2236 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2237 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2238 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2239 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2240 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2243 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2244 one with the best level.
2246 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2247 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2248 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2251 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2252 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2253 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2254 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2257 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2258 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2259 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2260 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2262 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2263 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2264 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2265 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2266 to 5. The default is 6.
2270 @section Group Score
2275 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2276 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2277 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2280 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2281 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2282 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2283 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2284 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2285 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2286 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2287 least significant part.))
2289 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2290 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2291 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2292 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2293 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2294 action after each summary exit, you can add
2295 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2296 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2297 slow things down somewhat.
2300 @node Marking Groups
2301 @section Marking Groups
2302 @cindex marking groups
2304 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2305 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2306 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2307 bidding on those groups.
2309 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2310 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2311 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2319 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2320 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2326 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2327 Remove the mark from the current group
2328 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2332 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2333 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2337 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2338 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2342 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2343 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2347 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2348 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2349 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2352 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2354 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2355 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2356 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2357 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2358 the command to be executed.
2361 @node Foreign Groups
2362 @section Foreign Groups
2363 @cindex foreign groups
2365 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2366 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2367 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2368 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2375 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2376 @cindex making groups
2377 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2378 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2379 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2383 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2384 @cindex renaming groups
2385 Rename the current group to something else
2386 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2387 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2393 @findex gnus-group-customize
2394 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2398 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2399 @cindex renaming groups
2400 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2401 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2405 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2406 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2407 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2411 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2412 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2413 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2417 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2419 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2420 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2425 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2426 Make the gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2430 @cindex (ding) archive
2431 @cindex archive group
2432 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2433 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2434 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2435 Make a gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2436 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2437 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2438 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2442 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2444 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2445 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2446 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2447 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2451 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2453 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2454 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2455 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2459 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2460 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2462 Make a group based on some file or other
2463 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2464 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2465 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
2466 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
2467 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{nsmail} and @code{forward}.
2468 If you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2469 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2473 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2474 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2475 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2476 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2480 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2485 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2486 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2487 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2488 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2489 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
2490 @xref{Web Searches}.
2492 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
2493 to a particular group by using a match string like
2494 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
2497 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2498 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2499 This function will delete the current group
2500 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2501 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2502 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2503 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2504 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2508 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2509 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2510 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2514 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2515 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2516 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2519 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2522 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2523 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2524 gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2525 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2526 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2527 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2531 @node Group Parameters
2532 @section Group Parameters
2533 @cindex group parameters
2535 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2536 Here's an example group parameter list:
2539 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2543 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2544 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2545 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2546 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2548 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2549 is an alist of regexps and values.
2551 The following group parameters can be used:
2556 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2559 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2562 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2563 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2564 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2565 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2566 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2568 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2569 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2570 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2571 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2572 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2573 list address instead.
2575 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2579 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2582 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2585 It is totally ignored
2586 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2587 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2589 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2590 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2591 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2592 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2593 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2595 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2596 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2597 sending the message.
2599 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2603 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2604 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2605 of whether it has any unread articles.
2607 @item broken-reply-to
2608 @cindex broken-reply-to
2609 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2610 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2611 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2612 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2613 broken behavior. So there!
2617 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2618 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2622 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, gnus
2623 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2624 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2629 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2630 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2631 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2632 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2633 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2634 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2635 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2639 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2640 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2641 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2643 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2646 @cindex total-expire
2647 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2648 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2649 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2650 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2653 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2657 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2658 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2659 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2660 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2661 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2662 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2665 @cindex score file group parameter
2666 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2667 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2668 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2671 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2672 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2673 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2674 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2677 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2678 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2679 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2680 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2683 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2684 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2688 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2691 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2696 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2697 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2698 gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2702 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2703 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2704 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2706 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2708 @item ignored-charsets
2709 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-known iso-8859-1)}
2710 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2711 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2713 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2716 You can store additional posting style information for this group only
2717 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2718 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2719 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2720 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2722 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2723 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2724 like this in the group parameters:
2729 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2733 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2734 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2735 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2736 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2737 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2739 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2740 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2741 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2742 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2743 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2744 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2745 @code{eval}ed there.
2747 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2748 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2749 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2750 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2751 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2755 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2756 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2757 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2758 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2759 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2762 @node Listing Groups
2763 @section Listing Groups
2764 @cindex group listing
2766 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2774 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2775 List all groups that have unread articles
2776 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2777 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2778 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2779 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2786 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2787 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2788 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2789 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2790 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2791 unsubscribed groups).
2795 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2796 List all unread groups on a specific level
2797 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2798 with no unread articles.
2802 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2803 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2804 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2805 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2810 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2811 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2815 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2816 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2817 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2821 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2822 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2826 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2827 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2828 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2829 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2830 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2831 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2832 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2833 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2837 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2838 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2839 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2843 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2844 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2845 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2849 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
2850 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
2854 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
2855 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
2859 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
2860 List groups limited within the current selection
2861 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
2865 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
2866 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
2870 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
2871 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
2875 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2876 @cindex visible group parameter
2877 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2878 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2879 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2880 get the same effect.
2882 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2883 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2884 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2885 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2886 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2889 @node Sorting Groups
2890 @section Sorting Groups
2891 @cindex sorting groups
2893 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2894 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2895 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2896 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2897 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2898 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2903 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2904 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2905 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2907 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2908 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2909 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2911 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2912 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2913 Sort by group level.
2915 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2916 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2917 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
2919 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2920 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2921 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2922 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
2924 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2925 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2926 Sort by number of unread articles.
2928 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2929 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2930 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2932 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
2933 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
2934 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
2939 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2940 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2944 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2945 some sorting criteria:
2949 @kindex G S a (Group)
2950 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2951 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2952 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2955 @kindex G S u (Group)
2956 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2957 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2958 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2961 @kindex G S l (Group)
2962 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2963 Sort the group buffer by group level
2964 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2967 @kindex G S v (Group)
2968 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2969 Sort the group buffer by group score
2970 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2973 @kindex G S r (Group)
2974 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2975 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2976 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2979 @kindex G S m (Group)
2980 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2981 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2982 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2986 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
2987 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2989 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
2990 commands will sort in reverse order.
2992 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
2996 @kindex G P a (Group)
2997 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
2998 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
2999 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3002 @kindex G P u (Group)
3003 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3004 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3005 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3008 @kindex G P l (Group)
3009 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3010 Sort the groups by group level
3011 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3014 @kindex G P v (Group)
3015 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3016 Sort the groups by group score
3017 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3020 @kindex G P r (Group)
3021 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3022 Sort the groups by group rank
3023 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3026 @kindex G P m (Group)
3027 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3028 Sort the groups alphabetically by backend name
3029 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3035 @node Group Maintenance
3036 @section Group Maintenance
3037 @cindex bogus groups
3042 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3043 Find bogus groups and delete them
3044 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3048 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3049 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3050 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3051 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3052 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3056 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3057 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3058 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3059 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
3062 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
3063 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3064 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
3065 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3070 @node Browse Foreign Server
3071 @section Browse Foreign Server
3072 @cindex foreign servers
3073 @cindex browsing servers
3078 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3079 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3080 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3081 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3084 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3085 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3086 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3087 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3089 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3094 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3095 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3099 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3100 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3103 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3104 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3105 Enter the current group and display the first article
3106 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3109 @kindex RET (Browse)
3110 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3111 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3115 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3116 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3117 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3123 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3124 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3128 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3129 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3130 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3135 @section Exiting gnus
3136 @cindex exiting gnus
3138 Yes, gnus is ex(c)iting.
3143 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3144 Suspend gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit gnus,
3145 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3146 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3150 @findex gnus-group-exit
3151 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3152 Quit gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3156 @findex gnus-group-quit
3157 Quit gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3158 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3161 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3162 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3163 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend gnus and
3164 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit gnus, while
3165 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3170 If you wish to completely unload gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3171 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3172 trying to customize meta-variables.
3177 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3178 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3179 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3185 @section Group Topics
3188 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3189 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3190 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3191 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3192 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3193 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3197 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3198 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group-topic.ps,height=9cm}}
3209 2: alt.religion.emacs
3212 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3214 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3215 13: comp.sources.unix
3218 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3220 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3221 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3222 is a toggling command.)
3224 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3225 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
3226 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3227 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3230 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3231 the hook for the group mode:
3234 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3238 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3239 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3240 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3241 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3242 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3246 @node Topic Variables
3247 @subsection Topic Variables
3248 @cindex topic variables
3250 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
3251 really neat, I think.
3253 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3254 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3255 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3268 Number of groups in the topic.
3270 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3272 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3275 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3276 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3277 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3280 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3281 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3283 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3284 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3285 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3288 @node Topic Commands
3289 @subsection Topic Commands
3290 @cindex topic commands
3292 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3293 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3294 definitions slightly.
3300 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3301 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3302 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3306 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3307 Move the current group to some other topic
3308 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3309 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3313 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3314 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3318 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3319 Copy the current group to some other topic
3320 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3321 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3325 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3326 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3327 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3331 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3332 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3333 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3337 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3338 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3339 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3340 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3341 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3342 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3343 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3346 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3347 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3351 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3352 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3353 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3357 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3358 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3359 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3363 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3364 Toggle hiding empty topics
3365 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3369 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3370 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3371 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
3374 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3375 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3376 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3377 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
3381 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3383 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3384 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3385 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3386 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3389 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3390 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3391 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3392 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3396 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3398 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3399 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3400 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3401 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3402 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3403 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3406 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3407 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3408 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the expiry
3409 process (if any) (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}).
3413 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3414 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3415 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3419 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3420 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3421 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3426 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3427 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3430 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3431 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3432 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3436 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3437 List all groups that gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3438 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3442 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3443 @cindex group parameters
3444 @cindex topic parameters
3446 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3447 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3453 @subsection Topic Sorting
3454 @cindex topic sorting
3456 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3462 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3463 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3464 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3465 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3468 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3469 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3470 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3471 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3474 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3475 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3476 Sort the current topic by group level
3477 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3480 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3481 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3482 Sort the current topic by group score
3483 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3486 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3487 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3488 Sort the current topic by group rank
3489 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3492 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3493 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3494 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
3495 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3499 @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group sorting.
3502 @node Topic Topology
3503 @subsection Topic Topology
3504 @cindex topic topology
3507 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3513 2: alt.religion.emacs
3516 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3518 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3519 13: comp.sources.unix
3522 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3523 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3524 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3529 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3530 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3534 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3535 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3536 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3537 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3538 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3539 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3541 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3542 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3543 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3546 @node Topic Parameters
3547 @subsection Topic Parameters
3548 @cindex topic parameters
3550 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3551 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3552 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3554 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3559 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3560 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3561 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3566 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3567 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3568 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3569 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3575 2: alt.religion.emacs
3579 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3581 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3582 13: comp.sources.unix
3586 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3587 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3588 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3589 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3590 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3591 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3593 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3594 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3595 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3596 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3597 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3599 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3600 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3601 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3602 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3603 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3604 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3605 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3606 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3609 @node Misc Group Stuff
3610 @section Misc Group Stuff
3613 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3614 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and gnus.
3615 * Group Timestamp:: Making gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3616 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the gnus files.
3623 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3624 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3625 @xref{Server Buffer}.
3629 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3630 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a
3631 prefix, the current group name will be used as the default.
3635 @findex gnus-group-mail
3636 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
3640 Variables for the group buffer:
3644 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
3645 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
3646 is called after the group buffer has been
3649 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
3650 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3651 is called after the group buffer is
3652 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
3655 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
3656 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3657 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
3658 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
3660 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3661 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3662 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
3663 whether they are empty or not.
3665 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3666 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3667 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
3668 non-ASCII group names.
3672 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3673 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
3676 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3677 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3678 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names.
3679 It is used to show non-ASCII group names.
3683 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3684 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
3689 @node Scanning New Messages
3690 @subsection Scanning New Messages
3691 @cindex new messages
3692 @cindex scanning new news
3698 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
3699 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
3700 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
3701 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
3702 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
3703 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
3708 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
3709 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
3710 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
3711 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
3712 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
3713 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
3714 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
3716 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
3717 @cindex activating groups
3719 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
3720 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
3725 @findex gnus-group-restart
3726 Restart gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
3727 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
3728 gnus variables, and then starts gnus all over again.
3732 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
3733 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
3735 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
3736 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
3740 @node Group Information
3741 @subsection Group Information
3742 @cindex group information
3743 @cindex information on groups
3750 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
3751 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
3754 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
3755 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
3756 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
3757 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
3758 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
3759 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
3760 for fetching the file.
3762 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, gnus will attempt to go
3763 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
3767 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
3769 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
3770 @cindex describing groups
3771 @cindex group description
3772 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
3773 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
3774 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
3778 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
3779 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
3780 prefix, force gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
3787 @findex gnus-version
3788 Display current gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
3792 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
3793 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
3796 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
3799 @findex gnus-info-find-node
3800 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
3804 @node Group Timestamp
3805 @subsection Group Timestamp
3807 @cindex group timestamps
3809 It can be convenient to let gnus keep track of when you last read a
3810 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
3811 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
3814 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
3817 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
3819 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
3820 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
3823 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3824 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
3827 This will result in lines looking like:
3830 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
3831 0: custom 19961002T012713
3834 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
3835 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
3839 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3840 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
3845 @subsection File Commands
3846 @cindex file commands
3852 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
3853 @vindex gnus-init-file
3854 @cindex reading init file
3855 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
3856 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
3860 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
3861 @cindex saving .newsrc
3862 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
3863 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
3864 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
3867 @c @kindex Z (Group)
3868 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
3869 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
3874 @node Summary Buffer
3875 @chapter Summary Buffer
3876 @cindex summary buffer
3878 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
3879 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
3881 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
3882 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
3884 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
3887 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3888 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
3889 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
3890 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
3891 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
3892 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3893 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
3894 * Threading:: How threads are made.
3895 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3896 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3897 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3898 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3899 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3900 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3901 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3902 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3903 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
3904 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
3905 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3906 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3907 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3908 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3909 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3910 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3911 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3912 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
3913 or reselecting the current group.
3914 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3915 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3916 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
3920 @node Summary Buffer Format
3921 @section Summary Buffer Format
3922 @cindex summary buffer format
3926 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
3927 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary.ps,width=7.5cm}}
3928 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-article.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
3934 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3935 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
3936 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3937 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3940 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3941 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3942 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3943 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3944 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3945 @code{From} header. Three pre-defined functions exist:
3946 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3947 fast, and too simplistic solution;
3948 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works nicely, but is
3949 slower; and @code{std11-extract-address-components}, which works very
3950 nicely, but is slower. The default function will return the wrong
3951 answer in 5% of the cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the
3952 other function instead:
3955 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
3956 'mail-extract-address-components)
3959 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3960 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3961 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3962 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
3965 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3966 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3968 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3969 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3970 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3971 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3972 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3974 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3976 The following format specification characters are understood:
3982 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
3983 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
3985 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
3986 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3987 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
3989 Full @code{From} header.
3991 The name (from the @code{From} header).
3993 The name, code @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header
3994 (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
3996 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
3997 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
3998 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
3999 may be more thorough.
4001 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4004 Number of lines in the article.
4006 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported in some
4007 methods (like nnfolder).
4009 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4011 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4012 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4014 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4015 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4017 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4018 for adopted articles.
4020 One space for each thread level.
4022 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4027 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4028 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4032 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4034 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4035 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4036 default level. If the difference between
4037 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4038 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4046 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4048 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4054 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4055 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4057 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4058 article has any children.
4064 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4065 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4066 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4067 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4068 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4069 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4072 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4073 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, gnus will
4074 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4075 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4076 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4077 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4079 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4080 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4082 This restriction may disappear in later versions of gnus.
4085 @node To From Newsgroups
4086 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4090 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4091 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4092 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4093 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4094 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4098 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4099 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4100 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4104 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4105 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4108 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4109 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4112 @findex gnus-extra-header
4113 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4114 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4115 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4118 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4122 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4123 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4124 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4125 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4126 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4127 headers are used instead.
4131 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4132 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4133 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
4134 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
4137 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4138 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4139 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4140 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4142 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4146 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4148 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4149 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4150 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20f%]%) %s\n")
4151 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4155 Now, this is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4156 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4163 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4164 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4167 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4168 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4170 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4171 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4172 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4173 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4175 Here are the elements you can play with:
4181 Unprefixed group name.
4183 Current article number.
4185 Current article score.
4189 Number of unread articles in this group.
4191 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4194 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4195 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4196 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4197 and no unselected ones.
4199 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4200 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4202 Subject of the current article.
4204 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4206 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4208 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4210 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4212 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4214 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4218 @node Summary Highlighting
4219 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4223 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4224 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4225 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4226 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4227 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4229 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4230 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4231 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4232 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4234 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4235 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4236 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4237 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4239 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4240 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4241 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4242 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4243 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4244 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4247 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4248 ((> score default) . bold))
4250 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4251 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4255 @node Summary Maneuvering
4256 @section Summary Maneuvering
4257 @cindex summary movement
4259 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4260 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4262 None of these commands select articles.
4267 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4268 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4269 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4270 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4271 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4275 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4276 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4277 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4278 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4279 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4282 @kindex G g (Summary)
4283 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4284 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4285 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4288 If gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4289 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4290 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4291 to the group buffer.
4293 Variables related to summary movement:
4297 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4298 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4299 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4300 no more unread articles after the current one, gnus will offer to go to
4301 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4302 empty, gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4303 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, gnus will select the
4304 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
4305 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, gnus will select the
4306 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
4307 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
4308 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
4309 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
4310 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
4312 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4313 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4314 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4315 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4316 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4317 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4318 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4320 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4322 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4323 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4324 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4325 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4326 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4328 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4329 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4330 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4331 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4332 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4333 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4334 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4335 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4338 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4339 the given number of lines from the top.
4344 @node Choosing Articles
4345 @section Choosing Articles
4346 @cindex selecting articles
4349 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4350 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4354 @node Choosing Commands
4355 @subsection Choosing Commands
4357 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4358 and they all select and display an article.
4360 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4361 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4365 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4366 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4367 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4368 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4373 @kindex G n (Summary)
4374 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4375 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4376 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4381 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4382 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4383 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4388 @kindex G N (Summary)
4389 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4390 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4395 @kindex G P (Summary)
4396 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4397 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4400 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4401 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4402 Go to the next article with the same subject
4403 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4406 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4407 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4408 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4409 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4413 @kindex G f (Summary)
4415 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4416 Go to the first unread article
4417 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4421 @kindex G b (Summary)
4423 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4424 Go to the article with the highest score
4425 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
4430 @kindex G l (Summary)
4431 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4432 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4435 @kindex G o (Summary)
4436 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4438 @cindex article history
4439 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4440 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4441 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4442 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
4443 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
4444 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
4449 @kindex G j (Summary)
4450 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
4451 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
4452 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
4457 @node Choosing Variables
4458 @subsection Choosing Variables
4460 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
4463 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4464 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4465 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
4466 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
4467 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
4468 the server and display it in the article buffer.
4470 @item gnus-select-article-hook
4471 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
4472 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
4473 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
4475 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
4476 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
4477 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
4478 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
4479 @findex gnus-unread-mark
4480 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
4481 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
4482 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
4483 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
4484 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
4485 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
4486 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
4487 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
4488 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
4493 @node Paging the Article
4494 @section Scrolling the Article
4495 @cindex article scrolling
4500 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4501 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4502 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
4503 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
4504 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4507 @kindex DEL (Summary)
4508 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
4509 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
4512 @kindex RET (Summary)
4513 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
4514 Scroll the current article one line forward
4515 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
4518 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
4519 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
4520 Scroll the current article one line backward
4521 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
4525 @kindex A g (Summary)
4527 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
4528 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4529 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
4530 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
4531 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
4532 the way it came from the server.
4534 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
4535 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
4536 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
4539 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4544 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
4549 @kindex A < (Summary)
4550 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
4551 Scroll to the beginning of the article
4552 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
4557 @kindex A > (Summary)
4558 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
4559 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
4563 @kindex A s (Summary)
4565 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
4566 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
4567 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
4571 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
4572 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
4577 @node Reply Followup and Post
4578 @section Reply, Followup and Post
4581 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
4582 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
4583 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
4584 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
4588 @node Summary Mail Commands
4589 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
4591 @cindex composing mail
4593 Commands for composing a mail message:
4599 @kindex S r (Summary)
4601 @findex gnus-summary-reply
4602 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
4603 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
4604 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
4605 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
4610 @kindex S R (Summary)
4611 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
4612 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
4613 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
4614 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
4615 command uses the process/prefix convention.
4618 @kindex S w (Summary)
4619 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
4620 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
4621 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
4622 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
4623 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
4626 @kindex S W (Summary)
4627 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
4628 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
4629 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
4630 the process/prefix convention.
4633 @kindex S v (Summary)
4634 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
4635 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
4636 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
4637 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
4638 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
4639 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
4642 @kindex S W (Summary)
4643 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
4644 Mail a very wide reply to the current article and include the original
4645 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
4646 the process/prefix convention.
4650 @kindex S o m (Summary)
4651 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
4652 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
4653 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
4654 Forward the current article to some other person
4655 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
4656 headers of the forwarded article.
4661 @kindex S m (Summary)
4662 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
4663 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
4664 Send a mail to some other person
4665 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
4668 @kindex S D b (Summary)
4669 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
4670 @cindex bouncing mail
4671 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
4672 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
4673 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
4674 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
4675 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
4676 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, gnus will try to fetch
4677 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
4678 very well fail, though.
4681 @kindex S D r (Summary)
4682 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
4683 Not to be confused with the previous command,
4684 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
4685 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
4686 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
4687 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
4688 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
4689 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
4690 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
4692 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
4693 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
4694 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
4695 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
4696 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
4698 This command understands the process/prefix convention
4699 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4702 @kindex S O m (Summary)
4703 @findex gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward
4704 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
4705 result using mail (@code{gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward}). This
4706 command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4709 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
4710 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
4711 @cindex crossposting
4712 @cindex excessive crossposting
4713 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
4714 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
4716 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
4717 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
4718 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
4719 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
4720 command understands the process/prefix convention
4721 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
4725 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4728 @node Summary Post Commands
4729 @subsection Summary Post Commands
4731 @cindex composing news
4733 Commands for posting a news article:
4739 @kindex S p (Summary)
4740 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
4741 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
4742 Post an article to the current group
4743 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
4748 @kindex S f (Summary)
4749 @findex gnus-summary-followup
4750 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
4751 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
4755 @kindex S F (Summary)
4757 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
4758 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
4759 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
4760 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
4761 process/prefix convention.
4764 @kindex S n (Summary)
4765 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
4766 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4767 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
4770 @kindex S N (Summary)
4771 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
4772 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4773 message through mail and include the original message
4774 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
4775 the process/prefix convention.
4778 @kindex S o p (Summary)
4779 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
4780 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
4781 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
4782 headers of the forwarded article.
4785 @kindex S O p (Summary)
4786 @findex gnus-summary-digest-post-forward
4788 @cindex making digests
4789 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
4790 (@code{gnus-summary-digest-post-forward}). This command uses the
4791 process/prefix convention.
4794 @kindex S u (Summary)
4795 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
4796 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
4797 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
4798 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
4801 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4804 @node Summary Message Commands
4805 @subsection Summary Message Commands
4809 @kindex S y (Summary)
4810 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
4811 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
4812 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
4813 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
4814 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4819 @node Canceling and Superseding
4820 @subsection Canceling Articles
4821 @cindex canceling articles
4822 @cindex superseding articles
4824 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
4825 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
4827 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
4829 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
4831 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
4832 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
4833 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
4834 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
4835 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
4836 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4838 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
4839 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
4842 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
4843 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
4844 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
4846 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
4847 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
4848 your original article.
4850 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
4852 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
4853 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
4854 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
4857 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
4858 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
4859 have posted almost the same article twice.
4861 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
4862 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
4863 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
4864 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
4865 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
4866 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
4867 header by substituting one of those words for the word
4868 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
4869 you would do normally. The previous article will be
4870 canceled/superseded.
4872 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
4875 @node Marking Articles
4876 @section Marking Articles
4877 @cindex article marking
4878 @cindex article ticking
4881 There are several marks you can set on an article.
4883 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
4884 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
4885 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
4887 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
4890 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
4891 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
4892 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
4896 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
4900 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
4901 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
4902 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
4906 @node Unread Articles
4907 @subsection Unread Articles
4909 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
4914 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
4915 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
4917 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
4918 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
4919 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
4920 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
4921 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
4922 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
4923 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
4926 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
4927 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
4929 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
4930 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
4931 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
4934 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
4935 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
4937 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
4942 @subsection Read Articles
4943 @cindex expirable mark
4945 All the following marks mark articles as read.
4950 @vindex gnus-del-mark
4951 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
4952 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
4955 @vindex gnus-read-mark
4956 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
4959 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
4960 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
4961 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
4964 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
4965 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
4968 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
4969 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
4972 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
4973 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
4976 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
4977 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
4980 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
4981 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
4984 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
4985 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
4988 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
4989 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
4993 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
4994 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
4995 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
4999 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5000 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5002 One more special mark, though:
5006 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5007 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5009 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5010 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5011 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5012 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by gnus at
5018 @subsection Other Marks
5019 @cindex process mark
5022 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5028 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5029 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5030 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5031 in the article, and gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5032 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5035 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5036 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5037 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5038 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5040 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5041 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{O} in
5042 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5045 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5046 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5047 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5050 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5051 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5052 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5053 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5056 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5057 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5058 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5059 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5060 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5063 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5064 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5065 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5066 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5067 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5068 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5072 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5073 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5074 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5076 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5077 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5078 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5082 @subsection Setting Marks
5083 @cindex setting marks
5085 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5090 @kindex M c (Summary)
5091 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5092 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5093 @cindex mark as unread
5094 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5095 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5101 @kindex M t (Summary)
5102 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5103 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5104 @xref{Article Caching}.
5109 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5110 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5111 Mark the current article as dormant
5112 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5116 @kindex M d (Summary)
5118 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5119 Mark the current article as read
5120 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5124 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5125 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5126 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5131 @kindex M k (Summary)
5132 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5133 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5134 and then select the next unread article
5135 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5139 @kindex M K (Summary)
5140 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5141 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5142 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5143 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5146 @kindex M C (Summary)
5147 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5148 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5149 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5152 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5153 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5154 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5155 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5158 @kindex M H (Summary)
5159 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5160 Catchup the current group to point
5161 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5164 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5165 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5166 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5167 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5170 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5171 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5172 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5173 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5177 @kindex M e (Summary)
5179 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5180 Mark the current article as expirable
5181 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5184 @kindex M b (Summary)
5185 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5186 Set a bookmark in the current article
5187 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5190 @kindex M B (Summary)
5191 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5192 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5193 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5196 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5197 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5198 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5199 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5202 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5203 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5204 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5205 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5208 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5209 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5210 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5211 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5212 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5215 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5216 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5217 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5218 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5219 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5220 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5221 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5222 The default is @code{t}.
5225 @node Generic Marking Commands
5226 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5228 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5229 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5230 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5231 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5232 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5235 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
5236 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5239 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5240 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5241 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5242 to list in this manual.
5244 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5245 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5246 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5247 article, you could say something like:
5250 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5251 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5252 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
5258 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5259 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
5263 @node Setting Process Marks
5264 @subsection Setting Process Marks
5265 @cindex setting process marks
5272 @kindex M P p (Summary)
5273 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
5274 Mark the current article with the process mark
5275 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
5276 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
5280 @kindex M P u (Summary)
5281 @kindex M-# (Summary)
5282 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
5283 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
5286 @kindex M P U (Summary)
5287 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
5288 Remove the process mark from all articles
5289 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
5292 @kindex M P i (Summary)
5293 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
5294 Invert the list of process marked articles
5295 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
5298 @kindex M P R (Summary)
5299 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
5300 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5301 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
5304 @kindex M P G (Summary)
5305 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
5306 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5307 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
5310 @kindex M P r (Summary)
5311 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
5312 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
5315 @kindex M P t (Summary)
5316 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5317 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5318 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5321 @kindex M P T (Summary)
5322 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5323 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5324 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5327 @kindex M P v (Summary)
5328 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
5329 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
5330 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
5333 @kindex M P s (Summary)
5334 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
5335 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5338 @kindex M P S (Summary)
5339 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
5340 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
5341 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
5344 @kindex M P a (Summary)
5345 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
5346 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5349 @kindex M P b (Summary)
5350 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
5351 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
5352 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
5355 @kindex M P k (Summary)
5356 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
5357 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
5358 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
5361 @kindex M P y (Summary)
5362 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
5363 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
5364 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
5367 @kindex M P w (Summary)
5368 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
5369 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
5370 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
5374 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
5375 set process marks based on article body contents.
5382 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
5383 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
5384 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
5387 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
5388 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
5389 additional articles.
5395 @kindex / / (Summary)
5396 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
5397 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
5398 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
5401 @kindex / a (Summary)
5402 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
5403 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
5404 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
5407 @kindex / x (Summary)
5408 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
5409 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
5410 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
5411 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}).
5415 @kindex / u (Summary)
5417 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
5418 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
5419 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
5420 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
5421 dormant articles will also be excluded.
5424 @kindex / m (Summary)
5425 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
5426 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
5427 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
5430 @kindex / t (Summary)
5431 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
5432 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
5433 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
5434 articles younger than that number of days.
5437 @kindex / n (Summary)
5438 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
5439 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
5440 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
5441 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5444 @kindex / w (Summary)
5445 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
5446 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
5447 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
5451 @kindex / v (Summary)
5452 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
5453 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
5454 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
5458 @kindex M S (Summary)
5459 @kindex / E (Summary)
5460 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
5461 Include all expunged articles in the limit
5462 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
5465 @kindex / D (Summary)
5466 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
5467 Include all dormant articles in the limit
5468 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
5471 @kindex / * (Summary)
5472 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
5473 Include all cached articles in the limit
5474 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
5477 @kindex / d (Summary)
5478 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
5479 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
5480 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
5483 @kindex / M (Summary)
5484 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
5485 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
5488 @kindex / T (Summary)
5489 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
5490 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
5493 @kindex / c (Summary)
5494 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
5495 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
5496 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
5499 @kindex / C (Summary)
5500 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
5501 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
5502 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
5503 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
5511 @cindex article threading
5513 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
5514 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
5515 hierarchical fashion.
5517 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
5518 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
5519 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
5520 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
5521 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
5522 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
5523 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
5525 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
5529 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
5532 A tree-like article structure.
5535 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
5538 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
5539 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
5540 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
5541 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
5542 called loose threads.
5544 @item thread gathering
5545 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
5547 @item sparse threads
5548 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
5549 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
5555 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
5556 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
5560 @node Customizing Threading
5561 @subsection Customizing Threading
5562 @cindex customizing threading
5565 * Loose Threads:: How gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
5566 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
5567 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
5568 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
5573 @subsubsection Loose Threads
5576 @cindex loose threads
5579 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
5580 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
5581 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
5582 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
5583 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
5584 read or killed the root in a previous session.
5586 When there is no real root of a thread, gnus will have to fudge
5587 something. This variable says what fudging method gnus should use.
5588 There are four possible values:
5592 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
5593 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-adopt.ps,width=7.5cm}}
5594 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-empty.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5595 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-none.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5596 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-dummy.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5601 @cindex adopting articles
5606 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
5607 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
5608 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
5609 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
5612 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
5613 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
5614 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
5615 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
5616 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
5617 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
5618 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
5621 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
5622 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
5623 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
5627 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
5628 display them after one another.
5631 Don't gather loose threads.
5634 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
5635 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
5636 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
5637 variable is @code{nil}, gnus requires an exact match between the
5638 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
5639 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
5640 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
5641 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
5642 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
5643 variable to a really low number, you'll find that gnus will gather
5644 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
5646 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
5647 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, gnus will
5648 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
5651 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
5652 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
5653 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
5654 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
5655 simplification is used.
5657 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5658 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5659 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
5660 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
5662 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
5664 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5670 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
5671 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
5672 "answer" "reference" "announce"
5673 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
5678 (mapconcat 'identity
5679 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
5681 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
5684 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
5687 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
5688 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
5689 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
5690 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
5691 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
5692 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
5694 Useful functions to put in this list include:
5697 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
5698 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
5699 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
5701 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
5702 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
5705 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
5706 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
5707 Remove excessive whitespace.
5710 You may also write your own functions, of course.
5713 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
5714 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
5715 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
5716 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
5717 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
5718 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
5719 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
5720 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
5722 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5723 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5724 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
5725 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
5726 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
5727 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
5728 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
5729 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
5730 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
5734 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5735 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5736 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
5737 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
5739 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5740 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5741 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
5744 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
5748 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5749 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
5755 @node Filling In Threads
5756 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
5759 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
5760 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
5761 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
5762 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
5763 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
5764 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
5765 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
5766 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
5767 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
5768 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
5769 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
5770 expired by the server, there's not much gnus can do about that.
5772 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
5773 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
5774 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
5776 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
5777 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
5778 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
5779 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
5780 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
5781 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
5782 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where gnus guesses that an article
5783 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
5784 lines. If you select a gap, gnus will try to fetch the article in
5785 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, gnus will display all these
5786 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
5787 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, gnus won't cut
5788 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
5789 @code{nil} by default.
5794 @node More Threading
5795 @subsubsection More Threading
5798 @item gnus-show-threads
5799 @vindex gnus-show-threads
5800 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
5801 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
5802 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
5803 slower and more awkward.
5805 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5806 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5807 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
5810 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
5811 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
5812 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
5813 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
5814 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
5815 threads are expunged.
5817 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
5818 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
5819 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
5822 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5823 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5824 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
5825 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
5826 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
5827 result in a new thread.
5829 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
5830 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
5831 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
5834 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
5835 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
5836 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
5837 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
5838 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
5839 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
5840 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
5841 Setting this variable to an alternate value
5842 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
5843 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
5844 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
5849 @node Low-Level Threading
5850 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
5854 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
5855 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
5856 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
5857 @code{(gnus-set-summary-default-charset)}, which sets up local value of
5858 @code{default-mime-charset} in summary buffer based on variable
5859 @code{gnus-newsgroup-default-charset-alist}.
5861 @item gnus-alter-header-function
5862 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
5863 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
5864 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
5865 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
5866 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
5867 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
5868 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
5869 meaningful. Here's one example:
5872 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
5874 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
5875 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
5877 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
5879 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
5886 @node Thread Commands
5887 @subsection Thread Commands
5888 @cindex thread commands
5894 @kindex T k (Summary)
5895 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
5896 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
5897 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
5898 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
5899 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
5904 @kindex T l (Summary)
5905 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
5906 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
5907 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
5908 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
5911 @kindex T i (Summary)
5912 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
5913 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
5914 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
5917 @kindex T # (Summary)
5918 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5919 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
5920 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5923 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
5924 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5925 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
5926 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5929 @kindex T T (Summary)
5930 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
5931 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
5934 @kindex T s (Summary)
5935 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
5936 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
5937 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
5940 @kindex T h (Summary)
5941 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
5942 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
5945 @kindex T S (Summary)
5946 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
5947 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
5950 @kindex T H (Summary)
5951 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
5952 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
5955 @kindex T t (Summary)
5956 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
5957 Re-thread the current article's thread
5958 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
5959 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
5962 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
5963 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
5964 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
5965 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
5969 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
5970 understand the numeric prefix.
5975 @kindex T n (Summary)
5977 @kindex M-C-n (Summary)
5979 @kindex M-down (Summary)
5980 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
5981 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
5984 @kindex T p (Summary)
5986 @kindex M-C-p (Summary)
5988 @kindex M-up (Summary)
5989 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
5990 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
5993 @kindex T d (Summary)
5994 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
5995 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
5998 @kindex T u (Summary)
5999 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6000 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6003 @kindex T o (Summary)
6004 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6005 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6008 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6009 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6010 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6011 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6012 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6013 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6014 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6015 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6016 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6017 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6018 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6019 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6023 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6024 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6026 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6027 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6028 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6029 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6030 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6031 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6032 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6033 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6034 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6035 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6036 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6038 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6039 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6040 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6041 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
6042 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6044 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6045 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6046 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6048 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6049 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6050 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6051 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6052 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6053 ascending article order.
6055 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6056 by number, you could do something like:
6059 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6060 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6061 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6062 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6065 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6066 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6067 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6068 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6069 which the articles arrived.
6071 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6075 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6077 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6078 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6081 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6082 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6083 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6084 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6087 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6088 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6089 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6090 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6091 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6092 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6093 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
6094 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
6095 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
6096 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
6097 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6098 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
6099 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6101 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6105 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6106 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6107 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6112 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6113 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6114 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6115 @cindex article pre-fetch
6118 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6119 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6120 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6121 article appears. Why can't gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6122 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6124 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6125 article fetching, especially the way gnus does it.
6127 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6128 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6129 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6130 article 3, but since gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6131 connection is blocked.
6133 To avoid these situations, gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6134 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6135 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6136 extra connection takes some time, so gnus startup will be slower.
6138 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6139 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6140 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6141 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6144 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
6147 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6148 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6149 happen automatically.
6151 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6152 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6153 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6154 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
6155 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
6156 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6157 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6159 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6160 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6161 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6162 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
6163 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
6164 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
6165 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
6166 data structure as the only parameter.
6168 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
6171 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
6172 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
6173 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
6174 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
6177 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
6180 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
6181 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down gnus too much.
6182 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
6184 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
6185 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
6186 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
6187 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
6191 Remove articles when they are read.
6194 Remove articles when exiting the group.
6197 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
6199 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
6200 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
6201 @c from the next group.
6204 @node Article Caching
6205 @section Article Caching
6206 @cindex article caching
6209 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
6210 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
6211 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
6212 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
6213 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
6215 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
6217 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6218 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
6219 @vindex gnus-use-cache
6220 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
6221 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
6222 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
6223 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
6224 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
6226 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
6227 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
6228 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
6229 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
6230 as dormant, and don't worry.
6232 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
6234 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
6235 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
6236 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
6237 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
6238 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
6239 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
6240 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
6241 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
6242 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
6243 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
6245 @findex gnus-jog-cache
6246 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
6247 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
6248 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
6249 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
6250 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
6251 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
6252 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
6253 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
6254 not then be downloaded by this command.
6256 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
6257 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
6258 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
6259 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
6260 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
6261 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
6263 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
6264 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
6265 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
6266 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
6267 variables, the group is not cached.
6269 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
6270 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
6271 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
6272 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
6273 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
6274 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, gnus
6275 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
6276 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
6277 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
6281 @node Persistent Articles
6282 @section Persistent Articles
6283 @cindex persistent articles
6285 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
6286 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
6287 useful in my opinion.
6289 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
6290 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
6291 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
6292 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
6293 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
6294 the expiry going on at the news server.
6296 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
6297 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
6298 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
6304 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
6305 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
6308 @kindex M-* (Summary)
6309 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
6310 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
6311 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
6315 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
6317 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
6318 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
6319 interested in persistent articles:
6322 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
6326 @node Article Backlog
6327 @section Article Backlog
6329 @cindex article backlog
6331 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
6332 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
6333 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where gnus will buffer
6334 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
6335 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
6336 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
6337 that, turning the backlog on will slow gnus down a little bit, and
6338 increase memory usage some.
6340 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
6341 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, gnus will store
6342 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
6343 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, gnus will store
6344 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
6345 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
6346 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
6348 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
6351 @node Saving Articles
6352 @section Saving Articles
6353 @cindex saving articles
6355 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
6356 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
6357 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
6358 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
6359 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
6361 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
6362 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, gnus will not delete
6363 unwanted headers before saving the article.
6365 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
6366 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
6367 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
6368 deleted before saving.
6374 @kindex O o (Summary)
6376 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
6377 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
6378 Save the current article using the default article saver
6379 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
6382 @kindex O m (Summary)
6383 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
6384 Save the current article in mail format
6385 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
6388 @kindex O r (Summary)
6389 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
6390 Save the current article in rmail format
6391 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
6394 @kindex O f (Summary)
6395 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
6396 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
6397 Save the current article in plain file format
6398 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
6401 @kindex O F (Summary)
6402 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
6403 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
6404 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
6407 @kindex O b (Summary)
6408 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
6409 Save the current article body in plain file format
6410 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
6413 @kindex O h (Summary)
6414 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
6415 Save the current article in mh folder format
6416 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
6419 @kindex O v (Summary)
6420 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
6421 Save the current article in a VM folder
6422 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
6425 @kindex O p (Summary)
6426 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
6427 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
6428 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
6431 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
6432 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
6433 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
6434 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
6435 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
6436 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
6437 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
6438 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
6439 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
6440 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
6441 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
6442 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
6446 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
6447 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
6448 gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
6449 functions below, or you can create your own.
6453 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6454 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6455 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
6456 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
6457 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
6458 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6459 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6461 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6462 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6463 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
6464 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
6465 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6466 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6468 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
6469 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
6470 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
6471 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
6472 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
6473 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6474 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
6476 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
6477 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
6478 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
6479 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6480 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
6482 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
6483 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
6484 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
6485 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
6486 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
6489 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
6490 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
6491 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
6492 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
6493 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
6495 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
6496 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
6497 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
6498 reader to use this setting.
6501 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
6502 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
6503 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
6504 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
6507 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
6508 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
6509 available functions that generate names:
6513 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
6514 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
6515 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
6517 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
6518 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
6519 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
6521 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
6522 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
6523 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
6525 @item gnus-plain-save-name
6526 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
6527 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
6529 @item gnus-sender-save-name
6530 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
6531 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
6534 @vindex gnus-split-methods
6535 You can have gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
6536 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
6537 save articles related to gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
6538 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
6542 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
6543 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
6544 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
6545 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
6548 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
6549 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
6550 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
6551 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
6552 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
6553 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
6554 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
6555 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
6556 called returns a string or a list of strings.
6558 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
6559 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
6560 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
6561 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
6563 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
6564 means that gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
6565 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
6568 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
6569 lots of mail groups called things like
6570 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
6571 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
6572 following will do just that:
6575 (defun my-save-name (group)
6576 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
6577 (substring group (match-end 0))))
6579 (setq gnus-split-methods
6580 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
6585 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6586 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
6587 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
6588 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
6589 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
6590 all the files in the top level directory
6591 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
6592 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
6593 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
6594 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
6596 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
6597 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
6598 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
6599 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
6600 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
6603 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
6607 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
6608 (setq gnus-default-article-saver 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
6611 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
6612 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
6613 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
6614 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
6617 @node Decoding Articles
6618 @section Decoding Articles
6619 @cindex decoding articles
6621 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
6622 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
6625 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
6626 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
6627 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
6628 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
6629 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
6630 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
6634 @cindex article series
6635 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
6636 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
6637 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
6638 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
6639 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
6641 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
6642 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
6643 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
6645 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, gnus
6646 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
6647 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
6649 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
6650 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
6651 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
6654 @node Uuencoded Articles
6655 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
6657 @cindex uuencoded articles
6662 @kindex X u (Summary)
6663 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
6664 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
6665 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
6668 @kindex X U (Summary)
6669 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
6670 Uudecodes and saves the current series
6671 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
6674 @kindex X v u (Summary)
6675 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
6676 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
6679 @kindex X v U (Summary)
6680 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
6681 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
6682 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
6686 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
6687 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
6688 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
6689 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
6690 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
6692 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
6693 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
6694 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
6695 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
6698 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
6699 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
6700 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
6701 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
6702 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
6703 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
6707 @node Shell Archives
6708 @subsection Shell Archives
6710 @cindex shell archives
6711 @cindex shared articles
6713 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
6714 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
6715 some commands to deal with these:
6720 @kindex X s (Summary)
6721 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
6722 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
6725 @kindex X S (Summary)
6726 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
6727 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
6730 @kindex X v s (Summary)
6731 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
6732 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
6735 @kindex X v S (Summary)
6736 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
6737 Unshars, views and saves the current series
6738 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
6742 @node PostScript Files
6743 @subsection PostScript Files
6749 @kindex X p (Summary)
6750 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
6751 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
6754 @kindex X P (Summary)
6755 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
6756 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
6757 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
6760 @kindex X v p (Summary)
6761 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
6762 View the current PostScript series
6763 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
6766 @kindex X v P (Summary)
6767 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
6768 View and save the current PostScript series
6769 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
6774 @subsection Other Files
6778 @kindex X o (Summary)
6779 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
6780 Save the current series
6781 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
6784 @kindex X b (Summary)
6785 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
6786 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
6787 doesn't really work yet.
6791 @node Decoding Variables
6792 @subsection Decoding Variables
6794 Adjective, not verb.
6797 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
6798 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
6799 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
6803 @node Rule Variables
6804 @subsubsection Rule Variables
6805 @cindex rule variables
6807 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
6808 variables are of the form
6811 (list '(regexp1 command2)
6818 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6819 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6821 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
6822 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
6825 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6826 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
6829 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6830 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6831 This variable is consulted if gnus couldn't make any matches from the
6832 user and default view rules.
6834 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6835 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6836 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
6841 @node Other Decode Variables
6842 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
6845 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6847 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6848 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
6849 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
6850 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
6851 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
6855 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
6856 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
6859 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
6860 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
6861 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
6864 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6865 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6866 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
6867 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
6868 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
6871 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6872 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6873 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
6875 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6876 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6877 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
6878 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
6879 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
6882 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6883 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6884 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
6886 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6887 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6888 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
6889 looking for files to display.
6891 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
6892 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
6893 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
6896 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6897 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6898 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
6901 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6902 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6903 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
6906 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6907 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6908 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
6911 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6912 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6913 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
6914 decoded articles as unread.
6916 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6917 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6918 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
6919 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
6921 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6922 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6923 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
6925 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6926 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6928 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
6929 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
6930 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
6931 @code{metamail} for viewing.
6933 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6934 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6935 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
6936 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
6937 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
6938 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
6939 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
6940 simply dropped them.
6945 @node Uuencoding and Posting
6946 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
6950 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6951 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6952 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
6953 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
6954 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
6955 for you when you post the article.
6957 @item gnus-uu-post-length
6958 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
6959 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
6960 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
6962 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
6963 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
6964 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
6965 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
6966 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
6967 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
6968 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
6970 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6971 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6972 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
6973 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
6974 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
6975 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
6976 Default is @code{t}.
6982 @subsection Viewing Files
6983 @cindex viewing files
6984 @cindex pseudo-articles
6986 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, gnus will attempt
6987 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
6988 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
6989 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, gnus will
6990 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
6991 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
6992 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
6994 Finally, gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
6995 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
6996 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
6997 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
6999 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7000 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7001 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7003 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7004 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7005 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7006 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7007 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7009 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7010 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7011 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7012 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7013 a list of parameters to that command.
7015 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7016 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7017 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7019 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7020 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7021 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7024 @node Article Treatment
7025 @section Article Treatment
7027 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7028 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7029 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7030 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7031 these articles easier.
7034 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7035 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7036 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7037 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7038 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7039 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7040 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7041 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7045 @node Article Highlighting
7046 @subsection Article Highlighting
7047 @cindex highlighting
7049 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7050 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7055 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7056 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7057 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7058 Do much highlighting of the current article
7059 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7060 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7063 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7064 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7065 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7066 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7067 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7068 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7069 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7070 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7071 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7072 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7073 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7074 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7077 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7078 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7079 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7081 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7084 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7086 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7087 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7088 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7090 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7091 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7092 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7094 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7095 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7096 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7097 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7098 gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7099 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7101 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7102 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7103 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
7105 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7106 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7107 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
7109 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7110 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7111 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7112 that it's a citation.
7114 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7115 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7116 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7118 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7119 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7120 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7122 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7123 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7124 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7125 cited text belonging to the attribution.
7131 @kindex W H s (Summary)
7132 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7133 @vindex gnus-signature-face
7134 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
7135 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
7136 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
7137 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
7138 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
7143 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
7146 @node Article Fontisizing
7147 @subsection Article Fontisizing
7149 @cindex article emphasis
7151 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
7152 @kindex W e (Summary)
7153 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
7154 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
7155 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
7156 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
7158 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
7159 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
7160 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
7161 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
7162 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
7163 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
7164 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
7165 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
7169 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
7170 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
7171 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
7180 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
7181 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
7182 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
7183 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
7184 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
7185 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
7186 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
7187 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
7188 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
7189 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
7190 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
7191 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
7192 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
7194 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
7195 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
7196 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
7200 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
7203 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
7205 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
7206 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
7207 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
7208 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
7210 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
7213 @node Article Hiding
7214 @subsection Article Hiding
7215 @cindex article hiding
7217 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
7218 too much cruft in most articles.
7223 @kindex W W a (Summary)
7224 @findex gnus-article-hide
7225 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
7226 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
7227 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
7230 @kindex W W h (Summary)
7231 @findex gnus-article-toggle-headers
7232 Toggle hiding of headers (@code{gnus-article-toggle-headers}). @xref{Hiding
7236 @kindex W W b (Summary)
7237 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7238 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
7239 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
7242 @kindex W W s (Summary)
7243 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
7244 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
7248 @kindex W W l (Summary)
7249 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
7250 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7251 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
7252 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
7253 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
7254 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
7255 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
7259 @item gnus-list-identifiers
7260 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7261 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
7262 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
7267 @kindex W W p (Summary)
7268 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
7269 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7270 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
7271 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
7272 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
7273 articles that have signatures in them do:
7275 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
7277 (setq gnus-treat-strip-pgp t)
7279 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
7280 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
7282 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7285 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
7290 @kindex W W P (Summary)
7291 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
7292 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
7293 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
7296 @kindex W W B (Summary)
7297 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
7300 @cindex stripping advertisements
7301 @cindex advertisements
7302 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
7303 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
7304 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
7305 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
7306 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
7307 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
7308 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
7309 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
7310 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
7311 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
7315 @kindex W W c (Summary)
7316 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
7317 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
7318 customizing the hiding:
7322 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7323 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7324 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7325 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7326 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
7327 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
7328 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
7333 Starting point of the hidden text.
7335 Ending point of the hidden text.
7337 Number of characters in the hidden region.
7339 Number of lines of hidden text.
7342 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
7343 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
7344 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
7345 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
7346 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
7351 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
7352 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
7354 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
7355 following two variables:
7358 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7359 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7360 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
7361 50), hide the cited text.
7363 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7364 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7365 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
7370 @kindex W W C (Summary)
7371 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
7372 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
7373 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
7374 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
7375 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
7379 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
7380 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
7381 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
7383 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
7384 citation customization.
7386 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
7390 @node Article Washing
7391 @subsection Article Washing
7393 @cindex article washing
7395 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
7396 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
7398 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
7399 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
7402 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
7403 articles by default.
7408 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
7409 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
7413 @kindex W l (Summary)
7414 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
7415 Remove page breaks from the current article
7416 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
7420 @kindex W r (Summary)
7421 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
7422 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
7423 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
7424 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
7425 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
7426 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
7428 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
7429 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
7430 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
7431 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
7435 @kindex W t (Summary)
7437 @findex gnus-article-toggle-headers
7438 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
7439 (@code{gnus-article-toggle-headers}).
7442 @kindex W v (Summary)
7443 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
7444 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
7445 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
7448 @kindex W m (Summary)
7449 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
7450 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
7451 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
7454 @kindex W o (Summary)
7455 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
7456 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
7459 @kindex W d (Summary)
7460 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
7461 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
7463 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
7465 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
7466 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
7467 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
7468 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
7471 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
7472 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
7473 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
7474 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
7477 @kindex W w (Summary)
7478 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
7479 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
7481 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
7485 @kindex W Q (Summary)
7486 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
7487 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
7490 @kindex W C (Summary)
7491 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
7492 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
7493 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
7496 @kindex W c (Summary)
7497 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
7498 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
7499 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
7500 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
7501 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
7504 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
7505 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
7506 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
7507 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
7508 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that the this is usually done
7509 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
7510 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
7514 @kindex W Z (Summary)
7515 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
7516 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
7517 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
7518 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
7521 @kindex W h (Summary)
7522 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
7523 Treat HTML (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}).
7524 Note that the this is usually done automatically by Gnus if the message
7525 in question has a @code{Content-Type} header that says that this type
7529 @kindex W f (Summary)
7531 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
7532 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
7533 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
7534 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
7541 Look for and display any X-Face headers
7542 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
7543 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
7544 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
7545 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
7546 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
7547 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
7548 The default action under Emacs is to fork off the @code{display}
7549 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For the
7550 @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
7551 like `compface' or `faces-xface' on a GNU/Linux system.}
7552 to view the face. Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image
7553 support, the default action is to display the face before the
7554 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
7555 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
7556 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
7557 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
7558 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
7559 like @code{netpbm} or @code{libgr-progs}.}) If you
7560 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
7564 @kindex W b (Summary)
7565 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
7566 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
7567 @xref{Article Buttons}.
7570 @kindex W B (Summary)
7571 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
7572 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
7573 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
7576 @kindex W W H (Summary)
7577 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body
7578 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
7579 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body}).
7582 @kindex W E l (Summary)
7583 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
7584 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
7585 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
7588 @kindex W E m (Summary)
7589 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
7590 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
7591 lines with a single empty line.
7592 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
7595 @kindex W E t (Summary)
7596 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
7597 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
7598 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
7601 @kindex W E a (Summary)
7602 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
7603 Do all the three commands above
7604 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
7607 @kindex W E A (Summary)
7608 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
7609 Remove all blank lines
7610 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
7613 @kindex W E s (Summary)
7614 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
7615 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
7616 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
7619 @kindex W E e (Summary)
7620 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
7621 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
7622 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
7626 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
7629 @node Article Buttons
7630 @subsection Article Buttons
7633 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
7634 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
7635 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
7636 button on these references.
7638 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
7639 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
7640 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
7645 @item gnus-button-alist
7646 @vindex gnus-button-alist
7647 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
7650 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
7656 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
7657 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
7658 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
7661 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
7662 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
7663 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
7666 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
7667 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
7668 avoid false matches.
7671 This function will be called when you click on this button.
7674 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
7675 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
7679 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
7682 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
7685 @item gnus-header-button-alist
7686 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
7687 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
7688 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
7689 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
7692 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
7695 @var{header} is a regular expression.
7697 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
7698 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
7699 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
7700 default values of the variables above.
7702 @item gnus-article-button-face
7703 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
7704 Face used on buttons.
7706 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
7707 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
7708 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
7712 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
7716 @subsection Article Date
7718 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
7719 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
7720 when the article was sent.
7725 @kindex W T u (Summary)
7726 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
7727 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
7728 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
7731 @kindex W T i (Summary)
7732 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
7734 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
7735 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
7738 @kindex W T l (Summary)
7739 @findex gnus-article-date-local
7740 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
7743 @kindex W T p (Summary)
7744 @findex gnus-article-date-english
7745 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
7746 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
7749 @kindex W T s (Summary)
7750 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
7751 @findex gnus-article-date-user
7752 @findex format-time-string
7753 Display the date using a user-defined format
7754 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
7755 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
7756 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
7757 for a list of possible format specs.
7760 @kindex W T e (Summary)
7761 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
7762 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
7763 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
7764 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
7765 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
7768 X-Sent: 9 years, 6 weeks, 4 days, 9 hours, 3 minutes, 28 seconds ago
7771 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
7772 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
7775 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
7776 into wonderful absurdities.
7778 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
7781 (gnus-start-date-timer)
7784 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
7785 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
7789 @kindex W T o (Summary)
7790 @findex gnus-article-date-original
7791 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
7792 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
7793 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
7794 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
7795 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
7799 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
7800 preferred format automatically.
7803 @node Article Signature
7804 @subsection Article Signature
7806 @cindex article signature
7808 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7809 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
7810 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
7811 that says what is to be considered a signature is
7812 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
7813 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
7814 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
7815 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
7816 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
7819 (setq gnus-signature-separator
7820 '("^-- $" ; The standard
7821 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
7822 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
7823 ; line of dashes. Shame!
7824 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
7825 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
7826 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
7829 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
7832 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
7833 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
7834 signature when displaying articles.
7838 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
7841 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
7844 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
7845 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
7847 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
7848 in question is not a signature.
7851 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
7852 listed above. Here's an example:
7855 (setq gnus-signature-limit
7856 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
7859 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
7860 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
7861 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
7862 signature after all.
7865 @node Article Miscellania
7866 @subsection Article Miscellania
7870 @kindex A t (Summary)
7871 @findex gnus-article-babel
7872 Translate the article from one language to another
7873 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
7879 @section @sc{mime} Commands
7880 @cindex MIME decoding
7882 @cindex viewing attachments
7884 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
7885 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
7891 @kindex K v (Summary)
7892 View the @sc{mime} part.
7895 @kindex K o (Summary)
7896 Save the @sc{mime} part.
7899 @kindex K c (Summary)
7900 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
7903 @kindex K e (Summary)
7904 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
7907 @kindex K i (Summary)
7908 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
7911 @kindex K | (Summary)
7912 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
7915 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
7920 @kindex K b (Summary)
7921 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
7922 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
7926 @kindex K m (Summary)
7927 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
7928 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
7929 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
7930 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
7931 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
7934 @kindex X m (Summary)
7935 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
7936 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
7937 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
7938 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7941 @kindex M-t (Summary)
7942 @findex gnus-summary-display-buttonized
7943 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
7944 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
7947 @kindex W M w (Summary)
7948 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
7949 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
7952 @kindex W M c (Summary)
7953 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
7954 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
7956 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
7957 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
7958 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
7959 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not include
7960 MIME headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic parameter to
7961 the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
7964 @kindex W M v (Summary)
7965 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
7966 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
7973 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
7974 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
7975 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
7976 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
7979 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
7982 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
7986 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
7987 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
7988 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
7989 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
7990 displayed. The default value is @code{(".*/.*")}.
7992 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
7993 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
7994 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
7995 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
7996 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
7997 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
7998 save all jpegs into some directory).
8000 Here's an example function the does the latter:
8003 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
8004 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
8006 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
8007 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
8008 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
8009 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
8010 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
8013 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8014 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8015 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
8024 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
8025 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
8026 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
8027 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
8028 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
8029 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
8030 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
8032 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
8033 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
8034 variable, which is an alist of regexps (to match full group names) and
8035 default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
8037 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
8038 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1} even
8039 if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
8040 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
8041 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be set
8042 on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
8043 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit)}, which is
8044 something some agents insist on having in there.
8046 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
8047 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
8048 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
8049 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
8050 quoted-printable header encoding.
8052 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
8053 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
8054 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
8058 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
8061 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
8062 means encode all charsets),
8064 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
8065 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
8066 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
8073 @cindex coding system aliases
8074 @cindex preferred charset
8076 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
8078 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
8079 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
8082 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
8083 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
8086 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
8087 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
8089 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
8092 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
8095 This will almost do the right thing.
8097 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
8101 (codepage-setup 1251)
8102 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
8106 @node Article Commands
8107 @section Article Commands
8114 @kindex A P (Summary)
8115 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
8116 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
8117 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
8118 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
8119 run just before printing the buffer.
8124 @node Summary Sorting
8125 @section Summary Sorting
8126 @cindex summary sorting
8128 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
8129 can't really see why you'd want that.
8134 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
8135 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
8136 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
8139 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
8140 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
8141 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
8144 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
8145 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
8146 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
8149 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
8150 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
8151 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
8154 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
8155 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
8156 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
8159 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
8160 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
8161 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
8164 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
8165 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
8166 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
8169 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
8170 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
8171 Sort using the default sorting method
8172 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
8175 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
8176 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
8177 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
8178 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
8179 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
8183 @node Finding the Parent
8184 @section Finding the Parent
8185 @cindex parent articles
8186 @cindex referring articles
8191 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
8192 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
8193 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
8194 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
8195 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
8196 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
8197 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
8198 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
8199 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
8201 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
8202 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
8203 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, gnus will fetch the parent, the
8204 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
8205 @kbd{-3 ^}, gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
8209 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
8210 @kindex A R (Summary)
8211 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
8212 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
8215 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
8216 @kindex A T (Summary)
8217 Display the full thread where the current article appears
8218 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
8219 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
8220 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
8221 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
8222 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
8223 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
8225 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
8226 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
8227 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
8228 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
8229 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
8230 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
8233 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
8234 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
8236 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
8237 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
8238 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
8239 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
8240 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
8241 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
8242 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
8245 The current select method will be used when fetching by
8246 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
8247 by giving this command a prefix.
8249 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
8250 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
8251 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
8252 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
8253 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
8254 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
8257 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
8258 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
8259 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
8262 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
8263 then ask Deja if that fails:
8266 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
8268 (nnweb "refer" (nnweb-type dejanews))))
8271 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
8272 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
8273 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
8274 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
8275 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
8276 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
8279 @node Alternative Approaches
8280 @section Alternative Approaches
8282 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
8283 gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
8286 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
8287 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
8292 @subsection Pick and Read
8293 @cindex pick and read
8295 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
8296 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
8297 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
8298 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
8300 @findex gnus-pick-mode
8301 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
8302 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
8303 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
8304 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
8305 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
8307 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
8312 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
8313 Pick the article or thread on the current line
8314 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8315 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
8316 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
8317 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
8318 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
8319 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
8322 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
8323 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
8324 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
8325 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
8329 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
8330 Unpick the thread or article
8331 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8332 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
8333 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
8334 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
8335 the thread or article at that line.
8339 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
8340 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
8341 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
8342 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
8343 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
8344 will still be visible when you are reading.
8348 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
8349 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
8350 which is mapped to the same function
8351 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
8353 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
8356 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
8359 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
8360 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
8362 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
8363 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
8364 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
8366 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
8367 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
8368 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
8369 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
8370 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
8371 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
8372 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
8376 @subsection Binary Groups
8377 @cindex binary groups
8379 @findex gnus-binary-mode
8380 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
8381 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
8382 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
8383 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
8384 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
8385 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
8388 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
8389 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
8390 command, when you have turned on this mode
8391 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
8393 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
8394 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
8398 @section Tree Display
8401 @vindex gnus-use-trees
8402 If you don't like the normal gnus summary display, you might try setting
8403 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
8404 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
8407 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
8410 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
8411 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
8412 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
8414 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
8415 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
8416 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
8417 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
8418 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
8420 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
8421 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
8422 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
8423 default is @code{modeline}.
8425 @item gnus-tree-line-format
8426 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
8427 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
8428 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
8429 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
8430 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
8431 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
8437 The name of the poster.
8439 The @code{From} header.
8441 The number of the article.
8443 The opening bracket.
8445 The closing bracket.
8450 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
8452 Variables related to the display are:
8455 @item gnus-tree-brackets
8456 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
8457 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
8458 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
8459 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
8460 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
8462 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
8463 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
8464 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
8465 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
8469 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
8470 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
8471 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will try to keep the tree
8472 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other gnus
8473 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
8474 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
8475 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
8476 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
8477 other windows displayed next to it.
8479 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
8480 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
8481 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
8482 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
8483 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
8484 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
8485 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
8489 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
8492 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
8502 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
8506 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
8507 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
8509 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
8511 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
8516 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
8517 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
8518 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
8521 (setq gnus-use-trees t
8522 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
8523 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
8524 (gnus-add-configuration
8528 (summary 0.75 point)
8533 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
8536 @node Mail Group Commands
8537 @section Mail Group Commands
8538 @cindex mail group commands
8540 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
8541 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
8543 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
8544 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8549 @kindex B e (Summary)
8550 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
8551 Expire all expirable articles in the group
8552 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
8555 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
8556 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
8557 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
8558 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
8559 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
8560 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
8563 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
8564 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
8565 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
8566 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
8567 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
8568 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
8571 @kindex B m (Summary)
8573 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
8574 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
8575 Move the article from one mail group to another
8576 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
8577 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
8580 @kindex B c (Summary)
8582 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
8583 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
8584 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
8585 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
8586 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
8589 @kindex B B (Summary)
8590 @cindex crosspost mail
8591 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
8592 Crosspost the current article to some other group
8593 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
8594 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
8595 be properly updated.
8598 @kindex B i (Summary)
8599 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
8600 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
8601 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
8602 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
8605 @kindex B r (Summary)
8606 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
8607 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
8608 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
8609 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
8610 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
8611 Marks will be preserved if @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
8612 (which is the default).
8616 @kindex B w (Summary)
8618 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
8619 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
8620 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
8621 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
8622 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
8623 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, gnus won't re-highlight the article.
8626 @kindex B q (Summary)
8627 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
8628 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
8629 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
8630 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
8633 @kindex B t (Summary)
8634 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
8635 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
8636 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
8639 @kindex B p (Summary)
8640 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
8641 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
8642 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
8643 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
8644 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
8645 article from your news server (or rather, from
8646 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
8647 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
8648 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
8649 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
8650 just not have arrived yet.
8654 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
8655 @cindex moving articles
8656 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have gnus
8657 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
8658 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
8659 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
8660 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
8661 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
8662 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
8665 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
8666 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
8667 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
8668 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
8672 @node Various Summary Stuff
8673 @section Various Summary Stuff
8676 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
8677 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
8678 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
8679 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
8683 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
8684 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
8685 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
8687 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
8688 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
8689 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
8690 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
8691 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
8692 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
8695 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
8696 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
8697 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
8698 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
8699 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
8701 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
8702 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
8703 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
8706 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
8707 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
8708 When gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
8709 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
8710 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
8711 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
8712 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), gnus will rename the
8713 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
8714 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
8715 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
8717 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
8718 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
8719 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
8720 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
8721 list of articles to be selected.
8723 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
8724 the list in one particular group:
8727 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
8728 (if (string= group "some.group")
8729 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
8736 @node Summary Group Information
8737 @subsection Summary Group Information
8742 @kindex H f (Summary)
8743 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
8744 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
8745 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
8746 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
8747 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
8748 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
8749 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
8750 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
8751 be used for fetching the file.
8754 @kindex H d (Summary)
8755 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
8756 Give a brief description of the current group
8757 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
8758 rereading the description from the server.
8761 @kindex H h (Summary)
8762 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
8763 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
8764 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
8767 @kindex H i (Summary)
8768 @findex gnus-info-find-node
8769 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
8773 @node Searching for Articles
8774 @subsection Searching for Articles
8779 @kindex M-s (Summary)
8780 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
8781 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
8782 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
8785 @kindex M-r (Summary)
8786 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
8787 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
8788 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
8792 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
8793 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
8794 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
8795 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
8796 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
8797 search backward instead.
8799 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
8800 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
8803 @kindex M-& (Summary)
8804 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
8805 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
8806 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
8809 @node Summary Generation Commands
8810 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
8815 @kindex Y g (Summary)
8816 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
8817 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
8820 @kindex Y c (Summary)
8821 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
8822 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
8823 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
8828 @node Really Various Summary Commands
8829 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
8835 @kindex C-d (Summary)
8836 @kindex A D (Summary)
8837 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
8838 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
8839 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
8840 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
8841 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
8842 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
8843 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
8844 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
8848 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
8849 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
8850 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
8851 several documents into one biiig group
8852 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
8853 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
8854 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
8855 command understands the process/prefix convention
8856 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8859 @kindex C-t (Summary)
8860 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
8861 Toggle truncation of summary lines
8862 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
8863 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
8864 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
8868 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
8869 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
8870 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
8873 @kindex M-C-e (Summary)
8874 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
8875 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
8876 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
8879 @kindex M-C-a (Summary)
8880 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
8881 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
8882 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
8887 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
8888 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
8889 @cindex summary exit
8890 @cindex exiting groups
8892 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
8893 group and return you to the group buffer.
8899 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
8901 @findex gnus-summary-exit
8902 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
8903 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
8904 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
8905 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
8906 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
8907 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
8908 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
8909 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
8910 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
8911 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
8915 @kindex Z E (Summary)
8917 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
8918 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
8919 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
8923 @kindex Z c (Summary)
8925 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
8926 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
8927 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
8928 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
8931 @kindex Z C (Summary)
8932 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
8933 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
8934 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
8937 @kindex Z n (Summary)
8938 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
8939 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
8940 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
8943 @kindex Z R (Summary)
8944 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
8945 Exit this group, and then enter it again
8946 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
8947 all articles, both read and unread.
8951 @kindex Z G (Summary)
8952 @kindex M-g (Summary)
8953 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
8954 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
8955 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
8956 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
8957 articles, both read and unread.
8960 @kindex Z N (Summary)
8961 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
8962 Exit the group and go to the next group
8963 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
8966 @kindex Z P (Summary)
8967 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
8968 Exit the group and go to the previous group
8969 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
8972 @kindex Z s (Summary)
8973 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
8974 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
8975 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
8976 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
8977 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
8980 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
8981 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
8982 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
8983 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
8985 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
8986 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
8987 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
8988 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
8989 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
8990 If you do that, gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
8991 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
8992 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
8993 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
8994 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
8995 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
8996 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
8998 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
9000 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
9001 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
9002 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
9003 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
9004 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
9005 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
9006 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
9007 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
9008 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
9011 @node Crosspost Handling
9012 @section Crosspost Handling
9016 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
9017 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
9018 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
9019 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
9020 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
9021 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
9024 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
9025 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
9026 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
9027 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
9028 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
9030 @cindex cross-posting
9033 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
9034 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
9035 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
9036 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
9037 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
9038 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
9039 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
9040 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
9041 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
9042 the cross reference mechanism.
9044 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
9045 @cindex overview.fmt
9046 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
9047 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
9048 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
9049 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
9050 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
9051 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
9054 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
9055 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
9056 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
9061 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
9064 @node Duplicate Suppression
9065 @section Duplicate Suppression
9067 By default, gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
9068 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
9069 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
9070 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
9075 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
9076 is evil and not very common.
9079 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
9080 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
9083 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
9084 different @sc{nntp} servers.
9087 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
9090 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
9091 well, but these four are the most common situations.
9093 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
9094 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
9095 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
9096 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
9097 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
9098 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
9099 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
9102 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
9103 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
9104 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
9105 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
9106 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
9110 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
9111 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
9112 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
9114 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
9115 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
9116 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
9117 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
9118 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single gnus
9119 session are suppressed.
9121 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
9122 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
9123 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
9124 suppression list. The default is 10000.
9126 @item gnus-duplicate-file
9127 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
9128 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
9129 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
9132 If you have a tendency to stop and start gnus often, setting
9133 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
9134 you leave gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
9135 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
9136 so that means that if you stop and start gnus often, you should set
9137 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
9138 to you to figure out, I think.
9143 Gnus is able to verify PGP or S/MIME signed messages or decrypt PGP
9148 To verify or decrypt PGP messages, you have to install mailcrypt or
9154 @item mm-verify-option
9155 @vindex mm-verify-option
9156 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
9157 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
9158 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
9160 @item mm-decrypt-option
9161 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
9162 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
9163 @code{always}, always decrypt @code{known}, only decrypt known
9164 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
9168 @node Article Buffer
9169 @chapter Article Buffer
9170 @cindex article buffer
9172 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
9173 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
9174 tell gnus otherwise.
9177 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
9178 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
9179 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
9180 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
9181 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
9185 @node Hiding Headers
9186 @section Hiding Headers
9187 @cindex hiding headers
9188 @cindex deleting headers
9190 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
9191 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
9193 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
9194 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
9195 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
9196 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
9197 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
9198 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
9199 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
9200 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
9201 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
9203 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
9207 @item gnus-visible-headers
9208 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
9209 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
9210 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
9211 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
9213 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
9214 the article and the subject, you'd say:
9217 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
9220 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
9223 @item gnus-ignored-headers
9224 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
9225 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
9226 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
9227 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
9228 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
9230 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} field
9231 and the @code{Xref} field, you might say:
9234 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
9237 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
9240 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
9241 variable will have no effect.
9245 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
9246 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
9247 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
9248 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
9249 the headers are to be displayed.
9251 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
9252 and then the subject, you might say something like:
9255 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
9258 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
9259 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
9261 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
9262 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
9263 You can hide further boring headers by setting
9264 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
9265 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
9266 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
9267 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
9270 These conditions are:
9273 Remove all empty headers.
9275 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
9276 @code{Newsgroups} header.
9278 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
9281 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
9284 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
9285 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
9287 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
9290 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
9292 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
9295 To include these three elements, you could say something like;
9298 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
9299 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
9302 This is also the default value for this variable.
9306 @section Using @sc{mime}
9309 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
9310 while people stand around yawning.
9312 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
9313 while all newsreaders die of fear.
9315 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
9316 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
9317 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
9319 @vindex gnus-show-mime
9320 @vindex gnus-article-display-method-for-mime
9321 @vindex gnus-strict-mime
9322 @findex gnus-article-display-mime-message
9323 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
9324 @code{gnus-article-display-method-for-mime}, which is
9325 @code{gnus-article-display-mime-message} by default. This function
9326 calls the SEMI MIME-View program to actually do the work. For more
9327 information on SEMI MIME-View, see its manual page (however it is not
9328 existed yet, sorry).
9330 Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
9331 @sc{mime} all the time. However, if @code{gnus-strict-mime} is
9332 non-@code{nil}, the @sc{mime} method will only be used if there are
9333 @sc{mime} headers in the article. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime}
9334 set, then you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article
9335 buffer. These can't be avoided.
9337 In GNUS or Gnus, it might be best to just use the toggling functions
9338 from the summary buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance,
9339 you enter the group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it,
9340 @sc{mime} has decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible
9341 sing-a-long song comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find
9342 the volume button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to
9343 look at you, and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you
9344 can't find the program to control the volume, and everybody else in the
9345 room suddenly decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel
9348 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
9350 To avoid such kind of situation, gnus stops to use
9351 @code{metamail-buffer}. So now, you can set @code{gnus-show-mime} to
9352 non-@code{nil} every-time, then you can push button in the article
9353 buffer when there are nobody else.
9355 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
9358 @node Customizing Articles
9359 @section Customizing Articles
9360 @cindex article customization
9362 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
9363 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
9364 called automatically when you select the articles.
9366 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
9367 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
9368 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
9369 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
9371 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
9372 for sensible values.
9376 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
9379 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
9382 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
9385 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
9388 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
9392 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
9393 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
9394 regexps in the list.
9397 A list where the first element is not a string:
9399 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
9400 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
9401 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
9405 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
9409 @code{mime}: Do this treatment if the value of @code{gnus-show-mime}' is
9414 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
9415 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
9416 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
9417 considered to contain just a single part.
9419 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
9420 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
9421 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
9422 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
9423 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
9424 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
9425 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
9427 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
9428 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
9429 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
9430 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
9433 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last)
9434 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
9435 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
9436 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
9437 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
9438 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
9439 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
9440 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
9441 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
9442 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
9443 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
9444 @item gnus-treat-strip-pgp (t, last, integer)
9445 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
9446 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
9447 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
9448 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
9449 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
9450 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
9451 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
9452 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
9453 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
9454 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
9455 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
9456 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
9457 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
9458 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
9459 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
9460 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
9461 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
9462 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
9463 @item gnus-treat-display-picons (head)
9464 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
9465 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
9466 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
9467 @item gnus-treat-translate
9468 @item gnus-treat-decode-article-as-default-mime-charset
9471 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
9472 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
9473 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
9474 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
9475 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
9479 @node Article Keymap
9480 @section Article Keymap
9482 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
9483 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
9484 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
9485 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
9488 A few additional keystrokes are available:
9493 @kindex SPACE (Article)
9494 @findex gnus-article-next-page
9495 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
9498 @kindex DEL (Article)
9499 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
9500 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
9503 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
9504 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
9505 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
9506 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
9507 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
9510 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
9511 @findex gnus-article-mail
9512 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
9513 given a prefix, include the mail.
9517 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
9518 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
9519 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
9523 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
9524 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
9525 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
9528 @kindex TAB (Article)
9529 @findex gnus-article-next-button
9530 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
9531 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
9534 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
9535 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
9536 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
9542 @section Misc Article
9546 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
9547 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
9548 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
9549 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
9552 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
9553 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
9555 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
9556 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
9558 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
9559 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
9560 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
9561 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
9562 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
9563 the contents of the article buffer.
9565 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
9566 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
9567 Hook called in article mode buffers.
9569 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
9570 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
9571 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
9572 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
9574 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
9575 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
9576 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
9577 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
9578 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
9583 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
9584 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
9587 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
9590 @vindex gnus-break-pages
9592 @item gnus-break-pages
9593 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
9594 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
9595 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
9596 paging will not be done.
9598 @item gnus-page-delimiter
9599 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
9600 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
9605 @node Composing Messages
9606 @chapter Composing Messages
9607 @cindex composing messages
9610 @cindex sending mail
9616 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
9617 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
9618 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
9619 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The
9620 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
9621 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
9624 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
9625 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
9626 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
9627 * Archived Messages:: Where gnus stores the messages you've sent.
9628 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
9629 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
9630 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
9631 * Using GPG:: How to use GPG and MML to sign and encrypt messages
9634 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
9635 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
9641 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
9644 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
9645 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
9646 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
9647 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
9649 @item gnus-add-to-list
9650 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
9651 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
9652 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
9657 @node Posting Server
9658 @section Posting Server
9660 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
9661 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
9663 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
9665 @vindex gnus-post-method
9667 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will post using the same
9668 select method as you're reading from (which might be convenient if
9669 you're reading lots of groups from different private servers).
9670 However. If the server you're reading from doesn't allow posting,
9671 just reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
9672 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
9673 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
9676 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
9679 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
9680 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
9681 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
9682 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behaviour, for posting.
9684 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
9685 gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
9687 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
9688 If that's the case, gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
9691 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
9692 you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
9696 @section Mail and Post
9698 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
9702 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
9703 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
9704 @cindex mailing lists
9706 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
9707 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
9708 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
9709 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
9710 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
9711 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
9712 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
9713 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
9714 still a pain, though.
9718 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
9719 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
9720 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
9723 @findex ispell-message
9725 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
9728 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
9729 you're in, you could say something like the following:
9732 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
9735 ((string-match "^de\\." gnus-newsgroup-name)
9736 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
9738 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
9741 Modify to suit your needs.
9744 @node Archived Messages
9745 @section Archived Messages
9746 @cindex archived messages
9747 @cindex sent messages
9749 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
9750 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
9751 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
9752 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
9755 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
9756 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server gnus is to
9757 use to store sent messages. The default is:
9761 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
9762 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
9763 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
9764 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
9767 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
9768 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
9769 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
9770 directory chosen, you could say something like:
9773 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
9774 '(nnfolder "archive"
9775 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
9776 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
9777 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
9780 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
9782 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
9783 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
9784 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
9786 This variable can be used to do the following:
9790 Messages will be saved in that group.
9792 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
9793 message will not be stored in the select method given by
9794 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
9795 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
9796 has the default value shown above. Then setting
9797 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
9798 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
9799 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
9801 @item a list of strings
9802 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
9803 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
9804 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
9806 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
9811 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
9813 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
9816 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
9818 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
9821 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
9823 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9824 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
9825 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
9826 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
9831 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9832 '((if (message-news-p)
9837 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
9838 messages in one file per month:
9841 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9842 '((if (message-news-p)
9844 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
9847 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
9848 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
9850 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
9851 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
9852 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
9853 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
9854 gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
9855 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
9856 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
9857 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
9858 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
9859 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
9861 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
9862 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
9863 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
9864 this will disable archiving.
9867 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
9868 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
9869 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
9870 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
9871 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
9874 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
9875 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
9876 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
9879 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
9880 but the latter is the preferred method.
9882 @item gnus-inews-mark-gcc-as-read
9883 @vindex gnus-inews-mark-gcc-as-read
9884 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
9889 @node Posting Styles
9890 @section Posting Styles
9891 @cindex posting styles
9894 All them variables, they make my head swim.
9896 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
9897 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
9898 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
9901 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
9902 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
9903 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
9904 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
9905 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
9910 (signature "Peace and happiness")
9911 (organization "What me?"))
9913 (signature "Death to everybody"))
9914 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
9915 (organization "Emacs is it")))
9918 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
9919 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
9920 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
9921 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
9922 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
9923 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
9924 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
9925 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
9927 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
9928 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
9929 If it is the symbol @code{header}, then Gnus will look for header (the
9930 next element in the match) in the original article , and compare that to
9931 the last regexp in the match. If it's a function symbol, that function
9932 will be called with no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the
9933 variable will be referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be
9934 @code{eval}ed. In any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value,
9935 then the style is said to @dfn{match}.
9937 Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
9938 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
9939 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
9940 @code{organization}, @code{address}, @code{name} or @code{body}. The
9941 attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
9942 a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
9943 article; if the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed.
9944 If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the
9945 result is thrown away.
9947 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
9948 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
9949 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
9950 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
9951 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
9952 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable.
9954 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
9955 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
9956 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
9958 @findex message-mail-p
9959 @findex message-news-p
9961 So here's a new example:
9964 (setq gnus-posting-styles
9966 (signature-file "~/.signature")
9968 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
9969 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
9971 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
9972 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
9973 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
9975 (signature my-news-signature))
9976 (header "to" "larsi.*org"
9977 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
9978 ((posting-from-work-p)
9979 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
9980 (address "user@@bar.foo")
9981 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
9982 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
9984 (From (save-excursion
9985 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
9986 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
9988 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
9991 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
9992 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
9993 if you fill many roles.
10000 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
10001 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
10002 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
10003 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
10004 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
10006 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
10007 some sort using the gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
10008 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
10009 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
10010 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
10014 @vindex nndraft-directory
10015 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
10016 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
10017 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
10018 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
10019 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
10020 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
10022 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
10023 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
10026 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
10027 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
10028 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
10029 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
10030 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
10031 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
10032 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
10033 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
10034 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
10035 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
10036 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
10037 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
10038 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
10039 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
10041 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
10042 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
10043 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
10045 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
10046 @kindex D e (Draft)
10047 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
10048 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
10049 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
10051 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
10054 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
10055 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
10056 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
10057 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
10058 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
10059 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
10060 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
10063 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
10064 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
10065 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
10068 @node Rejected Articles
10069 @section Rejected Articles
10070 @cindex rejected articles
10072 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
10073 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
10074 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
10075 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
10077 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of gnus.
10078 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
10079 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
10080 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So gnus saves these
10081 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
10083 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
10084 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
10085 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
10091 Gnus has an ALPHA support to GPG that's provided by @file{gpg.el}. See
10092 @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} to enable Gnus to
10093 verify or decrypt messages accordingly.
10095 To use this correctly with GPG, you'll need the following lisp code in your
10096 @file{~/.emacs} or @file{~/.gnus}:
10100 (setq mml2015-use 'gpg)
10101 (setq gpg-temp-directory (expand-file-name "~/.gnupg/tmp"))
10104 The @code{gpg-temp-directory} need to point to a directory with permissions set
10105 to 700, for your own safety.
10107 If you want to benefit of PGP2.6 compatibility, you might create a script named
10108 @file{gpg-2comp} with these instructions:
10112 exec gpg --rfc1991 "$@@"
10115 If you don't want to use such compatibility, you can add the following line to
10116 your @file{~/.emacs} or @file{~/.gnus}:
10119 (setq gpg-command-default-alist (quote ((gpg . "gpg") (gpg-2comp . "gpg"))))
10122 To sign or encrypt your message you may choose to use the MML Security
10123 menu or @kbd{C-c C-m s p} to sign your message using PGP/MIME, @kbd{C-c
10124 C-m s s} to sign your message using S/MIME. There's also @kbd{C-c C-m c
10125 p} to encrypt your message with PGP/MIME and @kbd{C-c C-m c s} to
10126 encrypt using S/MIME.
10128 Gnus will ask for your passphrase and then it will send your message, if
10129 you've typed it correctly.
10131 @node Select Methods
10132 @chapter Select Methods
10133 @cindex foreign groups
10134 @cindex select methods
10136 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
10137 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
10138 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
10139 personal mail group.
10141 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
10142 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
10143 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
10144 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
10145 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
10146 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
10148 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
10149 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
10151 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
10154 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
10155 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
10156 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
10157 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
10158 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
10160 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
10163 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
10164 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
10165 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
10166 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
10167 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
10168 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
10169 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
10173 @node Server Buffer
10174 @section Server Buffer
10176 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
10177 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
10178 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
10179 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
10180 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
10181 backend represents a virtual server.
10183 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
10184 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
10185 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
10186 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
10188 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
10189 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
10190 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
10191 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
10192 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
10193 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
10194 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
10196 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
10197 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
10200 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
10201 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
10202 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
10203 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
10204 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
10205 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
10206 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
10209 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
10210 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
10213 @node Server Buffer Format
10214 @subsection Server Buffer Format
10215 @cindex server buffer format
10217 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
10218 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
10219 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
10220 variable, with some simple extensions:
10225 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
10228 The name of this server.
10231 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
10234 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
10237 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
10238 The mode line can also be customized by using the
10239 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
10240 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
10250 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
10253 @node Server Commands
10254 @subsection Server Commands
10255 @cindex server commands
10261 @findex gnus-server-add-server
10262 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
10266 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
10267 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
10270 @kindex SPACE (Server)
10271 @findex gnus-server-read-server
10272 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
10276 @findex gnus-server-exit
10277 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
10281 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
10282 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
10286 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
10287 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
10291 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
10292 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
10296 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
10297 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
10301 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
10302 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
10303 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
10308 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
10309 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
10310 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
10311 a mail backend that has gotten out of sync.
10316 @node Example Methods
10317 @subsection Example Methods
10319 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
10322 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
10325 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
10331 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
10332 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
10335 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
10336 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
10338 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
10339 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
10343 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
10346 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
10347 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
10349 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
10350 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
10351 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
10355 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
10358 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
10361 Here's the method for a public spool:
10365 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
10366 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
10372 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
10373 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
10374 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
10375 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
10376 should probably look something like this:
10380 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
10381 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
10382 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
10383 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
10384 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
10387 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
10388 compressed connection over the modem line, you could create a virtual
10389 server that would look something like this:
10393 (nntp-address "copper.uio.no")
10394 (nntp-rlogin-program "ssh")
10395 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
10396 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
10397 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
10398 ("telnet" "news.uio.no" "nntp")))
10401 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
10402 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
10403 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
10404 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
10407 @node Creating a Virtual Server
10408 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
10410 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
10411 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
10413 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
10414 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
10415 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
10417 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
10419 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
10420 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
10421 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
10422 will contain the following:
10432 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
10433 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
10434 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
10437 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
10438 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
10439 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
10442 @node Server Variables
10443 @subsection Server Variables
10445 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
10446 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
10447 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
10448 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
10449 won't change the "derived" variables.
10451 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
10452 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
10453 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
10454 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
10455 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
10456 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
10457 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
10458 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
10459 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
10463 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
10464 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
10465 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
10469 @node Servers and Methods
10470 @subsection Servers and Methods
10472 Wherever you would normally use a select method
10473 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
10474 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
10475 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
10479 @node Unavailable Servers
10480 @subsection Unavailable Servers
10482 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
10483 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
10484 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
10485 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
10486 actually the case or not.
10488 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
10489 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
10490 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
10491 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
10492 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
10493 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
10494 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
10495 it will regard that server as ``down''.
10497 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
10498 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
10500 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
10501 with the following commands:
10507 @findex gnus-server-open-server
10508 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
10509 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
10513 @findex gnus-server-close-server
10514 Close the connection (if any) to the server
10515 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
10519 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
10520 Mark the current server as unreachable
10521 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
10524 @kindex M-o (Server)
10525 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
10526 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
10527 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
10530 @kindex M-c (Server)
10531 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
10532 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
10533 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
10537 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
10538 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
10539 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
10545 @section Getting News
10546 @cindex reading news
10547 @cindex news backends
10549 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
10550 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
10551 or it can read from a local spool.
10554 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
10555 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
10560 @subsection @sc{nntp}
10563 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
10564 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
10565 server as the, uhm, address.
10567 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
10568 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
10569 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
10570 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
10572 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
10573 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
10574 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
10576 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
10581 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
10582 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
10583 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
10585 @cindex authentification
10586 @cindex nntp authentification
10587 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
10588 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
10589 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
10590 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
10591 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
10592 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
10593 present in this hook.
10595 @item nntp-authinfo-function
10596 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
10597 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
10598 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
10599 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
10600 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
10601 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
10602 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
10603 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
10604 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
10605 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
10606 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
10610 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
10613 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
10615 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
10616 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
10617 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
10618 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
10619 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
10620 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
10621 @samp{force} is explained below.
10625 Here's an example file:
10628 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
10629 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
10632 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
10633 have to be first, for instance.
10635 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
10636 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
10637 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
10638 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
10639 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
10640 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
10641 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
10643 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
10644 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
10650 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
10651 previously mentioned.
10653 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
10655 @item nntp-server-action-alist
10656 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
10657 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
10658 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
10659 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
10662 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
10663 '(("innd" (ding))))
10666 You probably don't want to do that, though.
10668 The default value is
10671 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
10672 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
10675 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
10676 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
10678 @item nntp-maximum-request
10679 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
10680 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
10681 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
10682 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
10683 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
10684 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
10685 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
10687 @item nntp-connection-timeout
10688 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
10689 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
10690 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
10691 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
10692 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
10693 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
10694 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
10695 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
10696 no timeouts are done.
10698 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
10699 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
10700 @c @cindex PPP connections
10701 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
10702 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
10703 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
10704 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
10705 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
10706 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
10707 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
10708 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
10709 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
10710 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
10712 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
10713 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
10714 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
10715 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
10716 @c described above.
10718 @item nntp-server-hook
10719 @vindex nntp-server-hook
10720 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
10723 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
10724 @findex nntp-open-telnet
10725 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
10726 @item nntp-open-connection-function
10727 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
10728 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Four pre-made
10729 functions are supplied:
10732 @item nntp-open-network-stream
10733 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
10736 @item nntp-open-rlogin
10737 Does an @samp{rlogin} on the
10738 remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet} to the @sc{nntp} server
10741 @code{nntp-open-rlogin}-related variables:
10745 @item nntp-rlogin-program
10746 @vindex nntp-rlogin-program
10747 Program used to log in on remote machines. The default is @samp{rsh},
10748 but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
10750 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
10751 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
10752 This list will be used as the parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
10754 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
10755 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
10756 User name on the remote system.
10760 @item nntp-open-telnet
10761 Does a @samp{telnet} to the remote system and then another @samp{telnet}
10762 to get to the @sc{nntp} server.
10764 @code{nntp-open-telnet}-related variables:
10767 @item nntp-telnet-command
10768 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
10769 Command used to start @code{telnet}.
10771 @item nntp-telnet-switches
10772 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
10773 List of strings to be used as the switches to the @code{telnet} command.
10775 @item nntp-telnet-user-name
10776 @vindex nntp-telnet-user-name
10777 User name for log in on the remote system.
10779 @item nntp-telnet-passwd
10780 @vindex nntp-telnet-passwd
10781 Password to use when logging in.
10783 @item nntp-telnet-parameters
10784 @vindex nntp-telnet-parameters
10785 A list of strings executed as a command after logging in
10788 @item nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
10789 @vindex nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
10790 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the remote machine. The default is
10791 @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
10793 @item nntp-open-telnet-envuser
10794 @vindex nntp-open-telnet-envuser
10795 If non-@code{nil}, the @code{telnet} session (client and server both)
10796 will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for login name.
10797 This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
10801 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
10802 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
10803 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
10804 you must have SSLay installed
10805 (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also need
10806 @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distribution, for instance). You then
10807 define a server as follows:
10810 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
10812 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
10814 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
10815 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
10816 (nntp-port-number "snews")
10817 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
10822 @item nntp-end-of-line
10823 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
10824 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
10825 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
10826 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
10828 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
10829 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
10830 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
10834 @vindex nntp-address
10835 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
10837 @item nntp-port-number
10838 @vindex nntp-port-number
10839 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
10842 @item nntp-list-options
10843 @vindex nntp-list-options
10844 List of newsgroup name used for a option of the LIST command to restrict
10845 the listing output to only the specified newsgroups. Each newsgroup name
10846 can be a shell-style wildcard, for instance, @dfn{fj.*}, @dfn{japan.*},
10847 etc. Fortunately, if the server can accept such a option, it will
10848 probably make gnus run faster. You may use it as a server variable as
10852 (setq gnus-select-method
10853 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
10854 (nntp-list-options ("fj.*" "japan.*"))))
10857 @item nntp-options-subscribe
10858 @vindex nntp-options-subscribe
10859 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will be subscribed
10860 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
10861 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
10862 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
10863 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
10866 (setq gnus-select-method
10867 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
10868 (nntp-options-subscribe "^fj\\.\\|^japan\\.")))
10871 @item nntp-options-not-subscribe
10872 @vindex nntp-options-not-subscribe
10873 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will not be subscribed
10874 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
10875 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
10876 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
10877 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
10880 (setq gnus-select-method
10881 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
10882 (nntp-options-not-subscribe "\\.binaries\\.")))
10885 @item nntp-buggy-select
10886 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
10887 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
10889 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
10890 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
10891 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
10892 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
10895 @item nntp-xover-commands
10896 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
10899 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
10900 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
10904 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
10905 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
10906 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
10907 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
10908 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
10909 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
10910 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
10911 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
10912 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
10913 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
10914 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
10916 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
10917 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
10918 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
10920 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
10921 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
10922 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
10923 server closes connection.
10925 @item nntp-record-commands
10926 @vindex nntp-record-commands
10927 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
10928 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
10929 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
10930 that doesn't seem to work.
10936 @subsection News Spool
10940 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
10941 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
10942 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
10945 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
10946 anything else) as the address.
10948 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
10949 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
10950 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
10951 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
10955 @item nnspool-inews-program
10956 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
10957 Program used to post an article.
10959 @item nnspool-inews-switches
10960 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
10961 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
10963 @item nnspool-spool-directory
10964 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
10965 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
10966 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
10968 @item nnspool-nov-directory
10969 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
10970 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
10971 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
10973 @item nnspool-lib-dir
10974 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
10975 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
10977 @item nnspool-active-file
10978 @vindex nnspool-active-file
10979 The path to the active file.
10981 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
10982 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
10983 The path to the group descriptions file.
10985 @item nnspool-history-file
10986 @vindex nnspool-history-file
10987 The path to the news history file.
10989 @item nnspool-active-times-file
10990 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
10991 The path to the active date file.
10993 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
10994 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
10995 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
10998 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
10999 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
11001 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
11002 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
11003 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
11009 @section Getting Mail
11010 @cindex reading mail
11013 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
11017 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
11018 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
11019 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
11020 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
11021 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
11022 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
11023 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
11024 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
11025 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
11026 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
11027 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
11028 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
11029 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
11033 @node Mail in a Newsreader
11034 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
11036 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
11037 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
11038 of a culture shock.
11040 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
11041 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
11043 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
11044 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
11045 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
11046 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
11048 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
11050 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
11051 deleted? How awful!
11053 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
11054 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
11055 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
11056 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
11059 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
11060 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
11061 they want to treat a message.
11063 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
11064 via SMTP, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
11065 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
11066 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
11067 archived somewhere else.
11069 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
11070 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
11071 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
11072 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
11073 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
11075 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
11076 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
11077 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
11079 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
11080 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
11083 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
11084 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
11085 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
11086 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
11087 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
11089 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
11090 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
11091 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
11092 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
11093 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
11094 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
11098 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
11099 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
11101 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
11102 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
11103 and things will happen automatically.
11105 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
11106 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
11109 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
11110 '((nnml "private")))
11113 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
11114 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
11115 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
11116 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
11117 like any other group.
11119 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
11122 (setq nnmail-split-methods
11123 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
11124 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
11128 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
11129 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
11130 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
11133 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
11134 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
11135 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
11138 @node Splitting Mail
11139 @subsection Splitting Mail
11140 @cindex splitting mail
11141 @cindex mail splitting
11143 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
11144 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
11145 to be split into groups.
11148 (setq nnmail-split-methods
11149 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
11150 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
11151 ("mail.other" "")))
11154 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
11155 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
11156 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
11157 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
11158 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
11159 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
11160 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
11163 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
11166 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
11167 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
11168 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
11169 mail belongs in that group.
11171 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
11172 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
11173 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
11174 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
11175 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
11176 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
11178 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
11179 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
11180 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
11181 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
11182 thinks should carry this mail message.
11184 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
11185 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
11186 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
11187 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
11189 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
11190 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
11191 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
11192 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
11193 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
11195 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
11198 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
11199 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
11200 links. If that's the case for you, set
11201 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
11202 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
11204 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
11205 @kindex nnmail-split-history
11206 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
11207 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
11208 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
11209 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
11212 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
11213 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
11214 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
11215 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
11216 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
11217 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
11218 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
11219 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
11220 month's rent money.
11224 @subsection Mail Sources
11226 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
11227 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
11231 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
11232 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
11233 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
11237 @node Mail Source Specifiers
11238 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
11240 @cindex mail server
11243 @cindex mail source
11245 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
11246 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
11251 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
11254 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
11255 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
11256 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
11259 The following mail source types are available:
11263 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
11269 The path of the file. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
11270 environment variable or @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}.
11273 An example file mail source:
11276 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
11279 Or using the default path:
11285 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
11286 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
11287 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
11290 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
11294 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
11297 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
11301 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
11304 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
11306 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
11309 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
11313 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
11314 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files. Setting
11315 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil forces Gnus to
11316 scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful if you want
11317 to scan mail groups at a specified level.
11323 The path of the directory where the files are. There is no default
11327 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
11331 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
11332 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
11333 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
11334 predicate are considered.
11338 Script run before/after fetching mail.
11342 An example directory mail source:
11345 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
11350 Get mail from a POP server.
11356 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
11357 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
11360 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
11361 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
11362 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
11363 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
11364 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
11367 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
11371 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
11375 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
11376 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
11379 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
11382 The valid format specifier characters are:
11386 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
11387 included in this string.
11390 The name of the server.
11393 The port number of the server.
11396 The user name to use.
11399 The password to use.
11402 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
11403 corresponding keywords.
11406 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
11407 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
11410 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
11411 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
11414 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
11415 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
11418 @item :authentication
11419 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
11420 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
11425 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
11426 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
11428 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
11429 default user name, and default fetcher:
11435 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
11438 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
11439 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
11442 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
11445 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
11449 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
11450 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
11451 contains exactly one mail.
11457 The path of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
11458 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
11461 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
11462 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
11464 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
11465 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
11466 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
11469 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
11470 from locking problems).
11474 Two example maildir mail sources:
11477 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/" :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
11481 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/" :subdirs ("new"))
11485 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
11486 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
11487 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
11488 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
11495 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
11496 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
11499 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
11500 @samp{993} for SSL connections.
11503 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
11507 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
11511 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
11512 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
11513 @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{ssl} or the default @samp{network}.
11515 @item :authentication
11516 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is one
11517 of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now, this
11518 means @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default
11522 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
11523 mapped into the `imap-shell-program' variable. This should be a
11524 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
11530 The valid format specifier characters are:
11534 The name of the server.
11537 User name from `imap-default-user'.
11540 The port number of the server.
11543 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
11544 corresponding keywords.
11547 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
11548 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
11551 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
11552 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
11553 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
11554 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{nil}.
11555 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
11556 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 §6.4.4.
11559 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
11560 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
11561 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
11562 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 §2.3.2.
11565 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
11566 after finishing the fetch.
11570 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
11573 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com" :stream kerberos4 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
11577 Get mail from a webmail server, such as www.hotmail.com,
11578 webmail.netscape.com, www.netaddress.com, www.my-deja.com.
11580 NOTE: Now mail.yahoo.com provides POP3 service, so @sc{pop} mail source
11583 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
11584 required for url "4.0pre.46".
11586 WARNING: Mails may lost. NO WARRANTY.
11592 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
11593 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
11596 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
11600 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
11604 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
11605 folder after finishing the fetch.
11609 An example webmail source:
11612 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail :user "user-name" :password "secret")
11617 @item Common Keywords
11618 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
11624 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
11625 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
11629 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
11634 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
11635 useful when you use local mail and news.
11640 @subsubsection Function Interface
11642 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
11643 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
11644 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
11645 consider the following mail-source setting:
11648 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
11649 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
11652 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
11653 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
11654 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
11655 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
11656 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
11658 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
11661 @node Mail Source Customization
11662 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
11664 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
11665 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
11669 @item mail-source-crash-box
11670 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
11671 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
11672 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
11674 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
11675 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
11676 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
11678 @item mail-source-directory
11679 @vindex mail-source-directory
11680 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
11681 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
11682 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
11685 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
11686 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
11687 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
11688 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
11689 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
11690 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
11692 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
11693 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
11694 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
11699 @node Fetching Mail
11700 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
11702 @vindex mail-sources
11703 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
11704 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
11705 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
11706 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
11708 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
11709 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
11712 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
11713 mail server, you'd say something like:
11718 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11719 :password "secret")))
11722 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
11726 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
11727 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11730 :password "secret")))
11734 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
11735 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
11736 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
11737 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
11738 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
11739 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
11743 @node Mail Backend Variables
11744 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
11746 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
11750 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
11751 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
11752 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
11753 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
11755 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
11756 @item nnmail-split-hook
11757 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
11758 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
11759 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
11760 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
11761 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
11762 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
11763 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
11764 in the buffer will show up in any files.
11765 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
11768 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11769 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
11770 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11771 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
11772 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
11773 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
11774 starting to handle the new mail) and
11775 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
11776 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
11777 default file modes the new mail files get:
11780 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11781 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
11783 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
11784 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
11787 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
11788 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
11789 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
11790 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
11791 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
11792 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
11793 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
11795 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
11796 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
11797 @findex delete-file
11798 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
11800 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
11801 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
11802 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
11803 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
11804 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
11809 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
11810 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
11811 @cindex mail splitting
11812 @cindex fancy mail splitting
11814 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
11815 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
11816 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
11817 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
11818 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
11819 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
11821 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
11824 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
11825 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
11826 ;; from real errors.
11827 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
11829 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
11830 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
11831 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
11832 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
11833 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
11834 ;; Other mailing lists...
11835 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
11836 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
11837 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
11838 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
11839 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
11840 ;; message was really cross-posted.
11841 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
11842 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
11844 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
11845 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
11849 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
11850 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
11851 the five possible split syntaxes:
11856 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
11857 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
11861 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
11862 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
11863 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
11864 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
11865 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
11866 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
11867 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
11868 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
11871 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11872 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
11873 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
11874 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
11877 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11878 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
11881 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
11882 this message. Use with extreme caution.
11885 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
11886 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
11887 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
11888 function should return a @var{split}.
11891 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
11892 body of the messages:
11895 (defun split-on-body ()
11897 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
11898 (goto-char (point-min))
11899 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
11903 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
11904 when the @code{:} function is run.
11907 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11908 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
11909 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
11913 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
11917 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
11918 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
11919 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
11920 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
11921 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
11923 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
11924 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
11925 are expanded as specified by the variable
11926 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
11927 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
11930 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
11931 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
11932 when all this splitting is performed.
11934 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
11935 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
11936 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
11939 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
11942 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
11943 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
11945 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
11946 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
11947 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
11948 groupings 1 through 9.
11950 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
11951 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
11952 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
11953 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
11954 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
11955 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
11956 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
11957 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
11958 it once per thread.
11960 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to a
11961 non-nil value. And then you can include
11962 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon feature, like so:
11964 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
11965 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
11966 ;; other splits go here
11970 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
11971 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
11972 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
11973 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
11974 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
11975 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
11976 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
11977 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
11978 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name. It
11979 is recommended that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a
11980 somewhat higher number than the default so that the message ids are
11981 still in the cache. (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300
11983 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
11984 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
11985 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
11986 messages goes into the new group.
11989 @node Group Mail Splitting
11990 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
11991 @cindex mail splitting
11992 @cindex group mail splitting
11994 @findex gnus-group-split
11995 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
11996 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
11997 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
11998 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
11999 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
12000 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
12001 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
12002 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
12004 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
12005 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
12006 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
12007 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
12009 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
12010 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
12011 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
12012 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
12013 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
12014 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
12015 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
12017 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
12018 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
12019 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
12020 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
12021 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
12022 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
12023 @code{gnus-group-split}.
12025 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
12026 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
12027 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
12028 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
12029 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
12030 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
12031 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
12032 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
12033 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
12034 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
12035 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
12036 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
12037 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
12039 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
12044 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
12045 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
12047 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
12048 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
12049 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
12050 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
12052 ((split-spec . catch-all))
12055 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
12056 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
12057 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
12060 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
12061 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
12062 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
12066 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
12067 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
12068 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
12072 (: gnus-mlsplt-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
12075 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
12076 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
12077 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
12078 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
12079 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
12080 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
12081 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
12082 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
12083 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
12085 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
12086 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
12087 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
12088 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
12089 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
12090 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
12091 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
12092 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
12093 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
12095 @findex gnus-group-split-update
12096 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
12097 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
12098 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
12099 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
12100 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus}:
12103 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
12106 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
12107 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
12108 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
12109 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
12110 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
12113 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
12114 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
12115 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
12116 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
12118 @node Incorporating Old Mail
12119 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
12121 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
12122 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
12123 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
12126 Doing so can be quite easy.
12128 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
12129 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
12130 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
12131 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
12132 your @code{nnml} groups.
12138 Go to the group buffer.
12141 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
12142 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12145 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
12148 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
12149 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
12152 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
12153 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
12156 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
12157 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
12158 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
12159 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
12160 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
12162 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
12163 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
12164 using the new mail backend.
12167 @node Expiring Mail
12168 @subsection Expiring Mail
12169 @cindex article expiry
12171 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
12172 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
12173 different approach to mail reading.
12175 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
12176 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
12177 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
12178 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
12179 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
12180 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
12183 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
12184 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
12185 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
12186 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
12187 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
12188 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
12189 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
12190 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
12192 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
12193 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
12194 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
12195 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
12196 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
12197 column in the summary buffer.
12199 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
12200 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
12201 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
12202 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
12205 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
12207 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
12208 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
12209 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
12212 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
12213 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
12214 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
12215 groups expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
12216 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
12218 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
12219 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
12222 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
12223 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
12226 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
12227 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
12229 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
12230 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
12231 don't really mix very well.
12233 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
12234 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
12235 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
12236 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
12239 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
12240 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
12241 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
12242 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
12245 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
12247 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
12249 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
12251 ((string= group "mail.junk")
12253 ((string= group "important")
12259 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
12260 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
12262 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
12263 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
12264 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
12267 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
12268 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
12270 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
12271 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
12272 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them to
12273 other groups instead of deleting them. The variable @code{nnmail-expiry-target}
12274 (and the @code{expiry-target} group parameter) controls this. The
12275 variable supplies a default value for all groups, which can be
12276 overridden for specific groups by the group parameter.
12277 default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a string (which
12278 should be the name of the group the message should be moved to), or a
12279 function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to the message in
12280 question, and with the name of the group being moved from as its
12281 parameter) which should return a target -- either a group name or
12284 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
12286 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
12290 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
12291 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
12292 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
12293 easier for procmail users.
12295 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
12296 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
12297 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
12298 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
12299 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
12300 caution. Even more dangerous is the
12301 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
12302 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
12303 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
12304 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
12305 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
12306 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
12307 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
12310 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
12312 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
12313 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
12314 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
12315 auto-expire turned on.
12319 @subsection Washing Mail
12320 @cindex mail washing
12321 @cindex list server brain damage
12322 @cindex incoming mail treatment
12324 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
12325 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
12326 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
12327 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
12328 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
12329 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
12331 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
12332 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
12333 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
12336 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
12337 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
12338 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
12339 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
12342 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
12343 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
12344 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
12345 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
12346 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
12349 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
12350 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
12351 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
12352 Emacs running on MS machines.
12356 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
12357 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
12358 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
12359 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
12362 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
12363 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
12364 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
12365 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
12367 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
12368 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
12369 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
12370 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
12371 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
12372 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
12373 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
12376 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
12377 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
12380 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
12381 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
12384 This can also be done non-destructively with
12385 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
12387 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
12388 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
12389 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
12391 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
12392 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
12394 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
12395 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
12396 @code{References} headers.
12400 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
12401 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
12402 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
12406 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
12407 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
12408 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
12415 @subsection Duplicates
12417 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
12418 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
12419 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
12420 @cindex duplicate mails
12421 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
12422 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
12423 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
12424 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
12425 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
12426 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
12427 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
12428 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
12429 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
12430 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
12431 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
12432 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
12433 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
12435 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
12436 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
12437 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
12438 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
12440 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
12443 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
12444 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
12448 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
12449 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
12450 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
12451 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
12452 (any mail "mail.misc")
12459 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12460 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
12465 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
12466 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
12467 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
12468 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
12469 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
12472 @node Not Reading Mail
12473 @subsection Not Reading Mail
12475 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
12476 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
12477 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
12479 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
12480 @code{nil}, none of the backends will ever attempt to read incoming
12481 mail, which should help.
12483 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12484 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
12485 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
12486 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
12487 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
12488 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
12489 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
12490 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
12491 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
12492 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
12493 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
12495 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
12496 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
12500 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
12501 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
12503 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
12504 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
12505 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
12507 There are five different mail backends in the standard Gnus, and more
12508 backends are available separately. The mail backend most people use
12509 (because it is the fastest and most flexible) is @code{nnml}
12510 (@pxref{Mail Spool}).
12513 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
12514 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
12515 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
12516 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
12517 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
12518 * Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
12522 @node Unix Mail Box
12523 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
12525 @cindex unix mail box
12527 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
12528 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
12529 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
12530 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
12531 which group it belongs in.
12533 Virtual server settings:
12536 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
12537 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
12538 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
12540 @item nnmbox-active-file
12541 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
12542 The name of the active file for the mail box.
12544 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
12545 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
12546 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
12552 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
12556 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
12557 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
12558 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
12559 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
12560 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
12562 Virtual server settings:
12565 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
12566 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
12567 The name of the rmail mbox file.
12569 @item nnbabyl-active-file
12570 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
12571 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
12573 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12574 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12575 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
12580 @subsubsection Mail Spool
12582 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
12584 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
12585 format. It should be used with some caution.
12587 @vindex nnml-directory
12588 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
12589 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
12590 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
12591 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
12593 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
12596 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
12597 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
12598 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
12599 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
12600 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
12601 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
12602 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
12603 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
12605 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
12606 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
12607 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
12608 backend when it comes to reading mail.
12610 Virtual server settings:
12613 @item nnml-directory
12614 @vindex nnml-directory
12615 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
12617 @item nnml-active-file
12618 @vindex nnml-active-file
12619 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
12621 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
12622 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
12623 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
12626 @item nnml-get-new-mail
12627 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
12628 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
12630 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
12631 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
12632 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
12634 @item nnml-nov-file-name
12635 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
12636 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
12638 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
12639 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
12640 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
12644 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
12645 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
12646 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
12647 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
12648 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
12649 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
12650 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
12655 @subsubsection MH Spool
12657 @cindex mh-e mail spool
12659 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
12660 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
12661 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
12662 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
12664 Virtual server settings:
12667 @item nnmh-directory
12668 @vindex nnmh-directory
12669 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
12671 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
12672 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
12673 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
12676 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
12677 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
12678 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
12679 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
12680 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
12681 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
12682 to set this variable to @code{t}.
12687 @subsubsection Mail Folders
12689 @cindex mbox folders
12690 @cindex mail folders
12692 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
12693 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
12694 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
12697 Virtual server settings:
12700 @item nnfolder-directory
12701 @vindex nnfolder-directory
12702 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
12704 @item nnfolder-active-file
12705 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
12706 The name of the active file.
12708 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
12709 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
12710 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
12712 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
12713 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
12714 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
12716 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
12717 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
12718 @cindex backup files
12719 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
12720 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
12721 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
12722 your @file{.emacs} file:
12725 (defun turn-off-backup ()
12726 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
12728 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
12731 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
12732 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
12733 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
12734 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
12735 extract some information from it before removing it.
12737 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
12738 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
12739 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
12744 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
12745 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
12746 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
12747 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
12748 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
12749 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
12752 @node Comparing Mail Backends
12753 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Backends
12755 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{backend} is the common word for a
12756 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
12757 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
12758 and so selection of a suitable backend is required in order to get that
12759 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
12761 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
12762 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
12763 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
12764 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
12765 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
12766 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
12767 @code{nnspool} backends, to select between these methods, if one happens
12768 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
12771 The goal in selecting a mail backend is to pick one which
12772 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
12773 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
12774 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
12779 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
12780 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
12781 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
12782 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
12783 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
12784 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
12785 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
12786 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
12787 this backend, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
12788 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
12789 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
12790 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
12791 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
12796 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
12797 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
12798 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
12799 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
12800 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
12801 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
12802 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
12803 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
12804 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
12805 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
12806 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
12807 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
12808 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
12809 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
12811 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
12812 filesystem, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
12817 @code{nnml} is the backend which smells the most as though you were
12818 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
12819 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
12820 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
12821 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
12822 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
12823 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
12824 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
12825 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
12826 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
12827 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
12828 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
12829 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
12830 provided by the active file and overviews.
12832 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
12833 resource which defines available places in the filesystem to put new
12834 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
12835 tight, shared filesystems. But if you live on a personal machine where
12836 the filesystem is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
12839 It is also problematic using this backend if you are living in a
12840 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
12845 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
12846 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
12847 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
12848 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
12849 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
12850 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
12851 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
12855 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
12856 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
12857 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
12858 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
12859 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
12860 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
12861 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
12862 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
12863 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
12865 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
12866 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
12867 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
12868 friendly mail backend all over.
12873 @node Browsing the Web
12874 @section Browsing the Web
12876 @cindex browsing the web
12880 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
12881 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
12882 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
12883 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
12884 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
12885 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
12886 even know what a news group is.
12888 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
12889 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
12890 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
12891 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
12892 you mad in the end.
12894 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
12897 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of backends for providing
12898 interfaces to these sources.
12901 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
12902 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
12903 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
12904 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
12905 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
12908 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
12910 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
12911 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
12912 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus backend
12913 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these backends,
12914 though, you should be ok.
12916 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
12917 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
12918 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
12919 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
12920 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
12924 @subsection Web Searches
12928 @cindex InReference
12929 @cindex Usenet searches
12930 @cindex searching the Usenet
12932 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
12933 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
12934 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
12935 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
12936 searches without having to use a browser.
12938 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
12939 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
12940 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
12941 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
12942 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
12944 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
12945 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
12946 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
12947 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
12948 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
12949 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
12950 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
12951 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
12952 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
12953 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
12956 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
12957 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
12958 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
12959 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
12960 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
12961 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
12963 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
12964 to use @code{nnweb}.
12966 Virtual server variables:
12971 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
12972 are @code{dejanews}, @code{dejanewsold}, @code{altavista} and
12976 @vindex nnweb-search
12977 The search string to feed to the search engine.
12979 @item nnweb-max-hits
12980 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
12981 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
12984 @item nnweb-type-definition
12985 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
12986 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
12987 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
12992 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
12996 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
12999 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
13002 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
13006 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
13013 @subsection Slashdot
13017 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
13018 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
13019 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
13021 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
13022 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
13025 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
13026 '((nnslashdot "")))
13029 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} backend for new comments
13030 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
13031 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
13032 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
13033 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
13036 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
13037 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13039 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
13040 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
13041 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
13042 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
13043 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
13044 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
13047 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
13050 @item nnslashdot-threaded
13051 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
13052 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
13053 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
13054 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
13055 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
13056 but much, much slower than untreaded.
13058 @item nnslashdot-login-name
13059 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
13060 The login name to use when posting.
13062 @item nnslashdot-password
13063 @vindex nnslashdot-password
13064 The password to use when posting.
13066 @item nnslashdot-directory
13067 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
13068 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default value is
13069 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
13071 @item nnslashdot-active-url
13072 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
13073 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
13074 news articles and comments. The default is
13075 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
13077 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
13078 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
13079 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
13081 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
13083 @item nnslashdot-article-url
13084 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
13085 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
13087 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
13089 @item nnslashdot-threshold
13090 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
13091 The score threshold. The default is -1.
13093 @item nnslashdot-group-number
13094 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
13095 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
13096 updated. The default is 0.
13103 @subsection Ultimate
13105 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
13107 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
13108 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
13109 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
13110 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
13112 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
13113 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
13114 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
13115 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
13116 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
13117 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
13118 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
13120 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
13123 @item nnultimate-directory
13124 @vindex nnultimate-directory
13125 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
13126 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
13131 @subsection Web Archive
13133 @cindex Web Archive
13135 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
13136 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
13137 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
13138 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
13141 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
13142 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
13143 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
13144 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
13145 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
13146 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
13147 backend by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
13149 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
13152 @item nnwarchive-directory
13153 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
13154 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
13155 @samp{~/News/warchive/}.
13157 @item nnwarchive-login
13158 @vindex nnwarchive-login
13159 The account name on the web server.
13161 @item nnwarchive-passwd
13162 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
13163 The password for your account on the web server.
13167 @node Customizing w3
13168 @subsection Customizing w3
13174 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
13175 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
13176 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
13178 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
13179 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
13180 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
13183 (eval-after-load "w3"
13185 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
13186 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
13187 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
13188 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
13190 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
13193 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
13194 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
13198 @node Other Sources
13199 @section Other Sources
13201 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
13202 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
13206 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
13207 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
13208 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
13209 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
13210 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
13211 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
13215 @node Directory Groups
13216 @subsection Directory Groups
13218 @cindex directory groups
13220 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
13221 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
13224 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
13225 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
13226 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
13227 backend to read directories. Big deal.
13229 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
13230 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
13231 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
13232 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
13233 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
13235 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
13237 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
13238 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
13239 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
13240 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
13243 @node Anything Groups
13244 @subsection Anything Groups
13247 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
13248 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
13249 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
13252 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
13253 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
13254 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
13255 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
13256 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
13257 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
13258 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
13259 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
13260 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
13261 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
13264 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
13265 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
13266 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
13267 in the article buffer, just as usual.
13269 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
13270 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
13271 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
13272 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
13274 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
13275 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
13276 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
13277 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
13278 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
13279 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
13280 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
13281 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
13286 @item nneething-map-file-directory
13287 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
13288 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
13289 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
13291 @item nneething-exclude-files
13292 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
13293 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
13294 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
13296 @item nneething-include-files
13297 @vindex nneething-include-files
13298 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
13299 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
13301 @item nneething-map-file
13302 @vindex nneething-map-file
13303 Name of the map files.
13307 @node Document Groups
13308 @subsection Document Groups
13310 @cindex documentation group
13313 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
13314 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
13321 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
13326 The standard Unix mbox file.
13328 @cindex MMDF mail box
13330 The MMDF mail box format.
13333 Several news articles appended into a file.
13336 @cindex rnews batch files
13337 The rnews batch transport format.
13338 @cindex forwarded messages
13341 Forwarded articles.
13344 Netscape mail boxes.
13347 MIME multipart messages.
13349 @item standard-digest
13350 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
13353 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
13356 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
13357 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
13358 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
13361 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
13362 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
13363 group. And that's it.
13365 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
13366 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
13367 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
13368 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
13369 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
13370 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
13371 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
13372 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
13373 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
13374 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
13376 Virtual server variables:
13379 @item nndoc-article-type
13380 @vindex nndoc-article-type
13381 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
13382 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
13383 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
13384 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail} or @code{guess}.
13386 @item nndoc-post-type
13387 @vindex nndoc-post-type
13388 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
13389 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
13394 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
13398 @node Document Server Internals
13399 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
13401 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
13402 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
13403 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
13404 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
13406 First, here's an example document type definition:
13410 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
13411 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
13414 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
13415 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
13416 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
13417 types can be defined with very few settings:
13420 @item first-article
13421 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
13422 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
13425 @item article-begin
13426 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
13427 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
13429 @item head-begin-function
13430 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
13433 @item nndoc-head-begin
13434 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
13437 @item nndoc-head-end
13438 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
13439 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
13441 @item body-begin-function
13442 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
13446 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
13449 @item body-end-function
13450 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
13454 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
13457 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
13458 regexp will be totally ignored.
13462 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
13463 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
13464 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
13465 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
13466 something that's palatable for Gnus:
13469 @item prepare-body-function
13470 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
13471 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
13472 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
13474 @item article-transform-function
13475 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
13476 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
13477 body of the article.
13479 @item generate-head-function
13480 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
13481 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
13482 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
13483 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
13487 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
13492 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
13493 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
13494 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
13495 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
13496 (head-end . "^ ?$")
13497 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
13498 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
13499 (subtype digest guess))
13502 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
13503 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
13504 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
13505 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
13506 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
13508 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
13509 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
13510 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
13511 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
13512 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
13513 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
13514 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
13515 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
13516 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
13517 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
13525 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
13526 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
13527 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
13529 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
13530 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
13531 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
13534 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
13535 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
13536 that interested in doing things properly.
13538 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
13539 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
13542 First some terminology:
13547 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
13548 get news and/or mail from.
13551 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
13552 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
13555 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
13559 @item message packets
13560 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
13561 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
13562 default, where @var{x} is a number.
13564 @item response packets
13565 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
13566 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
13567 default, where @var{x} is a number.
13577 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
13578 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
13579 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
13580 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
13583 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
13586 You put the packet in your home directory.
13589 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
13590 the native or secondary server.
13593 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
13594 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
13597 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
13601 You transfer this packet to the server.
13604 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
13607 You then repeat until you die.
13611 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
13612 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
13615 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
13616 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
13617 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
13621 @node SOUP Commands
13622 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
13624 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
13628 @kindex G s b (Group)
13629 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
13630 Pack all unread articles in the current group
13631 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
13632 process/prefix convention.
13635 @kindex G s w (Group)
13636 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
13637 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
13640 @kindex G s s (Group)
13641 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
13642 Send all replies from the replies packet
13643 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
13646 @kindex G s p (Group)
13647 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
13648 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
13651 @kindex G s r (Group)
13652 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
13653 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
13656 @kindex O s (Summary)
13657 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
13658 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
13659 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
13660 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
13665 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
13670 @item gnus-soup-directory
13671 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
13672 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
13673 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
13675 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
13676 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
13677 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
13678 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
13680 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
13681 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
13682 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
13683 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
13685 @item gnus-soup-packer
13686 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
13687 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
13688 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
13690 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
13691 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
13692 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
13693 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
13695 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
13696 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
13697 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
13699 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
13700 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
13701 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
13702 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
13708 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
13711 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
13712 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
13713 you can read them at leisure.
13715 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
13719 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
13720 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
13721 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
13722 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
13724 @item nnsoup-directory
13725 @vindex nnsoup-directory
13726 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
13727 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
13729 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
13730 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
13731 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
13732 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
13734 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
13735 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
13736 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
13737 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
13738 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
13740 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
13741 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
13742 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
13743 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
13745 @item nnsoup-active-file
13746 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
13747 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
13748 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
13749 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
13750 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
13752 @item nnsoup-packer
13753 @vindex nnsoup-packer
13754 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
13755 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
13757 @item nnsoup-unpacker
13758 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
13759 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
13760 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
13762 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
13763 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
13764 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
13767 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
13768 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
13769 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
13772 @item nnsoup-always-save
13773 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
13774 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
13780 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
13782 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
13783 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
13784 more for that to happen.
13786 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
13787 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
13788 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
13791 In specific, this is what it does:
13794 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
13795 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
13798 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
13799 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
13800 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
13803 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
13804 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
13805 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
13808 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
13809 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
13810 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
13812 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
13818 @item nngateway-address
13819 @vindex nngateway-address
13820 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
13822 @item nngateway-header-transformation
13823 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
13824 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
13825 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
13826 transformation should be called, and defaults to
13827 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
13828 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
13831 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
13832 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
13833 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
13836 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
13839 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
13842 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
13845 The following pre-defined functions exist:
13847 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
13850 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
13851 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
13852 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
13854 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
13856 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
13857 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
13858 @code{nngateway-address}.
13863 (setq gnus-post-method
13864 '(nngateway "mail2news@@replay.com"
13865 (nngateway-header-transformation
13866 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
13874 So, to use this, simply say something like:
13877 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
13883 @subsection @sc{imap}
13887 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
13888 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
13889 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
13890 specify the network address of the server.
13892 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
13893 POP can, it can hence be viewed as POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
13894 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
13895 protocol. (@sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp} because news
13896 is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.)
13898 If you want to use @sc{imap} as POP++, use an imap entry in
13899 mail-sources. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the @sc{imap}
13900 server and store them on the local disk. This is not the usage
13901 described in this section. @xref{Mail Sources}.
13903 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
13904 entry in gnus-secondary-select-methods. With this, Gnus will
13905 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
13906 usage explained in this section.
13908 A server configuration in @code{~/.gnus} with a few @sc{imap} servers
13909 might look something like this:
13912 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
13913 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
13914 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
13916 (nnimap-address "localhost")
13917 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
13918 ; a UW server running on localhost
13920 (nnimap-server-port 143)
13921 (nnimap-address "localhost")
13922 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
13923 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
13924 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
13925 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
13926 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
13927 (nnimap-stream network))
13928 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
13930 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
13931 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
13932 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
13935 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
13940 @item nnimap-address
13941 @vindex nnimap-address
13943 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
13944 server name if not specified.
13946 @item nnimap-server-port
13947 @vindex nnimap-server-port
13948 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
13950 Note that this should be a integer, example server specification:
13953 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
13954 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
13957 @item nnimap-list-pattern
13958 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
13959 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
13960 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
13961 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
13962 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
13963 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
13965 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
13966 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
13967 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
13970 Example server specification:
13973 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
13974 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
13975 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
13978 @item nnimap-stream
13979 @vindex nnimap-stream
13980 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
13981 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
13982 of SSL. (SSL is being replaced by STARTTLS, which can be automatically
13983 detected, but it's not widely deployed yet).
13985 Example server specification:
13988 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
13989 (nnimap-stream ssl))
13992 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
13996 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5). Require the
13997 @samp{imtest} program.
13999 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with kerberos 4. Require the @samp{imtest} program.
14001 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
14002 SSL). Require the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
14005 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Require OpenSSL (the
14006 program @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
14008 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
14010 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
14013 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
14014 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD, nnimap support
14015 both @samp{imtest} version 1.5.x and version 1.6.x. The variable
14016 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
14019 @vindex imap-ssl-program
14020 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
14021 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
14022 and nnimap support it too - although the most recent versions of
14023 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
14024 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
14025 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
14028 @vindex imap-shell-program
14029 @vindex imap-shell-host
14030 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
14031 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
14033 @item nnimap-authenticator
14034 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
14036 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
14037 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
14039 Example server specification:
14042 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14043 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
14046 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
14050 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Require
14051 external program @code{imtest}.
14053 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos authentication. Require external program
14056 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Require
14057 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
14059 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
14061 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
14063 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your emailadress as password.
14066 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
14068 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
14069 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
14070 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
14071 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
14072 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
14073 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{G DEL} or
14076 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
14077 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
14078 running in circles yet?
14080 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
14081 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
14084 The possible options are:
14089 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
14092 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
14093 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
14094 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
14095 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
14097 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
14102 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
14103 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
14105 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format
14106 is (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See
14107 `nntp-authinfo-file' for exact syntax.
14109 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
14110 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
14111 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
14117 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
14118 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
14119 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
14124 @node Splitting in IMAP
14125 @subsubsection Splitting in @sc{imap}
14126 @cindex splitting imap mail
14128 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
14129 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
14130 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
14131 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
14132 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
14136 Here are the variables of interest:
14140 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
14141 @cindex splitting, crosspost
14143 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
14145 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
14146 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
14148 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
14150 @item nnimap-split-inbox
14151 @cindex splitting, inbox
14153 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
14155 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
14156 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
14160 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
14161 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
14164 No nnmail equivalent.
14166 @item nnimap-split-rule
14167 @cindex Splitting, rules
14168 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
14170 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
14173 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
14174 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
14175 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
14176 Neither did I, we need examples.
14179 (setq nnimap-split-rule
14180 '(("INBOX.nnimap" "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
14181 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
14182 ("INBOX.private" "")))
14185 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
14186 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
14187 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
14189 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
14190 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
14194 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
14197 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
14198 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
14199 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
14200 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
14202 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
14203 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
14204 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
14205 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
14206 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
14207 them every time you fetch new mail.)
14209 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
14210 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
14211 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
14213 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
14214 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
14215 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
14217 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it need too.
14219 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
14220 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
14221 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
14224 (setq nnimap-split-rule
14225 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
14226 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
14227 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
14228 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
14229 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
14232 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
14233 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
14234 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
14235 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
14236 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
14237 group/function elements.
14239 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
14241 @item nnimap-split-predicate
14243 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
14245 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
14246 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
14248 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
14249 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
14250 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
14253 @item nnimap-split-fancy
14254 @cindex splitting, fancy
14255 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
14256 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
14258 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
14259 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
14260 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
14262 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
14263 nnimap backends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
14264 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
14265 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
14270 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
14271 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
14274 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
14278 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
14279 @subsubsection Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
14280 @cindex editing imap acls
14281 @cindex Access Control Lists
14282 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
14284 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
14286 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
14287 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
14288 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
14291 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
14292 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
14293 editing window with detailed instructions.
14295 Some possible uses:
14299 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
14300 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
14301 follow the list without subscribing to it.
14303 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
14304 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
14305 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
14309 @node Expunging mailboxes
14310 @subsubsection Expunging mailboxes
14314 @cindex Manual expunging
14316 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
14318 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-close},
14319 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
14320 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
14322 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
14327 @node Combined Groups
14328 @section Combined Groups
14330 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
14334 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
14335 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
14339 @node Virtual Groups
14340 @subsection Virtual Groups
14342 @cindex virtual groups
14343 @cindex merging groups
14345 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
14348 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
14349 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
14350 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
14352 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
14353 regexp to match component groups.
14355 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
14356 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
14357 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
14358 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
14359 the virtual group.)
14361 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
14362 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
14365 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
14368 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
14369 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
14371 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
14372 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
14373 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
14374 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
14377 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
14380 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
14381 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
14382 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
14384 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
14385 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
14386 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
14387 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
14388 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
14390 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
14391 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
14392 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
14394 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
14395 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
14396 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
14397 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
14398 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
14399 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
14400 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
14401 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
14402 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
14403 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
14404 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
14406 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
14407 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
14408 has to ask the backend of the component group the article comes from
14409 whether it is a news or mail backend. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
14410 there is typically no sure way for the component backend to know this,
14411 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
14412 not-news backend. (Just to be on the safe side.)
14414 @kbd{C-c C-t} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
14415 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
14419 @node Kibozed Groups
14420 @subsection Kibozed Groups
14424 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
14425 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
14426 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
14427 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
14429 @kindex G k (Group)
14430 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
14433 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
14434 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
14435 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
14436 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
14438 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
14439 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
14440 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
14442 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
14443 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
14444 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
14445 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
14446 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
14447 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
14448 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
14449 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
14451 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
14452 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
14453 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
14454 Stranger things have happened.
14456 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
14457 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
14459 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
14460 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
14461 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
14462 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
14463 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
14464 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
14466 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
14467 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
14470 @node Gnus Unplugged
14471 @section Gnus Unplugged
14476 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
14478 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
14479 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
14480 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
14481 read news. Believe it or not.
14483 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
14484 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
14485 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
14486 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
14487 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
14489 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
14490 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
14491 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
14492 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
14493 reading news on a machine.
14495 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
14499 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
14500 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
14504 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
14505 @file{.gnus.el} file:
14512 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
14514 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
14517 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
14518 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
14519 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
14520 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
14521 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
14522 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
14523 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
14524 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
14525 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
14526 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
14531 @subsection Agent Basics
14533 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
14535 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
14536 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
14537 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
14538 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
14540 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
14541 connected to the net continuously.
14543 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
14544 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
14546 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
14551 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
14552 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
14553 already fetched while in this mode.
14556 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
14557 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
14558 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
14559 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
14560 Source Specifiers}).
14563 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
14564 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
14565 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
14566 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
14567 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
14570 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
14571 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
14572 then you read the news offline.
14575 And then you go to step 2.
14578 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
14584 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
14585 backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
14586 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
14587 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
14588 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
14589 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
14592 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
14599 @node Agent Categories
14600 @subsection Agent Categories
14602 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
14603 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
14604 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
14605 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
14606 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
14607 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
14608 you're interested in the articles anyway.
14610 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
14611 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
14612 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
14613 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
14614 managing categories.
14617 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
14618 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
14619 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
14623 @node Category Syntax
14624 @subsubsection Category Syntax
14626 A category consists of two things.
14630 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
14631 are eligible for downloading; and
14634 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
14635 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
14636 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
14639 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
14640 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
14641 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
14642 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
14644 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
14645 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
14646 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
14648 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
14649 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
14650 operators sprinkled in between.
14652 Perhaps some examples are in order.
14654 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
14655 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
14661 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
14662 short (for some value of ``short'').
14664 Here's a more complex predicate:
14673 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
14674 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
14677 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
14678 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
14679 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
14681 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
14682 you want to do, you can write your own.
14686 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
14687 lines; default 100.
14690 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
14691 lines; default 200.
14694 True iff the article has a download score less than
14695 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
14698 True iff the article has a download score greater than
14699 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
14702 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
14703 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
14704 checksum and sees whether articles match.
14713 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
14714 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
14715 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
14718 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
14719 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
14720 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
14721 something along the lines of the following:
14724 (defun my-article-old-p ()
14725 "Say whether an article is old."
14726 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
14727 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
14730 with the predicate then defined as:
14733 (not my-article-old-p)
14736 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
14737 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
14738 wherever. (Note: this would have to be at a point *after*
14739 @code{gnus-agent} has been loaded via @code{(gnus-agentize)})
14742 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
14743 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
14744 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
14747 and simply specify your predicate as:
14753 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
14754 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
14755 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
14756 just don't give a damn.
14758 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
14759 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
14760 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
14761 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
14762 parameters like so:
14765 (agent-predicate . short)
14768 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
14769 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
14770 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
14772 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
14775 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
14778 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
14779 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
14780 predicate is assumed to be a list.
14783 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
14784 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
14785 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
14786 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
14787 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
14788 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
14790 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
14791 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
14792 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
14793 if it's to be specific to that group.
14795 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
14802 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
14803 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
14809 Category specification
14813 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
14819 Group Parameter specification
14822 (agent-score ("from"
14823 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
14828 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
14834 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
14841 Category specification
14844 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
14850 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
14854 Group Parameter specification
14857 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
14860 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
14865 Use @code{normal} score files
14867 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
14868 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
14869 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
14870 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
14872 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
14873 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
14874 files for a group, *filtering out* those sections that do not
14875 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
14879 Category Specification
14886 Group Parameter specification
14889 (agent-score . file)
14894 @node Category Buffer
14895 @subsubsection Category Buffer
14897 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
14898 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
14899 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
14901 The following commands are available in this buffer:
14905 @kindex q (Category)
14906 @findex gnus-category-exit
14907 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
14910 @kindex k (Category)
14911 @findex gnus-category-kill
14912 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
14915 @kindex c (Category)
14916 @findex gnus-category-copy
14917 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
14920 @kindex a (Category)
14921 @findex gnus-category-add
14922 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
14925 @kindex p (Category)
14926 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
14927 Edit the predicate of the current category
14928 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
14931 @kindex g (Category)
14932 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
14933 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
14934 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
14937 @kindex s (Category)
14938 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
14939 Edit the download score rule of the current category
14940 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
14943 @kindex l (Category)
14944 @findex gnus-category-list
14945 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
14949 @node Category Variables
14950 @subsubsection Category Variables
14953 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
14954 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
14955 Hook run in category buffers.
14957 @item gnus-category-line-format
14958 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
14959 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
14960 Variables}). Valid elements are:
14964 The name of the category.
14967 The number of groups in the category.
14970 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
14971 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
14972 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
14974 @item gnus-agent-short-article
14975 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
14976 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
14978 @item gnus-agent-long-article
14979 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
14980 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
14982 @item gnus-agent-low-score
14983 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
14984 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
14987 @item gnus-agent-high-score
14988 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
14989 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
14995 @node Agent Commands
14996 @subsection Agent Commands
14998 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
14999 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged} command works in all modes, and
15000 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
15004 * Group Agent Commands::
15005 * Summary Agent Commands::
15006 * Server Agent Commands::
15009 You can run a complete batch fetch from the command line with the
15010 following incantation:
15012 @cindex gnus-agent-batch-fetch
15014 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch-fetch
15019 @node Group Agent Commands
15020 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
15024 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
15025 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
15026 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
15027 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
15030 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
15031 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
15032 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
15035 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
15036 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
15037 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
15038 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
15041 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
15042 @findex gnus-group-send-drafts
15043 Send all sendable messages in the draft group
15044 (@code{gnus-group-send-drafts}). @xref{Drafts}.
15047 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
15048 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
15049 Add the current group to an Agent category
15050 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
15051 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15054 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
15055 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
15056 Remove the current group from its category, if any
15057 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
15058 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15061 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
15062 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
15063 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
15069 @node Summary Agent Commands
15070 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
15074 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
15075 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
15076 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
15079 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
15080 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
15081 Remove the downloading mark from the article
15082 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
15085 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
15086 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
15087 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
15090 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
15091 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
15092 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
15097 @node Server Agent Commands
15098 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
15102 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
15103 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
15104 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
15105 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
15108 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
15109 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
15110 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
15111 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
15117 @subsection Agent Expiry
15119 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
15120 @findex gnus-agent-expire
15121 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
15122 @cindex Agent expiry
15123 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
15126 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
15127 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
15128 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
15129 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
15130 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
15131 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
15133 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
15134 if @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
15135 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
15136 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
15137 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
15140 @node Agent and IMAP
15141 @subsection Agent and IMAP
15143 The Agent work with any Gnus backend, including nnimap. However,
15144 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
15145 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
15146 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
15148 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
15149 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @code{.newsrc} as is the
15150 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
15151 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
15153 Gnus keep track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
15154 Agent by default. When you plug back in, by default Gnus will check if
15155 you have any changed any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these
15156 with the server. This behavior is customizable with
15157 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
15159 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
15160 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
15161 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, the
15162 default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so ask if
15163 you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has any other
15164 value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
15166 If you do not wish to automatically synchronize flags when you
15167 re-connect, this can be done manually with the
15168 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
15169 in the group buffer by default.
15171 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
15172 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
15177 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
15180 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
15184 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by "pushing"
15185 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
15186 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
15187 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
15188 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
15189 removed from the server when you "synchronize". The queued flag
15190 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
15191 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
15194 @node Outgoing Messages
15195 @subsection Outgoing Messages
15197 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
15198 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
15199 after posting, and edit them at will.
15201 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
15202 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
15203 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
15204 messages in the draft group.
15208 @node Agent Variables
15209 @subsection Agent Variables
15212 @item gnus-agent-directory
15213 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
15214 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
15215 @file{~/News/agent/}.
15217 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
15218 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
15219 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
15220 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
15221 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
15224 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
15225 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
15226 Hook run when connecting to the network.
15228 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
15229 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
15230 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
15235 @node Example Setup
15236 @subsection Example Setup
15238 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
15239 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
15240 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
15243 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
15244 ;;; from your ISP's server.
15245 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
15247 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
15248 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
15249 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
15251 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
15252 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
15254 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
15258 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
15259 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
15262 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
15263 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
15264 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
15265 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
15266 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
15269 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
15270 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
15271 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
15272 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
15273 back all the killed groups.)
15275 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
15276 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
15277 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
15280 @node Batching Agents
15281 @subsection Batching Agents
15283 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
15284 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
15285 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
15289 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
15293 @node Agent Caveats
15294 @subsection Agent Caveats
15296 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
15297 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
15301 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the
15306 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists
15307 in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
15313 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
15314 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP.
15321 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
15322 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
15323 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
15326 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
15327 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
15328 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
15329 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
15330 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
15332 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
15333 before generating the summary buffer.
15335 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
15336 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
15337 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
15339 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
15340 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
15341 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
15342 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
15345 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
15346 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
15347 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
15348 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
15349 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
15350 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
15351 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
15352 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
15353 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
15354 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
15355 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
15356 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
15357 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
15358 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
15359 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
15360 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
15364 @node Summary Score Commands
15365 @section Summary Score Commands
15366 @cindex score commands
15368 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
15369 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
15370 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
15371 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
15372 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
15374 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
15375 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
15376 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
15377 score file the current one.
15379 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
15384 @kindex V s (Summary)
15385 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
15386 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
15389 @kindex V S (Summary)
15390 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
15391 Display the score of the current article
15392 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
15395 @kindex V t (Summary)
15396 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
15397 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
15398 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
15401 @kindex V R (Summary)
15402 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
15403 Run the current summary through the scoring process
15404 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
15405 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
15406 effect you're having.
15409 @kindex V c (Summary)
15410 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
15411 Make a different score file the current
15412 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
15415 @kindex V e (Summary)
15416 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
15417 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
15418 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
15422 @kindex V f (Summary)
15423 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
15424 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
15425 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
15428 @kindex V F (Summary)
15429 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
15430 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
15431 after editing score files.
15434 @kindex V C (Summary)
15435 @findex gnus-score-customize
15436 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
15437 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
15441 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
15446 @kindex V m (Summary)
15447 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
15448 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
15449 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
15452 @kindex V x (Summary)
15453 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
15454 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
15455 expunge all articles below this score
15456 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
15459 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
15460 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
15463 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
15464 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
15468 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
15469 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
15471 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
15472 keys are available:
15476 Score on the author name.
15479 Score on the subject line.
15482 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
15485 Score on the @code{References} line.
15491 Score on the number of lines.
15494 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
15497 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
15498 the followups to this author.
15512 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
15513 what headers you are scoring on.
15525 Substring matching.
15528 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
15557 Greater than number.
15562 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
15563 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
15564 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
15568 Temporary score entry.
15571 Permanent score entry.
15574 Immediately scoring.
15579 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
15580 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
15581 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
15582 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
15584 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
15585 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
15586 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
15587 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
15588 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
15590 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
15591 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
15592 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
15593 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
15594 current score file.
15596 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
15597 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
15598 pretend they are keymaps or not.
15601 @node Group Score Commands
15602 @section Group Score Commands
15603 @cindex group score commands
15605 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
15610 @kindex W f (Group)
15611 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
15612 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
15613 all the time. This command will flush the cache
15614 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
15618 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
15620 @findex gnus-batch-score
15621 @cindex batch scoring
15623 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
15627 @node Score Variables
15628 @section Score Variables
15629 @cindex score variables
15633 @item gnus-use-scoring
15634 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
15635 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
15636 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
15638 @item gnus-kill-killed
15639 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
15640 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
15641 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
15642 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
15643 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
15644 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
15645 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
15647 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
15648 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
15649 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
15650 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
15651 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
15653 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
15654 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
15655 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
15656 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
15658 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
15659 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
15660 @cindex score cache
15661 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
15662 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
15663 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
15664 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
15665 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
15666 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
15669 @item gnus-save-score
15670 @vindex gnus-save-score
15671 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
15672 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
15673 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
15675 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
15676 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
15677 across group visits.
15679 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
15680 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
15681 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
15682 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
15683 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
15684 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
15685 manually entered data.
15687 @item gnus-summary-default-score
15688 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
15689 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
15691 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
15692 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
15693 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
15694 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
15695 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
15696 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
15698 @item gnus-score-over-mark
15699 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
15700 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
15701 default. Default is @samp{+}.
15703 @item gnus-score-below-mark
15704 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
15705 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
15706 default. Default is @samp{-}.
15708 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
15709 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
15710 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
15711 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
15713 Predefined functions available are:
15716 @item gnus-score-find-single
15717 @findex gnus-score-find-single
15718 Only apply the group's own score file.
15720 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
15721 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
15722 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
15723 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
15724 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
15725 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
15726 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
15727 then a regexp match is done.
15729 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
15730 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
15732 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
15733 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
15734 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
15735 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
15737 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
15738 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
15739 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
15740 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
15741 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
15745 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
15746 functions will be called with the group name as argument, and all the
15747 returned lists of score files will be applied. These functions can also
15748 return lists of score alists directly. In that case, the functions that
15749 return these non-file score alists should probably be placed before the
15750 ``real'' score file functions, to ensure that the last score file
15751 returned is the local score file. Phu.
15753 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
15754 overall score file, you could use the value
15756 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE")) 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
15759 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
15760 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
15761 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
15762 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
15763 are expired. It's 7 by default.
15765 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
15766 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
15767 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
15768 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
15769 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
15770 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
15771 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
15774 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
15775 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
15776 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
15778 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
15779 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
15780 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
15781 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
15782 threading---according to the current value of
15783 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
15784 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
15785 simplified in this manner.
15790 @node Score File Format
15791 @section Score File Format
15792 @cindex score file format
15794 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
15795 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
15796 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
15798 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
15802 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
15804 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
15806 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
15808 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
15813 (mark-and-expunge -10)
15817 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
15818 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
15819 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
15820 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
15824 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
15825 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
15827 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
15828 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
15829 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
15831 Six keys are supported by this alist:
15836 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
15837 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
15838 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
15839 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
15840 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
15841 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
15842 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
15843 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
15844 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
15845 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
15846 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
15847 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
15848 to articles that matches these score entries.
15850 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
15851 score entry has one to four elements.
15855 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
15856 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
15860 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
15861 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
15862 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
15863 is successful. If this element is not present, the
15864 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
15865 instead. This is 1000 by default.
15868 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
15869 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
15870 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
15871 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
15872 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
15875 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
15876 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
15877 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
15878 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
15881 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
15882 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
15883 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
15884 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
15885 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
15886 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
15887 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
15888 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
15889 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
15890 instead, if you feel like.
15893 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
15894 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
15896 These predicates are true if
15899 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
15902 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
15903 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
15910 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
15911 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
15912 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
15913 it's not. I think.)
15915 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some backends (like
15916 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
15917 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
15918 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
15921 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
15922 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
15923 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
15924 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
15925 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
15926 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
15927 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
15931 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
15932 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
15933 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
15934 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
15935 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
15936 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
15937 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
15938 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
15941 @item Head, Body, All
15942 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
15946 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
15947 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
15948 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
15949 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
15950 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
15951 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
15952 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
15956 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
15957 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
15958 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
15959 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
15960 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
15961 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
15962 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
15963 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
15964 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
15965 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
15966 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
15970 @cindex Score File Atoms
15972 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
15973 lower than this number will be marked as read.
15976 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
15977 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
15979 @item mark-and-expunge
15980 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
15981 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
15984 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
15985 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
15986 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
15987 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
15988 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
15991 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
15992 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
15995 @item exclude-files
15996 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
15997 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
16001 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
16002 ignored when handling global score files.
16005 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
16006 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
16007 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
16008 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
16011 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
16012 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
16013 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
16014 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
16016 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
16020 (mark-and-expunge -100)
16023 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
16024 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
16025 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
16026 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
16027 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
16029 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
16030 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
16031 scoring rules exist.
16034 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
16035 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
16036 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
16037 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
16038 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
16039 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
16040 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
16041 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
16042 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
16043 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
16044 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
16048 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
16049 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
16050 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
16051 file for a number of groups.
16054 @cindex local variables
16055 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
16056 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
16057 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
16058 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
16059 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
16063 @node Score File Editing
16064 @section Score File Editing
16066 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
16067 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
16068 with a mode for that.
16070 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
16071 additional commands:
16076 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
16077 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
16078 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
16079 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
16082 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
16083 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
16084 Insert the current date in numerical format
16085 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
16086 you were wondering.
16089 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
16090 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
16091 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
16092 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
16093 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
16098 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
16100 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
16101 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
16103 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
16104 e} to begin editing score files.
16107 @node Adaptive Scoring
16108 @section Adaptive Scoring
16109 @cindex adaptive scoring
16111 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
16112 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
16113 stupidity, to be precise.
16115 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
16116 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
16117 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
16118 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
16119 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
16120 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
16121 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
16122 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
16123 variable to @code{(word line)}.
16125 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
16126 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
16127 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
16128 might look something like this:
16131 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
16132 '((gnus-unread-mark)
16133 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
16134 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
16135 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
16136 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
16137 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
16138 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
16139 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
16140 (gnus-ancient-mark)
16141 (gnus-low-score-mark)
16142 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
16145 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
16146 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
16147 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
16148 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
16149 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
16150 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
16153 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
16154 will be applied to each article.
16156 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
16157 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
16158 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
16159 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
16161 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
16162 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
16163 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
16164 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
16166 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
16167 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
16168 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
16169 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
16171 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
16172 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
16173 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
16174 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
16175 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
16176 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
16178 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
16179 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
16180 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
16181 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
16182 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
16183 aspirins afterwards.)
16185 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
16186 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
16187 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
16189 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
16190 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
16191 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
16193 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
16194 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
16195 let you use different rules in different groups.
16197 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
16198 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
16199 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
16202 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
16203 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
16204 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
16205 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
16206 the length of the match is less than
16207 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
16208 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
16211 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
16212 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
16213 headers. If you adapt on words, the
16214 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
16215 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
16218 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
16219 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
16220 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
16221 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
16222 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
16225 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
16226 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
16227 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
16228 score with 30 points.
16230 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
16231 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
16232 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
16233 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
16234 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
16236 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
16237 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
16238 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
16239 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
16240 variable defaults til @code{nil}.
16242 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
16243 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
16244 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
16245 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
16247 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
16248 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
16249 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
16250 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
16252 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
16253 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
16254 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
16255 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
16256 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
16258 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
16259 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
16260 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
16262 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
16263 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
16264 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
16265 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
16268 @node Home Score File
16269 @section Home Score File
16271 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
16272 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
16273 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
16274 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
16276 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
16277 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
16278 could perhaps use the same home score file.
16280 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
16281 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
16286 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
16290 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
16291 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
16295 A list. The elements in this list can be:
16299 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
16300 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
16303 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
16304 the home score file.
16307 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
16310 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
16315 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
16318 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16319 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
16322 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
16323 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
16325 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
16327 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16328 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
16331 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
16332 Other functions include
16335 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
16336 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
16337 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
16338 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
16342 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
16343 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
16344 their own home score files:
16347 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16348 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
16349 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
16350 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
16351 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
16354 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
16355 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
16356 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
16357 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
16358 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
16360 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
16361 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
16362 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
16363 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
16364 precedence over this variable.
16367 @node Followups To Yourself
16368 @section Followups To Yourself
16370 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
16371 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
16372 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
16373 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
16374 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
16375 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
16379 @item gnus-score-followup-article
16380 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
16381 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
16384 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
16385 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
16386 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
16390 @vindex message-sent-hook
16391 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
16392 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
16394 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
16398 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
16399 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
16403 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
16404 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
16407 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
16408 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
16413 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
16417 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
16418 is system-dependent.
16422 @section Scoring Tips
16423 @cindex scoring tips
16429 @cindex scoring crossposts
16430 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
16431 the @code{Xref} header.
16433 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
16436 @item Multiple crossposts
16437 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
16438 more than, say, 3 groups:
16440 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
16443 @item Matching on the body
16444 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
16445 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
16446 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
16447 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
16448 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
16449 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
16450 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
16453 @item Marking as read
16454 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
16455 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
16456 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
16460 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
16462 @item Negated character classes
16463 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
16464 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
16465 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
16469 @node Reverse Scoring
16470 @section Reverse Scoring
16471 @cindex reverse scoring
16473 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
16474 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
16475 like this in your score file:
16479 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
16484 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
16485 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
16488 @node Global Score Files
16489 @section Global Score Files
16490 @cindex global score files
16492 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
16493 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
16494 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
16496 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
16497 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
16498 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
16500 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
16501 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
16502 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
16503 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
16504 files are applicable to which group.
16506 Say you want to use the score file
16507 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
16508 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory:
16511 (setq gnus-global-score-files
16512 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
16513 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
16516 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
16517 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
16518 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
16519 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
16520 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
16522 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
16523 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
16525 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
16526 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
16527 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
16528 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
16529 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
16530 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
16532 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
16538 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
16540 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
16542 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
16544 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
16545 lowered out of existence.
16547 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
16548 articles completely.
16551 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
16552 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
16553 old articles for a long time.
16556 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
16557 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
16558 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
16559 holding our breath yet?
16563 @section Kill Files
16566 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
16567 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
16568 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
16570 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
16571 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
16572 files into score files.
16574 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
16575 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
16576 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
16577 that isn't a very good idea.
16579 Normal kill files look like this:
16582 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16583 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
16587 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
16588 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
16590 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
16591 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
16594 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
16599 @kindex M-k (Summary)
16600 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
16601 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
16604 @kindex M-K (Summary)
16605 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
16606 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
16609 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
16614 @kindex M-k (Group)
16615 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
16616 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
16619 @kindex M-K (Group)
16620 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
16621 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
16624 Kill file variables:
16627 @item gnus-kill-file-name
16628 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
16629 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
16630 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
16631 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
16632 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
16633 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
16635 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
16636 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
16637 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
16638 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
16641 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
16642 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
16643 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
16644 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
16645 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
16646 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
16647 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
16648 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
16649 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
16651 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
16652 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
16653 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
16658 @node Converting Kill Files
16659 @section Converting Kill Files
16661 @cindex converting kill files
16663 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
16664 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
16665 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
16668 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
16669 You can fetch it from
16670 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
16672 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
16673 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
16674 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
16682 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
16683 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
16684 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
16686 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
16687 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
16688 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
16689 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
16690 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
16691 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
16692 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
16693 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
16697 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
16698 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
16699 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
16700 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
16704 @node Using GroupLens
16705 @subsection Using GroupLens
16707 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
16709 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
16710 better bit in town at the moment.
16712 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
16716 @item gnus-use-grouplens
16717 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
16718 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
16719 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
16721 @item grouplens-pseudonym
16722 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
16723 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
16724 with the Better Bit Bureau.
16726 @item grouplens-newsgroups
16727 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
16728 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
16732 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
16733 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
16734 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
16735 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
16736 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
16737 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
16740 @node Rating Articles
16741 @subsection Rating Articles
16743 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
16744 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
16745 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
16746 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
16749 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
16754 @kindex r (GroupLens)
16755 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
16756 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
16759 @kindex k (GroupLens)
16760 @findex grouplens-score-thread
16761 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
16762 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
16763 threads in rec.humor.
16767 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
16768 the score of the article you're reading.
16773 @kindex n (GroupLens)
16774 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
16775 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
16778 @kindex , (GroupLens)
16779 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
16780 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
16784 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
16785 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
16788 @node Displaying Predictions
16789 @subsection Displaying Predictions
16791 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
16792 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
16793 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
16794 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
16795 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
16797 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
16798 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
16799 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
16800 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
16801 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
16802 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
16803 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
16804 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
16805 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
16806 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
16807 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
16808 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
16809 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
16811 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
16812 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
16813 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
16814 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
16816 The following are valid values for that variable.
16819 @item prediction-spot
16820 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
16823 @item confidence-interval
16824 A numeric confidence interval.
16826 @item prediction-bar
16827 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
16829 @item confidence-bar
16830 Numerical confidence.
16832 @item confidence-spot
16833 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
16835 @item prediction-num
16836 Plain-old numeric value.
16838 @item confidence-plus-minus
16839 Prediction +/- confidence.
16844 @node GroupLens Variables
16845 @subsection GroupLens Variables
16849 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
16850 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
16851 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
16852 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%)
16855 @item grouplens-bbb-host
16856 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
16859 @item grouplens-bbb-port
16860 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
16862 @item grouplens-score-offset
16863 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
16864 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
16867 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
16868 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
16869 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
16874 @node Advanced Scoring
16875 @section Advanced Scoring
16877 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
16878 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
16879 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
16880 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
16881 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
16883 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
16887 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
16888 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
16889 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
16893 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
16894 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
16896 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
16897 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
16898 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
16899 non-@code{nil} value.
16901 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
16902 operator, and various match operators.
16909 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
16910 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
16911 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
16916 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
16917 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
16918 then this operator will return @code{false}.
16923 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
16924 logical negation of the value of its argument.
16928 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
16929 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
16930 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
16931 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
16932 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
16933 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
16934 the ancestry you want to go.
16936 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
16937 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
16938 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
16939 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
16940 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
16943 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
16944 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
16946 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
16947 when he's talking about Gnus:
16951 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16952 ("subject" "Gnus"))
16958 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
16962 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16969 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
16970 really don't want to read what he's written:
16974 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16975 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
16979 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
16980 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
16981 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
16988 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
16989 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
16990 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
16991 ("body" "white.*socks"))
16995 The possibilities are endless.
16998 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
16999 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
17001 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
17002 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
17003 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
17004 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
17005 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
17006 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
17007 @samp{subject}) first.
17009 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
17010 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
17021 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
17022 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
17028 ("subject" "Gnus")))
17035 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
17036 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
17041 @section Score Decays
17042 @cindex score decays
17045 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
17046 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
17047 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
17048 use them in any sensible way.
17050 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
17051 @findex gnus-decay-score
17052 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
17053 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
17054 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
17055 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
17056 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
17057 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
17058 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
17059 definition of that function:
17062 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
17064 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
17065 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
17068 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
17070 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
17072 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
17075 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
17076 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
17077 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
17078 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
17082 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
17085 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
17088 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
17092 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
17093 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
17094 the new score, which should be an integer.
17096 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
17097 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
17104 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
17105 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
17106 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
17107 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
17108 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
17109 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
17110 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
17111 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
17112 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
17113 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
17114 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
17115 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
17116 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
17117 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
17118 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
17119 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
17120 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
17121 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
17125 @node Process/Prefix
17126 @section Process/Prefix
17127 @cindex process/prefix convention
17129 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
17130 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
17132 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
17133 command to be performed on.
17137 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
17138 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
17139 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
17140 with the current one.
17142 @vindex transient-mark-mode
17143 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
17144 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
17146 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
17147 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
17150 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
17151 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
17153 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
17156 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
17157 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
17158 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
17159 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
17161 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
17162 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
17163 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
17164 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
17165 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
17166 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
17167 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
17168 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
17170 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
17171 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
17172 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
17173 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
17174 expirable, you could say `M P b M-& E'.
17178 @section Interactive
17179 @cindex interaction
17183 @item gnus-novice-user
17184 @vindex gnus-novice-user
17185 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
17186 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
17187 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
17188 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
17191 @item gnus-expert-user
17192 @vindex gnus-expert-user
17193 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
17194 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
17195 matter how strange.
17197 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
17198 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
17199 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
17200 is @code{t} by default.
17202 @item gnus-interactive-exit
17203 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
17204 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
17209 @node Symbolic Prefixes
17210 @section Symbolic Prefixes
17211 @cindex symbolic prefixes
17213 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
17214 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
17215 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
17216 rule of 900 to the current article.
17218 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
17219 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
17220 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
17221 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
17222 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
17223 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
17224 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
17226 @kindex M-i (Summary)
17227 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
17228 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
17229 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
17230 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
17231 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a M-C-u} means ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u}
17232 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b M-C-u} means
17233 ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
17234 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
17236 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
17237 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
17238 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
17240 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
17244 @node Formatting Variables
17245 @section Formatting Variables
17246 @cindex formatting variables
17248 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
17249 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
17250 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
17251 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
17252 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
17255 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
17256 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
17257 lots of percentages everywhere.
17260 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
17261 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
17262 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
17263 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
17264 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
17267 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
17268 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
17269 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
17270 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
17271 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
17272 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
17273 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
17274 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
17276 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
17277 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
17279 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
17280 @findex gnus-update-format
17281 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
17282 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
17283 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
17284 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
17288 @node Formatting Basics
17289 @subsection Formatting Basics
17291 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
17292 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
17293 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
17295 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
17296 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
17297 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
17298 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
17299 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
17302 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
17303 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
17304 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
17305 less than 4 characters wide.
17308 @node Mode Line Formatting
17309 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
17311 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
17312 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
17313 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
17314 with the following two differences:
17319 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
17322 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
17323 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
17324 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
17325 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
17326 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
17327 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
17328 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
17333 @node Advanced Formatting
17334 @subsection Advanced Formatting
17336 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
17337 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
17338 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
17339 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
17341 These are the valid modifiers:
17346 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
17350 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
17355 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
17358 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
17363 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
17366 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
17369 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
17372 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
17376 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
17377 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
17378 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
17379 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
17380 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
17381 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
17382 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
17384 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
17385 last operation, padding.
17387 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
17388 If @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} is set to @code{nil} (@code{t} by
17389 default) with your strong personality, and use a lots of these advanced
17390 thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets quite slow. This can be helped
17391 enormously by running @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with
17392 the look of your lines.
17393 @xref{Compilation}.
17396 @node User-Defined Specs
17397 @subsection User-Defined Specs
17399 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
17400 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
17401 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
17402 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
17403 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
17404 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
17405 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
17406 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
17407 should protect against that.
17409 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
17410 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
17411 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
17412 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
17416 @node Formatting Fonts
17417 @subsection Formatting Fonts
17419 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
17420 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
17421 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
17422 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
17425 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
17426 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
17427 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
17428 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
17429 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
17430 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
17432 Text inside the @samp{%<} and @samp{%>} specifiers will get the special
17433 @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you
17434 say @samp{%1<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The
17435 @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or symbols
17436 naming functions that return a string. Under @code{balloon-help-mode},
17437 when the mouse passes over text with this property set, a balloon window
17438 will appear and display the string. Please refer to the doc string of
17439 @code{balloon-help-mode} for more information on this.
17441 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
17444 ;; Create three face types.
17445 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
17446 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
17448 ;; We want the article count to be in
17449 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
17450 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
17451 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
17453 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
17454 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
17456 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
17457 (setq gnus-group-line-format
17458 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
17461 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
17462 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
17464 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
17465 mode-line variables.
17468 @node Windows Configuration
17469 @section Windows Configuration
17470 @cindex windows configuration
17472 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
17474 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
17475 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
17476 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
17477 @code{t} by default.
17479 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
17480 glitches. Use at your own peril.
17482 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
17483 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
17484 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
17487 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
17488 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
17489 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
17493 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
17494 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
17495 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
17496 possible names is listed below.
17498 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
17499 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
17502 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
17506 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
17507 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
17508 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
17509 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
17510 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
17511 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
17512 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
17513 size spec per split.
17515 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
17516 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
17517 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
17518 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
17519 present) gets focus.
17521 Here's a more complicated example:
17524 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
17525 (summary 0.25 point)
17526 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
17530 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
17531 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
17532 occupy, not a percentage.
17534 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
17535 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
17536 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
17537 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
17538 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
17541 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
17544 (article (horizontal 1.0
17549 (summary 0.25 point)
17554 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
17555 @code{horizontal} thingie?
17557 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
17558 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
17559 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
17560 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
17561 the screen is to be given to this strip.
17563 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
17564 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
17565 lines from the splits.
17567 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
17571 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
17572 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
17573 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
17574 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
17575 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
17576 size = number | frame-params
17577 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
17580 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
17581 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
17582 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
17583 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
17585 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
17586 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
17587 @cindex window height
17588 @cindex window width
17589 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
17590 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
17591 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
17592 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
17593 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
17594 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
17596 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
17597 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
17598 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
17599 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
17601 @findex gnus-configure-frame
17602 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
17603 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
17604 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
17605 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
17606 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
17607 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
17608 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
17609 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
17610 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
17611 configuration list.
17614 (gnus-configure-frame
17618 (article 0.3 point))
17626 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
17627 @code{frame} split:
17630 (gnus-configure-frame
17633 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
17635 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
17636 (user-position . t)
17637 (left . -1) (top . 1))
17642 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
17643 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
17644 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
17645 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
17646 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
17647 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
17648 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
17649 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
17651 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
17652 be found in its default value.
17654 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
17655 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
17656 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
17660 (message (horizontal 1.0
17661 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
17663 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
17668 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
17669 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
17670 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
17673 (message (frame 1.0
17674 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
17675 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
17676 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
17677 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
17678 (name . "Message"))
17679 (message 1.0 point))))
17682 @findex gnus-add-configuration
17683 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
17684 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
17685 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
17686 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
17689 (gnus-add-configuration
17690 '(article (vertical 1.0
17692 (summary .25 point)
17696 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
17697 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
17698 Gnus has been loaded.
17700 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
17701 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
17702 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
17703 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
17704 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
17706 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
17707 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
17708 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
17711 @subsection Example Window Configurations
17715 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
17716 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
17731 (gnus-add-configuration
17734 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
17736 (summary 0.16 point)
17739 (gnus-add-configuration
17742 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
17743 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
17749 @node Faces and Fonts
17750 @section Faces and Fonts
17755 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
17756 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
17757 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
17762 @section Compilation
17763 @cindex compilation
17764 @cindex byte-compilation
17766 @findex gnus-compile
17768 Remember all those line format specification variables?
17769 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
17770 on. By default, T-gnus will use the byte-compiled codes of these
17771 variables and we can keep a slow-down to a minimum. However, if you set
17772 @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} to @code{nil} (@code{t} by default),
17773 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
17774 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
17775 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
17778 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
17779 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
17780 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
17781 you'll get top speed again. Note that T-gnus will not save these
17782 compiled specs in the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
17785 @item gnus-compile-user-specs
17786 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
17787 If it is non-nil, the user-defined format specs will be byte-compiled
17788 automatically. The default value of this variable is @code{t}. It has
17789 an effect on the values of @code{gnus-*-line-format-spec}.
17794 @section Mode Lines
17797 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
17798 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
17799 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
17800 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
17801 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
17802 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
17803 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
17806 @cindex display-time
17808 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
17809 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
17810 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
17811 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
17812 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
17813 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
17814 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
17815 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
17818 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
17820 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
17821 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
17823 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
17824 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
17825 (length display-time-string)))))
17828 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
17829 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
17830 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
17831 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
17832 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
17835 @node Highlighting and Menus
17836 @section Highlighting and Menus
17838 @cindex highlighting
17841 @vindex gnus-visual
17842 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
17843 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
17844 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
17847 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
17848 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
17851 @item group-highlight
17852 Do highlights in the group buffer.
17853 @item summary-highlight
17854 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
17855 @item article-highlight
17856 Do highlights in the article buffer.
17858 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
17860 Create menus in the group buffer.
17862 Create menus in the summary buffers.
17864 Create menus in the article buffer.
17866 Create menus in the browse buffer.
17868 Create menus in the server buffer.
17870 Create menus in the score buffers.
17872 Create menus in all buffers.
17875 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
17876 buffers, you could say something like:
17879 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
17882 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
17885 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
17888 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
17889 in all Gnus buffers.
17891 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
17894 @item gnus-mouse-face
17895 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
17896 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
17897 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
17901 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
17905 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
17906 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
17907 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
17909 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
17910 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
17911 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
17913 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
17914 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
17915 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
17917 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
17918 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
17919 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
17921 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
17922 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
17923 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
17925 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
17926 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
17927 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
17938 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
17939 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
17940 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
17941 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
17942 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
17946 @vindex gnus-carpal
17947 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
17948 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
17949 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
17954 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
17955 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
17956 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
17958 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
17959 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
17960 Face used on buttons.
17962 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
17963 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
17964 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
17966 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
17967 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
17968 Buttons in the group buffer.
17970 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
17971 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
17972 Buttons in the summary buffer.
17974 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
17975 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
17976 Buttons in the server buffer.
17978 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
17979 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
17980 Buttons in the browse buffer.
17983 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
17984 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
17985 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
17993 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
17994 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
17995 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
17996 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
17997 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
17999 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
18000 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
18001 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
18003 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
18004 been idle for thirty minutes:
18007 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
18010 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
18014 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
18017 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
18018 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
18019 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
18021 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
18022 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
18023 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
18024 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
18026 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
18027 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
18028 @var{idle} minutes.
18030 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
18031 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
18034 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
18035 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
18036 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
18038 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
18039 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
18040 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
18041 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
18043 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
18044 your @file{.gnus} file:
18046 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
18048 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
18051 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
18052 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
18053 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
18054 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
18055 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
18056 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
18057 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
18058 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
18059 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
18060 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
18061 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
18063 @findex gnus-demon-init
18064 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
18065 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
18066 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
18067 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
18068 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
18070 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
18071 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
18072 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
18081 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
18082 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
18084 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
18085 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
18086 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
18087 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
18090 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
18091 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
18092 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
18093 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
18095 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
18096 this will make spam disappear.
18098 There are some variables to customize, of course:
18101 @item gnus-use-nocem
18102 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
18103 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
18106 @item gnus-nocem-groups
18107 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
18108 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
18109 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
18110 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
18112 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
18113 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
18114 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
18115 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
18116 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
18117 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
18119 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
18120 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
18122 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
18123 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
18124 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
18125 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
18126 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
18127 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
18128 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
18129 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
18130 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
18131 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
18133 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
18134 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
18137 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
18140 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
18141 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
18144 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
18147 The specs are applied left-to-right.
18150 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
18151 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
18153 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
18154 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
18155 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
18156 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
18158 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
18159 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
18162 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
18164 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
18172 This might be dangerous, though.
18174 @item gnus-nocem-directory
18175 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
18176 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
18177 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
18179 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
18180 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
18181 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
18182 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
18183 might then see old spam.
18185 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
18186 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
18187 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
18188 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
18189 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
18192 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
18193 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
18194 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
18195 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
18199 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
18200 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
18201 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
18202 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
18209 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
18210 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
18211 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
18213 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
18214 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
18215 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
18216 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
18217 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
18218 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
18219 @code{undo} function.
18221 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
18222 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
18223 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
18224 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
18225 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
18226 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
18227 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
18228 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
18229 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
18230 never be totally undoable.
18232 @findex gnus-undo-mode
18233 @vindex gnus-use-undo
18235 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
18236 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
18237 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
18238 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
18243 @section Moderation
18246 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
18247 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
18248 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
18251 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
18255 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
18258 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
18260 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
18265 You split your incoming mail by matching on
18266 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
18267 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
18270 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
18271 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
18274 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
18275 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
18279 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
18282 (setq gnus-moderated-list
18283 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
18287 @node XEmacs Enhancements
18288 @section XEmacs Enhancements
18291 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
18295 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
18296 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
18297 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
18298 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
18311 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
18312 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
18313 over your shoulder as you read news.
18316 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
18317 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
18318 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
18319 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
18320 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
18325 @subsubsection Picon Basics
18327 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
18336 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
18337 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
18338 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
18339 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
18340 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
18341 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
18342 @code{GIF} formats.
18345 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18346 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
18347 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
18348 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
18349 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
18351 @vindex gnus-picons-database
18352 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
18353 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
18354 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
18355 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
18356 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
18359 @node Picon Requirements
18360 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
18362 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
18363 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
18366 Additionally, you must have @code{x} support compiled into XEmacs. To
18367 display color picons which are much nicer than the black & white one,
18368 you also need one of @code{xpm} or @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
18370 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18371 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
18372 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
18373 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
18374 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
18378 @subsubsection Easy Picons
18380 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
18381 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
18384 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
18385 (setq gnus-treat-display-picons t)
18388 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
18389 containing the Picons databases.
18391 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
18394 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18395 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
18400 @subsubsection Hard Picons
18408 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
18409 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
18410 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
18411 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
18412 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
18417 @item gnus-picons-database
18418 @vindex gnus-picons-database
18419 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
18420 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
18421 subdirectories. This is only useful if
18422 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
18423 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
18425 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18426 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18427 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
18428 engine is @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
18429 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
18430 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
18431 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
18433 @item gnus-picons-display-where
18434 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
18435 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
18436 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
18437 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
18438 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
18439 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
18440 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
18442 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
18443 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
18444 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
18449 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
18450 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
18452 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
18453 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
18456 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
18458 @item gnus-article-display-picons
18459 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
18460 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
18461 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer.
18463 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
18464 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
18465 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.
18471 @node Picon Useless Configuration
18472 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
18480 The following variables offer further control over how things are
18481 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
18482 don't need to worry about.
18486 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
18487 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
18488 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
18489 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
18491 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
18492 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
18493 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
18494 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
18496 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
18497 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
18498 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
18499 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
18500 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
18502 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18503 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18504 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
18505 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
18506 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
18507 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
18508 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
18510 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
18511 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
18512 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
18513 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
18515 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
18516 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
18517 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
18518 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
18519 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
18520 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
18521 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
18523 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
18524 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
18525 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
18526 Defaults to @code{nil}.
18528 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
18529 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
18530 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
18531 Defaults to @code{t}.
18533 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
18534 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
18535 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
18536 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
18538 @item gnus-picons-setup-hook
18539 @vindex gnus-picons-setup-hook
18540 Hook run in the picon buffer, if that is displayed.
18542 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
18543 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
18544 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
18545 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
18547 If @code{nil}, display the picons in the @code{From} and
18548 @code{Newsgroups} lines. This is the default.
18550 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
18551 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
18552 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
18553 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
18554 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
18555 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
18556 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
18557 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
18568 @subsection Smileys
18573 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/BigFace.ps,height=20cm}}
18578 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
18579 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
18581 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
18582 @file{.gnus.el} file:
18585 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
18588 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
18589 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
18590 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
18591 text and maps that to file names.
18593 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
18594 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
18595 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
18596 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
18597 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
18598 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
18600 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
18601 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
18603 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
18604 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
18605 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
18607 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
18608 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
18612 @item smiley-data-directory
18613 @vindex smiley-data-directory
18614 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
18616 @item smiley-flesh-color
18617 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
18618 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
18620 @item smiley-features-color
18621 @vindex smiley-features-color
18622 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
18624 @item smiley-tongue-color
18625 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
18626 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
18628 @item smiley-circle-color
18629 @vindex smiley-circle-color
18630 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
18632 @item smiley-mouse-face
18633 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
18634 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
18640 @subsection Toolbar
18650 @item gnus-use-toolbar
18651 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
18652 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
18653 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
18654 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
18656 @item gnus-group-toolbar
18657 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
18658 The toolbar in the group buffer.
18660 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
18661 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
18662 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
18664 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
18665 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
18666 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
18672 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
18675 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
18676 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
18677 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
18678 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
18679 unusual directory structure.
18681 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
18682 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
18683 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
18684 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
18686 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
18687 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
18688 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
18689 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
18690 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
18691 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
18693 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
18694 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
18695 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
18709 @node Fuzzy Matching
18710 @section Fuzzy Matching
18711 @cindex fuzzy matching
18713 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
18714 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
18716 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
18717 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
18718 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
18720 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
18721 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
18722 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
18723 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
18724 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
18727 @node Thwarting Email Spam
18728 @section Thwarting Email Spam
18732 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
18734 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
18735 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
18736 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
18737 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
18738 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
18739 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
18740 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
18741 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
18744 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
18745 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
18746 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
18747 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
18748 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
18749 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
18753 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
18754 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
18756 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
18757 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
18758 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
18759 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
18760 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
18761 part of the mail address.)
18764 (setq message-default-news-headers
18765 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
18768 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
18769 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
18774 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
18775 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
18776 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
18782 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
18783 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
18784 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
18785 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
18787 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
18788 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
18789 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
18790 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
18791 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
18792 your fancy split rule in this way:
18797 (to "larsi" "misc")
18801 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
18802 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
18803 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
18804 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
18805 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
18807 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
18808 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
18809 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
18810 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
18811 cosmic balance somewhat.
18813 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
18814 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
18815 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
18816 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
18819 @node Various Various
18820 @section Various Various
18826 @item gnus-home-directory
18827 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
18828 defaults to @file{~/}.
18830 @item gnus-directory
18831 @vindex gnus-directory
18832 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
18833 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
18834 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
18836 Note that gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
18837 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
18838 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
18839 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
18841 @item gnus-default-directory
18842 @vindex gnus-default-directory
18843 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
18844 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
18845 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
18846 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
18847 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
18848 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
18851 @vindex gnus-verbose
18852 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
18853 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
18854 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
18855 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
18856 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
18858 @item gnus-verbose-backends
18859 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
18860 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
18861 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
18863 @item nnheader-max-head-length
18864 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
18865 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
18866 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
18867 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
18868 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
18869 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
18870 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
18871 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
18872 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
18874 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
18875 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
18876 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
18877 read when doing the operation described above.
18879 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18880 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18882 @cindex invalid characters in file names
18883 @cindex characters in file names
18884 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
18885 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
18886 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
18889 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18893 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
18894 Windows (phooey) systems.
18896 @item gnus-hidden-properties
18897 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
18898 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
18899 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
18900 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
18902 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
18903 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
18904 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
18905 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
18906 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
18908 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
18909 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
18910 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
18912 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
18913 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
18915 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
18916 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
18917 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
18918 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
18921 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
18930 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
18931 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
18933 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
18935 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
18941 Not because of victories @*
18944 but for the common sunshine,@*
18946 the largess of the spring.
18950 but for the day's work done@*
18951 as well as I was able;@*
18952 not for a seat upon the dais@*
18953 but at the common table.@*
18958 @chapter Appendices
18961 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
18962 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
18963 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
18964 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
18965 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
18966 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
18967 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
18968 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
18976 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
18977 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
18979 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
18980 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
18981 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
18982 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
18983 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
18985 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
18986 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
18987 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
18988 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
18989 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
18990 appropriate name, don't you think?)
18992 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
18993 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
18994 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
18995 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
18998 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
18999 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
19000 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
19001 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
19002 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
19003 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
19004 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
19005 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
19006 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
19010 @node Gnus Versions
19011 @subsection Gnus Versions
19012 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
19014 @cindex September Gnus
19015 @cindex Quassia Gnus
19017 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
19018 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
19019 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
19021 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
19022 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
19024 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
19025 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
19027 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
19028 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
19030 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
19031 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
19034 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
19036 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
19037 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
19038 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
19039 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
19040 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
19041 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
19044 @node Other Gnus Versions
19045 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
19048 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
19049 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
19050 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
19051 @sc{mime} capabilities.
19053 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
19054 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
19055 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
19056 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
19063 What's the point of Gnus?
19065 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
19066 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
19067 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
19068 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
19069 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
19070 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
19071 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
19072 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
19073 keep track of millions of people who post?
19075 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
19076 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
19077 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
19078 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
19079 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
19080 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
19081 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
19082 every one of you to explore and invent.
19084 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
19085 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
19088 @node Compatibility
19089 @subsection Compatibility
19091 @cindex compatibility
19092 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
19093 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
19094 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
19099 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
19103 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
19106 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
19109 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
19110 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
19111 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
19112 important variables have their values copied into their global
19113 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
19114 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
19116 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
19117 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
19118 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
19119 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
19120 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
19124 @cindex highlighting
19125 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
19126 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
19127 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
19128 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
19129 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
19130 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
19133 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
19134 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
19135 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
19136 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
19138 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
19139 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
19140 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
19141 to stop doing it the old way.
19143 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
19145 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
19147 @cindex reporting bugs
19149 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
19150 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
19151 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
19153 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
19154 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
19155 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
19156 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
19161 @subsection Conformity
19163 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
19164 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
19171 There are no known breaches of this standard.
19175 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
19177 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
19178 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
19179 We do have some breaches to this one.
19185 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
19186 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
19187 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
19188 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
19189 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
19194 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
19195 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
19196 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
19197 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
19201 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
19202 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
19207 @subsection Emacsen
19213 Gnus should work on :
19221 XEmacs 21.1.1 and up.
19225 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
19226 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
19227 Emacs versions. However, T-gnus does support ``Mule 2.3 based on Emacs
19228 19.34'' and possibly the versions of XEmacs prior to 21.1.1, e.g. 20.4.
19229 See the file ``README'' in the T-gnus distribution for more details.
19231 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
19232 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
19233 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
19237 @node Gnus Development
19238 @subsection Gnus Development
19240 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
19241 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
19242 propose changes and new features, post patches and new backends. This
19243 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
19244 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
19245 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
19246 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
19247 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
19249 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
19250 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
19251 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
19252 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
19253 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
19256 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
19257 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
19258 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
19259 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
19260 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
19262 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
19263 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
19264 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
19265 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
19266 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
19267 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
19268 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
19269 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
19270 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
19271 can't be assumed to do so.
19276 @subsection Contributors
19277 @cindex contributors
19279 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
19280 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
19281 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
19282 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
19283 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
19284 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
19285 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
19286 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
19287 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
19288 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
19290 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
19296 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
19299 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
19300 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
19301 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
19302 functionality and stuff.
19305 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
19306 well as numerous other things).
19309 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
19312 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
19315 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
19318 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
19319 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
19322 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
19325 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
19326 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
19329 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
19332 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
19335 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
19338 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
19341 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
19342 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
19345 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
19348 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
19351 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
19354 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
19358 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
19361 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
19364 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
19367 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
19368 well as autoconf support.
19372 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
19373 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
19375 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
19384 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
19388 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
19398 Alexei V. Barantsev,
19413 Massimo Campostrini,
19418 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
19419 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
19423 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
19426 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
19432 Michael Welsh Duggan,
19437 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
19441 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
19449 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
19451 Michelangelo Grigni,
19455 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
19457 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
19459 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
19466 François Felix Ingrand,
19467 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
19468 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
19470 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
19481 Peter Skov Knudsen,
19482 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
19484 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
19485 Thor Kristoffersen,
19488 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
19506 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
19507 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
19514 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
19519 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
19523 John McClary Prevost,
19529 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
19534 Christian von Roques,
19537 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
19544 Philippe Schnoebelen,
19546 Randal L. Schwartz,
19560 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
19565 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
19581 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
19586 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
19587 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
19588 (550kB and counting).
19590 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
19593 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
19594 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
19598 @subsection New Features
19599 @cindex new features
19602 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
19603 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
19604 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
19605 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
19606 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
19609 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
19610 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
19611 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
19614 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
19616 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
19621 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
19622 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
19625 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
19626 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
19629 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
19632 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
19633 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
19634 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
19637 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
19638 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
19639 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
19640 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
19643 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
19644 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19647 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
19648 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
19649 (@pxref{The Active File}).
19652 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
19653 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
19656 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
19657 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
19658 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
19661 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
19662 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
19663 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
19666 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
19667 the @file{.emacs} file.
19670 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
19671 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
19674 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
19675 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
19678 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
19679 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19682 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
19683 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
19686 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
19687 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
19690 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
19693 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
19694 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
19697 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
19698 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
19701 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
19702 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
19705 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
19708 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
19709 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
19712 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
19716 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
19720 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
19721 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
19724 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
19730 @node September Gnus
19731 @subsubsection September Gnus
19735 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/september.ps,height=20cm}}
19739 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
19744 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
19745 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
19749 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
19750 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
19754 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
19758 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
19759 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
19762 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
19766 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
19769 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
19772 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
19775 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
19779 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
19780 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
19783 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
19787 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
19791 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
19795 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
19799 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
19802 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
19803 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
19806 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
19810 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
19811 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
19814 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
19817 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
19818 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
19819 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
19822 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
19826 The Gnus cache is much faster.
19829 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
19833 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
19834 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
19837 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
19838 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
19841 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
19842 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
19845 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
19846 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
19847 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
19850 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
19851 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
19854 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
19857 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
19860 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
19863 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
19866 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
19867 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
19870 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
19874 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
19877 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}}
19882 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
19885 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
19889 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19892 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
19896 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
19899 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
19902 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
19903 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
19906 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
19907 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
19911 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
19912 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
19915 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
19919 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
19920 buffer to allow easier treatment.
19923 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
19926 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
19930 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
19934 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
19935 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
19938 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
19942 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
19943 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
19946 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
19947 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
19950 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
19954 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
19957 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
19960 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
19966 @subsubsection Red Gnus
19968 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
19972 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/red.ps,height=20cm}}
19979 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
19982 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
19983 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
19986 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
19987 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
19991 Article washing status can be displayed in the
19992 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
19995 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
19998 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
19999 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
20002 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
20006 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
20007 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
20011 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
20012 Server Internals}).
20015 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
20019 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
20022 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
20023 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
20026 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
20027 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
20028 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
20031 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
20032 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
20035 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
20036 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
20039 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
20043 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
20044 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
20047 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
20048 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
20051 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
20055 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
20058 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
20062 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
20063 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
20066 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
20067 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
20070 A new command for reading collections of documents
20071 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
20072 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
20075 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
20079 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
20080 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
20083 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
20084 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
20085 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
20088 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
20089 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
20093 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
20097 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
20101 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}}
20106 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
20110 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
20114 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
20115 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
20118 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
20124 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
20126 New features in Gnus 5.6:
20131 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
20132 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
20133 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
20136 The @code{nndraft} backend has returned, but works differently than
20137 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
20138 group, which is created automatically.
20141 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
20145 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
20148 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
20149 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
20152 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
20156 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
20159 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
20160 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
20163 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
20166 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
20167 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
20170 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
20171 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
20174 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
20175 control over simplification.
20178 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
20181 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
20185 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
20188 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
20191 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
20192 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
20193 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
20196 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
20197 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
20200 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
20204 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
20205 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
20208 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
20209 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
20212 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
20216 A history of where mails have been split is available.
20219 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
20222 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
20223 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
20226 A new function for citing in Message has been
20227 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
20230 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
20233 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
20237 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
20238 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
20241 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
20242 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
20245 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} backend.
20248 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
20252 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
20253 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
20255 New features in Gnus 5.8:
20259 @item The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
20260 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
20262 If you used procmail like in
20265 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
20266 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
20267 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
20268 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
20271 this now has changed to
20275 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
20279 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
20280 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
20282 @item Gnus is now a MIME-capable reader. This affects many parts of
20283 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
20285 @item Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
20286 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
20288 @item @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
20289 called to position point.
20291 @item The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
20292 summary buffers and NOV files.
20294 @item @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
20295 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
20297 @item The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
20298 subtly different manner.
20300 @item New web-based backends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
20301 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
20302 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
20304 @item Gnus can now read IMAP mail via @code{nnimap}.
20312 @section The Manual
20316 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
20317 either @code{texi2dvi}
20319 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
20320 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
20322 to get what you hold in your hands now.
20324 The following conventions have been used:
20329 This is a @samp{string}
20332 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
20335 This is a @file{file}
20338 This is a @code{symbol}
20342 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
20346 (setq flargnoze "yes")
20349 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
20352 (setq flumphel 'yes)
20355 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
20356 ever get them confused.
20360 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
20361 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
20362 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
20363 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
20364 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
20365 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
20366 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
20372 @node On Writing Manuals
20373 @section On Writing Manuals
20375 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
20376 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
20377 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
20378 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
20379 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
20380 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
20383 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
20384 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
20385 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
20388 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
20389 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
20394 @section Terminology
20396 @cindex terminology
20401 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
20402 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
20403 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
20404 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
20405 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
20409 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
20410 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
20411 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
20412 not posting, and replying is not following up.
20416 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
20420 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
20425 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
20426 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
20427 is all done by the backends.
20431 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
20432 default, way of getting news.
20436 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
20437 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
20442 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
20443 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
20447 A message that has been posted as news.
20450 @cindex mail message
20451 A message that has been mailed.
20455 A mail message or news article
20459 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
20464 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
20469 A line from the head of an article.
20473 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
20474 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
20478 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
20479 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
20480 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
20481 normal @sc{head} format.
20485 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
20486 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
20487 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
20488 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
20489 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
20490 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
20492 @item killed groups
20493 @cindex killed groups
20494 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
20495 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
20497 @item zombie groups
20498 @cindex zombie groups
20499 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
20502 @cindex active file
20503 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
20504 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
20505 is rather large, as you might surmise.
20508 @cindex bogus groups
20509 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
20510 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
20511 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
20514 @cindex activating groups
20515 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
20516 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
20517 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
20521 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
20523 @item select method
20524 @cindex select method
20525 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
20528 @item virtual server
20529 @cindex virtual server
20530 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
20531 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
20532 whole is a virtual server.
20536 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
20537 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
20540 @item ephemeral groups
20541 @cindex ephemeral groups
20542 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
20543 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
20544 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
20547 @cindex solid groups
20548 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
20549 group buffer are solid groups.
20551 @item sparse articles
20552 @cindex sparse articles
20553 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
20554 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
20558 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
20559 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
20563 @cindex thread root
20564 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
20565 articles in the thread.
20569 An article that has responses.
20573 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
20577 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
20578 specified by RFC 1153.
20584 @node Customization
20585 @section Customization
20586 @cindex general customization
20588 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
20589 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
20590 for some quite common situations.
20593 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
20594 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
20595 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
20596 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
20600 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
20601 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
20603 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
20604 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
20605 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
20609 @item gnus-read-active-file
20610 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
20611 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
20612 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
20613 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
20614 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
20616 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
20617 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
20618 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
20619 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
20623 @node Slow Terminal Connection
20624 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
20626 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
20627 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
20628 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
20632 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
20633 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
20634 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
20635 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
20636 horizontal and vertical recentering.
20638 @item gnus-visible-headers
20639 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
20640 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
20641 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
20642 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
20644 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
20646 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
20647 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
20648 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
20651 @item gnus-use-full-window
20652 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
20653 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
20654 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
20655 want to read them anyway.
20657 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
20658 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
20661 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
20662 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
20663 lines, which might save some time.
20667 @node Little Disk Space
20668 @subsection Little Disk Space
20671 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
20672 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
20676 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
20677 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
20678 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
20679 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
20682 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
20683 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
20684 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
20685 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
20688 @item gnus-save-killed-list
20689 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
20690 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
20691 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
20692 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
20698 @subsection Slow Machine
20699 @cindex slow machine
20701 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
20702 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
20704 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
20705 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
20707 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
20708 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
20709 summary buffer faster.
20713 @node Troubleshooting
20714 @section Troubleshooting
20715 @cindex troubleshooting
20717 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
20725 Make sure your computer is switched on.
20728 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
20729 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
20733 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
20734 like @samp{T-gnus 6.15.* (based on Oort Gnus v0.*; for SEMI 1.1*, FLIM
20735 1.1*)} you have the right files loaded. If, on the other hand, you get
20736 something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp flee}, you have some old
20737 @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
20740 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
20744 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
20745 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
20746 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
20747 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
20748 something like that.
20751 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
20754 @cindex reporting bugs
20756 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
20758 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
20759 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
20760 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
20761 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
20763 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
20764 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
20765 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
20766 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
20769 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
20770 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
20771 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
20772 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
20773 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
20774 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
20776 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
20777 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
20778 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
20781 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
20782 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
20784 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
20785 @cindex ding mailing list
20786 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
20787 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
20791 @node Gnus Reference Guide
20792 @section Gnus Reference Guide
20794 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
20795 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
20796 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
20797 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
20800 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
20801 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
20802 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
20803 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
20804 and general methods of operation.
20807 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
20808 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
20809 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
20810 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
20811 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
20812 * Group Info:: The group info format.
20813 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
20814 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
20815 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
20819 @node Gnus Utility Functions
20820 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
20821 @cindex Gnus utility functions
20822 @cindex utility functions
20824 @cindex internal variables
20826 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
20827 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
20828 Below is a list of the most common ones.
20832 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
20833 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
20834 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
20836 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
20837 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
20838 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
20840 @item gnus-group-real-name
20841 @findex gnus-group-real-name
20842 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
20845 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
20846 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
20847 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
20848 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
20850 @item gnus-get-info
20851 @findex gnus-get-info
20852 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
20854 @item gnus-group-unread
20855 @findex gnus-group-unread
20856 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
20860 @findex gnus-active
20861 The active entry for @var{group}.
20863 @item gnus-set-active
20864 @findex gnus-set-active
20865 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
20867 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
20868 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
20869 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
20872 @item gnus-continuum-version
20873 @findex gnus-continuum-version
20874 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
20875 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
20878 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
20879 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
20880 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
20882 @item gnus-news-group-p
20883 @findex gnus-news-group-p
20884 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
20886 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
20887 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
20888 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
20890 @item gnus-server-to-method
20891 @findex gnus-server-to-method
20892 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
20894 @item gnus-server-equal
20895 @findex gnus-server-equal
20896 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
20898 @item gnus-group-native-p
20899 @findex gnus-group-native-p
20900 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
20902 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
20903 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
20904 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
20906 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
20907 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
20908 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
20910 @item group-group-find-parameter
20911 @findex group-group-find-parameter
20912 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
20913 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
20915 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
20916 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
20917 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
20919 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
20920 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
20921 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
20923 @item gnus-check-backend-function
20924 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
20925 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
20926 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
20929 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
20933 @item gnus-read-method
20934 @findex gnus-read-method
20935 Prompts the user for a select method.
20940 @node Backend Interface
20941 @subsection Backend Interface
20943 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
20944 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
20945 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
20946 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
20947 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
20948 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
20950 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
20951 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
20952 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
20953 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
20954 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
20955 been opened, the function should fail.
20957 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
20958 name. Take this example:
20962 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
20963 (nntp-port-number 4324))
20966 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
20967 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
20969 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
20970 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
20971 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
20973 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
20974 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
20975 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
20977 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
20978 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
20979 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
20980 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
20981 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
20982 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
20985 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
20986 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
20987 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
20988 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
20991 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
20994 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
20997 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
20998 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
20999 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
21000 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
21001 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
21002 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
21006 @node Required Backend Functions
21007 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
21011 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
21013 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
21014 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
21015 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
21016 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
21018 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
21019 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
21020 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
21021 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
21023 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
21024 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
21025 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
21026 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
21027 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
21028 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
21029 number, do maximum fetches.
21031 Here's an example HEAD:
21034 221 1056 Article retrieved.
21035 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
21036 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
21037 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
21038 Subject: Re: Something very droll
21039 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
21040 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
21042 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
21043 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
21044 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
21048 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
21049 these in the data buffer.
21051 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
21055 head = error / valid-head
21056 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
21057 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
21058 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
21059 header = <text> eol
21062 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
21063 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
21067 nov-buffer = *nov-line
21068 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
21069 field = <text except TAB>
21072 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
21076 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
21078 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
21079 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
21081 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
21082 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
21083 server. In fact, it should do so.
21085 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
21086 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
21089 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
21091 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
21092 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
21095 There should be no data returned.
21098 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
21100 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
21101 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
21102 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
21103 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
21105 There should be no data returned.
21108 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
21110 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
21111 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
21112 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
21113 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
21115 There should be no data returned.
21118 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
21120 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
21122 There should be no data returned.
21125 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
21127 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
21128 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
21129 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
21130 it would be nice if that were possible.
21132 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
21133 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
21134 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
21135 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
21136 into its article buffer.
21138 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
21139 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
21140 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
21141 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
21142 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
21143 on successful article retrieval.
21146 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
21148 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
21149 making @var{group} the current group.
21151 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
21154 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
21157 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
21160 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
21161 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
21162 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
21163 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
21164 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
21165 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
21166 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
21167 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
21170 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
21171 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
21172 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
21176 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
21178 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
21179 a no-op on most backends.
21181 There should be no data returned.
21184 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
21186 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
21189 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
21192 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
21193 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
21196 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
21197 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
21200 active-file = *active-line
21201 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
21203 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
21206 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
21207 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
21208 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
21211 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
21213 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
21214 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
21215 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
21216 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
21217 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
21218 clear if the posting could not be completed.
21220 There should be no result data from this function.
21225 @node Optional Backend Functions
21226 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
21230 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
21232 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
21233 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
21234 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
21236 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
21237 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
21238 former is in the same format as the data from
21239 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
21240 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
21243 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
21247 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
21249 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
21250 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
21251 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
21252 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
21253 should return the (altered) group info.
21255 There should be no result data from this function.
21258 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
21260 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
21261 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
21262 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
21263 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
21264 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
21265 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
21266 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
21267 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
21269 There should be no result data from this function.
21272 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
21274 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
21275 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
21276 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some backends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
21277 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
21278 propagate the mark information to the server.
21280 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
21283 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
21286 RANGE is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. ACTION is
21287 @code{set}, @code{add} or @code{del}, respectively used for removing all
21288 existing marks and setting them as specified, adding (preserving the
21289 marks not mentioned) mark and removing (preserving the marks not
21290 mentioned) marks. MARK is a list of marks; where each mark is a symbol.
21291 Currently used marks are @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply},
21292 @code{expire}, @code{killed}, @code{dormant}, @code{save},
21293 @code{download} and @code{unsend}, but your backend should, if possible,
21294 not limit itself to these.
21296 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
21297 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
21298 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
21299 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
21301 An example action list:
21304 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
21305 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
21306 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
21309 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
21310 mark on (currently not used for anything).
21312 There should be no result data from this function.
21314 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
21316 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
21317 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
21318 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
21319 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
21320 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
21322 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
21323 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
21324 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
21327 There should be no result data from this function.
21330 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
21332 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
21333 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
21334 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
21335 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
21336 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
21337 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
21338 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
21340 There should be no result data from this function.
21343 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
21345 The result data from this function should be a description of
21349 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
21351 description = <text>
21354 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
21356 The result data from this function should be the description of all
21357 groups available on the server.
21360 description-buffer = *description-line
21364 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
21366 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
21367 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
21368 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
21371 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
21373 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
21375 There should be no return data.
21378 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
21380 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
21381 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
21382 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
21383 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
21384 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
21387 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
21390 There should be no result data returned.
21393 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
21396 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
21397 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
21399 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
21400 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
21401 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
21402 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
21403 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
21404 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
21406 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
21407 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
21410 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
21411 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
21413 There should be no data returned.
21416 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
21418 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
21419 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
21420 this function in short order.
21422 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
21423 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
21425 There should be no data returned.
21428 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
21430 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
21431 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
21433 There should be no data returned.
21436 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
21438 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
21439 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
21440 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
21442 There should be no data returned.
21445 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
21447 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
21448 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
21450 There should be no data returned.
21455 @node Error Messaging
21456 @subsubsection Error Messaging
21458 @findex nnheader-report
21459 @findex nnheader-get-report
21460 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
21461 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
21462 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
21463 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
21464 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
21465 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
21468 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
21470 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
21473 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
21474 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
21475 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
21476 takes one argument---the server symbol.
21478 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
21479 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
21480 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
21483 @node Writing New Backends
21484 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
21486 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
21487 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
21488 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
21489 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
21490 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
21493 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
21494 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
21495 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
21497 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
21498 package called @code{nnoo}.
21500 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
21501 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
21507 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
21508 parameters. For instance:
21511 (nnoo-declare nndir
21515 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
21516 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
21519 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
21520 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
21521 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
21523 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
21524 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
21525 a function in those backends.
21528 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
21529 "Where nndir will look for groups."
21530 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
21533 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
21534 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
21535 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
21537 @item nnoo-define-basics
21538 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
21542 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
21546 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
21547 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
21548 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
21550 @item nnoo-map-functions
21551 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
21552 functions from the parent backends.
21555 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
21556 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
21557 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
21560 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
21561 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
21562 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
21563 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
21566 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
21567 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
21568 haven't already been defined.
21574 nnmh-request-newgroups)
21578 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
21579 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
21580 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
21585 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
21588 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
21589 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
21593 (require 'nnheader)
21597 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
21599 (nnoo-declare nndir
21602 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
21603 "Where nndir will look for groups."
21604 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
21606 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
21607 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
21610 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
21611 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
21612 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
21614 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
21615 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
21617 ;;; Interface functions.
21619 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
21621 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
21622 (setq nndir-directory
21623 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
21625 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
21626 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
21627 (push `(nndir-current-group
21628 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
21630 (push `(nndir-top-directory
21631 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
21633 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
21635 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
21636 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
21637 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
21638 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
21639 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
21643 nnmh-status-message
21645 nnmh-request-newgroups))
21651 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
21652 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
21654 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
21655 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
21656 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
21657 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
21659 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
21660 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
21665 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
21668 The abilities can be:
21672 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
21674 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
21676 This backend supports both mail and news.
21678 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
21681 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
21682 articles and groups.
21684 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
21685 true for almost all backends.
21686 @item prompt-address
21687 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
21688 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
21689 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
21693 @node Mail-like Backends
21694 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
21696 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
21697 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
21698 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
21699 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
21702 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
21703 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
21704 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
21707 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
21708 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
21711 This function takes four parameters.
21715 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
21718 @item exit-function
21719 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
21721 @item temp-directory
21722 Where the temporary files should be stored.
21725 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
21726 performed for one group only.
21729 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
21730 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
21731 find the article number assigned to this article.
21733 The function also uses the following variables:
21734 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
21735 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
21736 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
21737 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
21741 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
21742 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
21746 @node Score File Syntax
21747 @subsection Score File Syntax
21749 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
21750 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
21751 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
21753 Here's a typical score file:
21757 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
21764 BNF definition of a score file:
21767 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
21768 element = rule / atom
21769 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
21770 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
21771 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
21772 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
21774 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
21775 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
21776 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
21777 date-header = "date"
21778 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
21779 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
21780 score = "nil" / <integer>
21781 date = "nil" / <natural number>
21782 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
21783 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
21784 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
21785 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
21786 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
21787 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
21788 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
21789 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
21790 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
21791 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
21792 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
21793 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
21794 exclude-files / read-only / touched
21795 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
21796 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
21797 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
21798 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
21799 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
21800 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
21801 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
21802 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
21803 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
21804 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
21805 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
21806 eval = "eval" space <form>
21807 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
21810 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
21813 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
21814 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
21815 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
21816 one looong line, then that's ok.
21818 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
21819 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
21823 @subsection Headers
21825 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
21826 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
21827 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
21828 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
21830 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
21831 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
21832 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
21833 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
21834 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
21835 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
21836 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
21838 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
21839 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
21840 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
21841 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
21842 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
21844 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
21845 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
21851 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
21852 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
21854 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
21855 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
21856 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
21857 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
21859 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
21863 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
21866 is transformed into
21869 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
21872 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
21873 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
21876 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
21879 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
21880 is slightly tricky:
21883 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
21889 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
21892 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
21898 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
21905 and is equal to the previous range.
21907 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
21908 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
21909 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
21913 range = simple-range / normal-range
21914 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
21915 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
21916 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
21917 number *[ " " contents ]
21920 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
21921 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
21922 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
21923 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
21924 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
21929 @subsection Group Info
21931 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
21932 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
21933 describes the group.
21935 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
21936 second is a more complex one:
21939 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
21941 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
21942 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
21944 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
21947 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
21948 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
21949 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
21950 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
21951 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
21952 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
21953 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
21954 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
21955 this section is about.
21957 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
21958 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
21959 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
21961 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
21964 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
21965 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
21966 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
21967 group = quote <string> quote
21968 ralevel = rank / level
21969 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
21970 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
21971 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
21973 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
21974 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
21975 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
21976 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
21979 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
21980 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
21983 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
21984 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
21987 @item gnus-info-group
21988 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
21989 @findex gnus-info-group
21990 @findex gnus-info-set-group
21991 Get/set the group name.
21993 @item gnus-info-rank
21994 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
21995 @findex gnus-info-rank
21996 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
21997 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
21999 @item gnus-info-level
22000 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
22001 @findex gnus-info-level
22002 @findex gnus-info-set-level
22003 Get/set the group level.
22005 @item gnus-info-score
22006 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
22007 @findex gnus-info-score
22008 @findex gnus-info-set-score
22009 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
22011 @item gnus-info-read
22012 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
22013 @findex gnus-info-read
22014 @findex gnus-info-set-read
22015 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
22017 @item gnus-info-marks
22018 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
22019 @findex gnus-info-marks
22020 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
22021 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
22023 @item gnus-info-method
22024 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
22025 @findex gnus-info-method
22026 @findex gnus-info-set-method
22027 Get/set the group select method.
22029 @item gnus-info-params
22030 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
22031 @findex gnus-info-params
22032 @findex gnus-info-set-params
22033 Get/set the group parameters.
22036 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
22037 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
22039 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
22040 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
22041 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
22042 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
22045 @node Extended Interactive
22046 @subsection Extended Interactive
22047 @cindex interactive
22048 @findex gnus-interactive
22050 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
22051 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
22052 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
22055 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
22056 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
22061 The best thing to do would have been to implement
22062 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
22063 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
22064 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
22065 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
22066 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
22067 @code{interactive}.
22069 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
22074 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
22075 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
22079 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
22080 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
22081 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
22084 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
22088 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
22092 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
22098 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
22099 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
22103 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
22104 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
22105 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
22107 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
22108 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
22109 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
22110 Gnus, that's very useful.
22112 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
22113 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
22114 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
22115 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
22116 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
22117 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
22118 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
22119 following function:
22122 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
22126 (,function ,@@args))
22130 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
22131 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
22132 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
22135 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
22136 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
22137 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
22139 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
22140 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
22141 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
22144 @node Various File Formats
22145 @subsection Various File Formats
22148 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
22149 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
22153 @node Active File Format
22154 @subsubsection Active File Format
22156 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
22157 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
22160 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
22163 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
22164 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
22165 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
22166 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
22167 no.general 1000 900 y
22170 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
22173 active = *group-line
22174 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
22175 group = <non-white-space string>
22177 high-number = <non-negative integer>
22178 low-number = <positive integer>
22179 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
22182 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
22183 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
22186 @node Newsgroups File Format
22187 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
22189 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
22190 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
22191 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
22194 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
22195 Here's the definition:
22199 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
22200 group = <non-white-space string>
22202 description = <string>
22207 @node Emacs for Heathens
22208 @section Emacs for Heathens
22210 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
22211 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
22212 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
22213 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
22214 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
22215 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
22216 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
22220 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
22221 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
22226 @subsection Keystrokes
22230 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
22233 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
22236 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
22237 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
22238 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
22239 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
22240 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
22241 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
22243 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
22244 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
22245 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
22246 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
22247 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
22248 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
22249 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
22251 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
22252 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
22253 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
22254 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
22255 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
22256 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
22257 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
22259 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
22260 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
22261 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
22262 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
22263 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
22269 @subsection Emacs Lisp
22271 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
22272 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
22273 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
22274 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
22276 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
22277 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
22278 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
22279 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
22280 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
22281 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
22282 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
22285 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
22286 write the following:
22289 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
22292 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
22293 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
22294 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
22297 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
22298 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
22299 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
22300 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
22301 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
22303 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
22304 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
22305 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
22309 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
22313 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
22316 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
22317 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
22320 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
22323 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
22324 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
22327 @include gnus-faq.texi
22348 % LocalWords: Backend BNF mucho Backends backends detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
22349 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
22350 % LocalWords: nnmbox backend newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
22351 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
22352 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref