4 @settitle T-gnus 6.17 Manual
10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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294 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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303 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
305 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
308 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
309 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
310 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
311 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
312 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
313 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
314 License'' in the Emacs manual.
316 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
317 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
318 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
320 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
321 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
322 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
323 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
331 This file documents gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
333 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
334 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
336 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
337 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
338 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
339 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
340 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
341 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
342 License'' in the Emacs manual.
344 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
345 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
346 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
348 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
349 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
350 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
351 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
357 @title T-gnus 6.17 Manual
359 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
362 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
363 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
365 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
367 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
368 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
369 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
370 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
371 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
372 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
373 License'' in the Emacs manual.
375 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
376 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
377 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
379 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
380 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
381 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
382 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
391 @top The gnus Newsreader
395 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using T-gnus. The news
396 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@acronym{NNTP}, local
397 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
400 T-gnus provides @acronym{MIME} features based on @acronym{SEMI} API. So
401 T-gnus supports your right to read strange messages including big images
402 or other various kinds of formats. T-gnus also supports
403 internationalization/localization and multiscript features based on MULE
404 API. So T-gnus does not discriminate various language communities. Oh,
405 if you are a Klingon, please wait Unicode Next Generation.
407 This manual corresponds to T-gnus 6.17.
418 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
419 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
421 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
422 being accused of plagiarism:
424 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
425 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
426 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
427 can even read news with it!
429 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
430 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
431 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend gnus to make it behave
432 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
433 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
439 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
440 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
441 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
442 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
443 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
444 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
445 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
446 * Various:: General purpose settings.
447 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
448 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, @acronym{FAQ}, History, Internals.
449 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
450 * Key Index:: Key Index.
452 Other related manuals
454 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
455 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; @acronym{MIME}-specific parts.
456 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
457 * PGG:(pgg). @acronym{PGP/MIME} with Gnus.
458 * SASL:(sasl). @acronym{SASL} authentication in Emacs.
461 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
465 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
466 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
467 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
468 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
469 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
470 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
471 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
472 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
473 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
474 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
475 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
479 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
480 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
481 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
485 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
486 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
487 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
488 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
489 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
490 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
491 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
492 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
493 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
494 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
495 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
496 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
497 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
498 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
499 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
500 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
501 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
505 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
506 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
507 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
511 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
512 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
513 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
514 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
515 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
519 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
520 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
521 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
522 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
523 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
527 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
528 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
529 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
530 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
531 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
532 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
533 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
534 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
535 * Threading:: How threads are made.
536 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
537 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
538 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
539 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
540 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
541 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
542 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
543 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
544 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
545 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
546 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
547 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
548 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
549 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
550 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
551 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
552 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
553 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
554 or reselecting the current group.
555 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
556 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
557 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
558 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
560 Summary Buffer Format
562 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
563 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
564 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
565 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
569 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
570 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
572 Reply, Followup and Post
574 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
575 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
576 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
577 * Canceling and Superseding::
581 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
582 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
583 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
587 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
588 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
589 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
593 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
594 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
596 Customizing Threading
598 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
599 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
600 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
601 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
605 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
606 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
607 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
608 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
609 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
610 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
614 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
615 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
616 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
620 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
621 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
622 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
623 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
624 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
625 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
626 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
627 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
628 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
629 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
630 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
632 Alternative Approaches
634 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
635 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
637 Various Summary Stuff
639 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
640 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
641 * Summary Generation Commands::
642 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
646 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
647 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
648 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
649 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
650 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
654 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
655 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
656 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
657 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
658 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
659 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
660 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
661 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
665 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
666 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
667 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
668 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
669 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @acronym{IMAP} client.
670 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
671 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
672 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
676 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
677 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
678 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
679 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
680 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
681 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
682 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
686 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
687 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
691 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
692 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
693 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
697 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
698 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
699 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
700 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
701 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
702 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
703 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
704 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
705 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
706 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
707 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
708 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
709 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
713 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
714 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
715 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
717 Choosing a Mail Back End
719 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
720 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the Rmail Babyl format.
721 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
722 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
723 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
724 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
725 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
730 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
731 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
732 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
733 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
734 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
735 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
739 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
740 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
741 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
742 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
743 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use @acronym{IMAP} namespace in Gnus.
744 * Debugging IMAP:: What to do when things don't work.
748 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
749 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
750 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
751 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
752 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
756 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
760 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
761 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
762 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
766 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
767 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
771 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
772 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
773 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
774 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
775 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
776 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
777 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
778 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
779 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
780 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
781 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
782 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
783 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
787 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
788 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
789 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
793 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
794 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
795 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
799 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
800 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
801 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
802 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
803 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
804 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
805 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
806 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
807 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
808 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
809 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
810 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
811 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
812 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
813 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
814 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
815 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
819 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
820 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
821 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
822 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
826 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
827 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
828 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
832 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
833 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
834 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
835 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
836 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
837 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
838 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
839 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
840 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
841 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
842 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
843 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
844 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
845 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
846 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
847 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
848 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
849 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
850 * Other modes:: Interaction with other modes.
851 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
855 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
856 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
857 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
858 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
859 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
860 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
861 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
862 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
866 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
867 * Face:: Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
868 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
869 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
870 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
874 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
875 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
876 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
877 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
878 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
879 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
881 Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
883 * Spam ELisp Package Sequence of Events::
884 * Spam ELisp Package Filtering of Incoming Mail::
885 * Spam ELisp Package Global Variables::
886 * Spam ELisp Package Configuration Examples::
887 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
889 * Gmane Spam Reporting::
890 * Anti-spam Hashcash Payments::
892 * Regular Expressions Header Matching::
894 * ifile spam filtering::
895 * spam-stat spam filtering::
897 * Extending the Spam ELisp package::
899 Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
901 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
902 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
903 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
907 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
908 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
909 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
910 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
911 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
912 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
913 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
914 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
915 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
919 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
920 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
921 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
922 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
923 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
924 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
925 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
926 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
927 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
931 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
932 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
933 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
934 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
935 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
936 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10.
937 * No Gnus:: Lars, FIXME!
941 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
942 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
943 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
944 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
948 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
949 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
950 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
951 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
952 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
953 * Group Info:: The group info format.
954 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
955 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
956 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
960 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
961 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
962 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
963 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
964 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
965 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
969 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
970 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
974 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
975 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
981 @chapter Starting gnus
986 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting gnus
987 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
990 @findex gnus-other-frame
991 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
992 If you want to start gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
993 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
995 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
996 variables in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file. This file is similar to
997 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when Gnus starts.
999 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
1000 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
1003 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
1004 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
1005 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
1006 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
1007 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
1008 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
1009 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
1010 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
1011 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
1012 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
1013 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
1017 @node Finding the News
1018 @section Finding the News
1019 @cindex finding news
1021 @vindex gnus-select-method
1023 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where gnus should look for
1024 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
1025 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
1026 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
1029 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @acronym{NNTP} server is where
1030 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
1033 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
1036 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
1039 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
1042 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
1043 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
1044 server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1046 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1048 @cindex @acronym{NNTP} server
1049 If this variable is not set, gnus will take a look at the
1050 @env{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1051 gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1052 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter.
1053 If that fails as well, gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs
1054 as an @acronym{NNTP} server. That's a long shot, though.
1056 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1057 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1058 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1059 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1061 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1062 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1063 You can also make gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1064 @acronym{NNTP} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1065 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), gnus will let you choose between the servers
1066 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1067 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1068 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1069 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1072 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1074 However, if you use one @acronym{NNTP} server regularly and are just
1075 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1076 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1077 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1078 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1079 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1081 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1083 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1084 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1085 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1086 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1087 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1088 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1091 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1092 you would typically set this variable to
1095 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1099 @node The First Time
1100 @section The First Time
1101 @cindex first time usage
1103 If no startup files exist, gnus will try to determine what groups should
1104 be subscribed by default.
1106 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1107 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, gnus
1108 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1109 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1112 Since she hasn't, gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1113 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1114 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1116 You'll also be subscribed to the gnus documentation group, which should
1117 help you with most common problems.
1119 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, gnus will just
1120 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1124 @node The Server is Down
1125 @section The Server is Down
1126 @cindex server errors
1128 If the default server is down, gnus will understandably have some
1129 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1130 the news groups, you may want to start gnus anyway.
1132 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1133 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1134 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1135 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1136 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1137 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1138 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1140 @findex gnus-no-server
1141 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1143 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1144 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1145 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start gnus. That might come in handy
1146 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1147 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1148 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1149 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1153 @section Slave Gnusae
1156 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one gnus at the
1157 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1158 are using the two different gnusae to read from two different servers),
1159 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1161 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1162 @file{.newsrc} file.
1164 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the gnus
1165 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1166 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1167 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1168 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1169 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1170 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1173 Anyway, you start one gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1174 however you do it). Each subsequent slave gnusae should be started with
1175 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1176 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1177 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master gnus
1178 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1179 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1180 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1182 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1183 information in the normal (i.e., master) @file{.newsrc} file.
1185 If the @file{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1186 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1187 file. If you answer ``yes'', the unsaved changes to the master will be
1188 incorporated into the slave. If you answer ``no'', the slave may see some
1189 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1191 @node Fetching a Group
1192 @section Fetching a Group
1193 @cindex fetching a group
1195 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1196 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1197 group and I don't care whether gnus has been started or not''. This is
1198 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1199 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1200 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1206 @cindex subscription
1208 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1209 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1210 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1211 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1212 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1213 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1214 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1215 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1216 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1219 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1220 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1221 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1225 @node Checking New Groups
1226 @subsection Checking New Groups
1228 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1229 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1230 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1231 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, gnus will ask the
1232 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1233 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1234 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1235 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1236 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1237 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1239 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1240 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1241 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1242 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1243 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1244 work. I could write a function to make gnus guess whether the server
1245 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1246 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1247 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1248 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1249 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1251 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, gnus will
1252 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1253 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1254 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1255 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1256 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1259 @node Subscription Methods
1260 @subsection Subscription Methods
1262 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1263 What gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1264 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1266 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1267 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1269 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1273 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1274 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1275 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1276 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1277 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1279 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1280 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1281 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1282 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1284 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1285 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1286 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1288 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1289 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1290 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1291 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1292 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1293 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1294 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1295 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1296 up. Or something like that.
1298 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1299 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1300 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that gnus will ask
1301 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1302 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1304 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1305 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1306 Kill all new groups.
1308 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1309 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1310 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1311 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1312 topic parameter that looks like
1318 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1321 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1326 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1327 A closely related variable is
1328 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1329 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will ask you in a
1330 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1331 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1334 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1335 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1336 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1337 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1340 @node Filtering New Groups
1341 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1343 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1344 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1345 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1348 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1351 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1352 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1353 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1354 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1355 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1356 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1357 subscribing these groups.
1358 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1359 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1361 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1362 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1363 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1364 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1365 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1366 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1367 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1368 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1370 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1371 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1372 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1373 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous,
1374 but I thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is
1375 more meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is
1376 used more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new
1377 groups that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1378 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1379 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1382 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1383 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1386 @node Changing Servers
1387 @section Changing Servers
1388 @cindex changing servers
1390 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another.
1391 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1392 very flaky and you want to use another.
1394 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1395 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1399 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1400 @acronym{NNTP} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1401 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1402 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1405 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1406 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1407 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1408 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1410 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1411 @findex gnus-change-server
1412 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1413 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1414 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1415 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1416 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1418 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1419 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1420 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1421 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1422 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1424 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1425 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1426 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1427 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1428 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1429 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1431 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1432 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1433 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1434 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1436 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1437 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1438 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1439 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1440 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1441 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1442 cache for all groups).
1446 @section Startup Files
1447 @cindex startup files
1452 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1453 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1455 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1456 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1457 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1458 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1459 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1460 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1461 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1463 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1464 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1465 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1466 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1467 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1468 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1470 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1471 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1472 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1473 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1474 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from gnus faster.
1475 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1476 gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1477 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes gnus ignore the
1478 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1479 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1481 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1482 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1483 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1484 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1485 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1486 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1487 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1488 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1489 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1490 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1491 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1492 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1494 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1495 @vindex gnus-backup-startup-file
1496 @vindex version-control
1497 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1498 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1499 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1500 If you want version control for this file, set
1501 @code{gnus-backup-startup-file}. It respects the same values as the
1502 @code{version-control} variable.
1504 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1505 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1506 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1507 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1508 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1509 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1510 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1511 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1512 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1513 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1516 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1517 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1519 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1520 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1523 @vindex gnus-init-file
1524 @vindex gnus-site-init-file
1525 When gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1526 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1527 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1528 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1529 @file{site-init} files with gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1530 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1531 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1532 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1533 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1539 @cindex dribble file
1542 Whenever you do something that changes the gnus data (reading articles,
1543 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1544 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1545 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1546 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1549 If gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1550 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1553 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1554 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, gnus won't create and
1555 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1557 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1558 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1559 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, gnus will dribble
1560 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1561 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1562 file permissions as the @file{.newsrc} file.
1564 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1565 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1566 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1569 @node The Active File
1570 @section The Active File
1572 @cindex ignored groups
1574 When gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1575 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1576 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1578 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1579 Before examining the active file, gnus deletes all lines that match the
1580 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1581 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make gnus
1582 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1583 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1584 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1587 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1588 @c if you set it to anything else.
1590 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1592 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1593 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent gnus from
1594 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1596 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1597 you actually subscribe to.
1599 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1600 variable to @code{nil} will probably make gnus slower, not faster. At
1601 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow gnus down
1602 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1604 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1605 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1606 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1607 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1608 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1609 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1611 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1612 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1613 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1616 If this variable is @code{nil}, gnus will ask for group info in total
1617 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1618 @acronym{NNTP} server, gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1619 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1620 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1621 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1623 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1624 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1626 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1627 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1629 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1630 secondary select methods.
1633 @node Startup Variables
1634 @section Startup Variables
1638 @item gnus-load-hook
1639 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1640 A hook run while gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1641 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1642 times you start gnus.
1644 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1645 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1646 A hook run after starting up gnus successfully.
1648 @item gnus-startup-hook
1649 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1650 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1652 @item gnus-started-hook
1653 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1654 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1657 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1658 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1659 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1660 generating the group buffer.
1662 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1663 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1664 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1665 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1666 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1667 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1668 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1669 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1671 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1672 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1673 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1674 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1675 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1676 @file{~/.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @file{.emacs} instead.
1678 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1679 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1680 Message displayed by gnus when no groups are available.
1682 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1683 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1684 If non-@code{nil}, play the gnus jingle at startup.
1686 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1687 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1688 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1689 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1695 @chapter Group Buffer
1696 @cindex group buffer
1698 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1700 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1701 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1702 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1703 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1704 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1705 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1706 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1707 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1708 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1709 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1710 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1711 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1712 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1713 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1714 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1715 @c human rights at 9...
1718 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1719 is the first buffer shown when gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1720 long as gnus is active.
1724 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1725 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1726 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1727 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1728 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1729 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1730 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1731 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1737 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1738 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1739 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1740 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1741 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1742 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1743 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1744 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1745 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1746 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1747 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1748 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1749 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1750 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1751 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1752 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1753 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1757 @node Group Buffer Format
1758 @section Group Buffer Format
1761 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1762 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
1763 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1767 @node Group Line Specification
1768 @subsection Group Line Specification
1769 @cindex group buffer format
1771 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1772 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1774 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1777 25: news.announce.newusers
1778 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1783 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1784 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1785 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1786 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1788 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1789 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1790 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1791 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1792 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1793 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1795 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1797 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1798 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1799 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1800 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1801 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1803 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1804 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1805 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1807 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1812 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1815 Whether the group is subscribed.
1818 Level of subscribedness.
1821 Number of unread articles.
1824 Number of dormant articles.
1827 Number of ticked articles.
1830 Number of read articles.
1833 Number of unseen articles.
1836 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1837 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1839 Gnus uses this estimation because the @acronym{NNTP} protocol provides
1840 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1841 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1842 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1843 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1844 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1845 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1846 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1849 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1852 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1861 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1862 comment element in the group parameters.
1865 Newsgroup description. You need to read the group descriptions
1866 before these will appear, and to do that, you either have to set
1867 @code{gnus-read-active-file} or use the group buffer @kbd{M-d}
1871 @samp{m} if moderated.
1874 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1880 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1886 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1890 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1893 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1894 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1895 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1896 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1897 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1900 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1902 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1906 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1909 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1913 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1914 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1915 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1916 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1917 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1918 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1923 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1924 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1925 group, or a bogus native group.
1928 @node Group Mode Line Specification
1929 @subsection Group Mode Line Specification
1930 @cindex group mode line
1932 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1933 The mode line can be changed by setting
1934 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1935 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1939 The native news server.
1941 The native select method.
1945 @node Group Highlighting
1946 @subsection Group Highlighting
1947 @cindex highlighting
1948 @cindex group highlighting
1950 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1951 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1952 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1953 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1954 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1956 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1960 (cond (window-system
1961 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1962 (defface my-group-face-1
1963 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1964 (defface my-group-face-2
1965 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t)))
1966 "Second group face")
1967 (defface my-group-face-3
1968 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1969 (defface my-group-face-4
1970 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1971 (defface my-group-face-5
1972 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1974 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1975 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1976 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1977 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1978 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1979 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1982 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1984 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1991 The number of unread articles in the group.
1995 Whether the group is a mail group.
1997 The level of the group.
1999 The score of the group.
2001 The number of ticked articles in the group.
2003 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather,
2004 @var{max-number} minus @var{min-number} plus one.
2006 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
2007 topic being inserted.
2010 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
2011 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal gnus
2012 functions for snarfing info on the group.
2014 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
2015 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
2016 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
2017 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
2018 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
2021 @node Group Maneuvering
2022 @section Group Maneuvering
2023 @cindex group movement
2025 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
2026 expected, hopefully.
2032 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
2033 Go to the next group that has unread articles
2034 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
2040 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
2041 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
2042 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
2046 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2047 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2051 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2052 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2056 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
2057 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
2058 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2062 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2063 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2064 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2067 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2073 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2074 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2075 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2080 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2081 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2082 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2086 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2087 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2088 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2091 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2092 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2093 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2094 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2098 @node Selecting a Group
2099 @section Selecting a Group
2100 @cindex group selection
2105 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2106 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2107 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2108 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2109 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2110 this command, gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2111 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{n}, @var{n}
2112 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{n} is
2113 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{n} newest articles, if @var{n} is
2114 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{n})} oldest articles.
2116 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2117 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2118 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2120 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2121 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2126 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2127 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2128 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2129 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2130 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2134 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2135 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2136 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2137 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2138 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2139 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2140 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2141 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2142 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2143 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2146 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2147 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2148 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2149 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2150 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2153 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2154 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2155 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2156 doing any processing of its contents
2157 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2158 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2159 manner will have no permanent effects.
2163 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2164 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should
2165 consider to be a big group. If it is @code{nil}, no groups are
2166 considered big. The default value is 200. If the group has more
2167 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, gnus will query the user
2168 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many
2169 articles should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a
2170 negative number (@var{-n}), the @var{n} oldest articles will be
2171 fetched. If it is positive, the @var{n} articles that have arrived
2172 most recently will be fetched.
2174 @vindex gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup
2175 @code{gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup} is the same as
2176 @code{gnus-large-newsgroup}, but is only used for ephemeral
2179 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2180 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2181 @vindex gnus-auto-select-subject
2182 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2183 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2184 Which article this is is controlled by the
2185 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2191 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2194 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2197 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2199 @item unseen-or-unread
2200 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2201 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2205 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2209 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2210 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2212 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2213 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2214 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2215 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2219 @node Subscription Commands
2220 @section Subscription Commands
2221 @cindex subscription
2229 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2230 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2231 Toggle subscription to the current group
2232 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2238 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2239 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2240 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2241 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2247 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2248 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2249 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2255 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2256 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2259 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2260 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2261 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2262 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2263 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2269 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2270 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2274 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2275 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2278 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2279 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2280 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2281 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2282 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2283 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2284 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2285 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2286 @file{.newsrc} file.
2290 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2300 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2301 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2302 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2303 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2304 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2305 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2310 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2311 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2312 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2316 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2317 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2318 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2320 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2321 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2322 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2323 If you have switched from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another, all your marks
2324 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2325 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2332 @section Group Levels
2336 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2337 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2338 can ask gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2339 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2340 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2342 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2348 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2349 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2350 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2351 prompted for a level.
2354 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2355 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2356 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2357 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2358 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2359 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2360 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2361 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2362 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2363 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2364 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2365 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2366 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2367 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2368 reasons of efficiency.
2370 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2371 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2373 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2374 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2375 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2376 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2377 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2378 groups are hidden, in a way.
2380 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2381 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2382 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2383 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2384 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2385 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2387 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2388 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2389 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2390 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2391 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2392 list of killed groups.)
2394 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2395 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2396 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2398 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2399 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2400 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2401 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2402 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2403 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2404 relevant valid ranges.
2406 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2407 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2408 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2409 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2410 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2411 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2414 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2415 one with the best level.
2417 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2418 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2419 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2422 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2423 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2424 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2425 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2428 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2429 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2430 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2431 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2433 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2434 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2435 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2436 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2437 to 5. The default is 6.
2441 @section Group Score
2446 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2447 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2448 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2451 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2452 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2453 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2454 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2455 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2456 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2457 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2458 least significant part.))
2460 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2461 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2462 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2463 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2464 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2465 action after each summary exit, you can add
2466 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2467 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2468 slow things down somewhat.
2471 @node Marking Groups
2472 @section Marking Groups
2473 @cindex marking groups
2475 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2476 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2477 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2478 bidding on those groups.
2480 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2481 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2482 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2490 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2491 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2497 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2498 Remove the mark from the current group
2499 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2503 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2504 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2508 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2509 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2513 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2514 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2518 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2519 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2520 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2523 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2525 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2526 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2527 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2528 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2529 the command to be executed.
2532 @node Foreign Groups
2533 @section Foreign Groups
2534 @cindex foreign groups
2536 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2537 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2538 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2539 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2546 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2547 @cindex making groups
2548 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2549 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2550 to subscribe to @acronym{NNTP} groups (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
2554 @findex gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group
2555 Make an ephemeral group (@code{gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group}). Gnus
2556 will prompt you for a name, a method and an @dfn{address}.
2560 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2561 @cindex renaming groups
2562 Rename the current group to something else
2563 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2564 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2570 @findex gnus-group-customize
2571 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2575 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2576 @cindex renaming groups
2577 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2578 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2582 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2583 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2584 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2588 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2589 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2590 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2594 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2596 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2597 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2602 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2603 Make the gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2607 @cindex (ding) archive
2608 @cindex archive group
2609 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2610 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2611 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2612 Make a gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2613 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2614 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2615 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2619 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2621 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2622 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2623 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2624 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2628 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2630 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2631 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2632 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2636 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2637 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2639 Make a group based on some file or other
2640 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2641 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2642 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2643 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2644 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2645 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2646 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2647 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2648 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2652 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2653 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2654 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2655 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2659 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2663 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2664 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2665 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2666 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2667 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2668 @xref{Web Searches}.
2670 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2671 to a particular group by using a match string like
2672 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2676 @findex gnus-group-make-rss-group
2677 Make a group based on an @acronym{RSS} feed
2678 (@code{gnus-group-make-rss-group}). You will be prompted for an URL.
2682 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2683 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2684 This function will delete the current group
2685 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2686 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2687 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2688 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2689 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} groups), though.
2693 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2694 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2695 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2699 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2700 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2701 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2704 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2707 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2708 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2709 gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2710 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2711 groups from different @acronym{NNTP} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2712 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2716 @node Group Parameters
2717 @section Group Parameters
2718 @cindex group parameters
2720 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2721 Here's an example group parameter list:
2724 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2728 We see that each element consists of a ``dotted pair''---the thing before
2729 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2730 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2731 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2733 Some parameters have correspondent customizable variables, each of which
2734 is an alist of regexps and values.
2736 The following group parameters can be used:
2741 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2744 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2747 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2748 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2749 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2750 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2751 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2753 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2754 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2755 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2756 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2757 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2758 list address instead.
2760 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2764 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2767 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2770 It is totally ignored
2771 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2772 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2774 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2775 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2776 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2777 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2778 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2780 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2781 @cindex mail list groups
2782 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2783 entering summary buffer.
2785 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2790 @cindex Mail-Followup-To
2791 @findex gnus-find-subscribed-addresses
2792 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2793 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2794 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2795 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2796 headers for your posts to these lists. The second step is to put the
2797 following in your @file{.gnus.el}
2800 (setq message-subscribed-address-functions
2801 '(gnus-find-subscribed-addresses))
2804 @xref{Mailing Lists, ,Mailing Lists, message, The Message Manual}, for
2805 a complete treatment of available MFT support.
2809 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2810 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2811 of whether it has any unread articles.
2813 @item broken-reply-to
2814 @cindex broken-reply-to
2815 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2816 headers in this group are to be ignored, and for the header to be hidden
2817 if @code{reply-to} is part of @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}. This
2818 can be useful if you're reading a mailing list group where the listserv
2819 has inserted @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv
2820 itself. That is broken behavior. So there!
2824 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2825 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2829 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, gnus
2830 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2831 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2836 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2837 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2838 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2839 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2840 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2841 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2842 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2844 @strong{Caveat}: Adding @code{(gcc-self . t)} to the parameter list of
2845 @code{nntp} groups (or the like) isn't valid. An @code{nntp} server
2846 doesn't accept articles.
2850 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2851 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2852 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2854 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2857 @cindex total-expire
2858 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2859 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2860 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2861 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2864 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2868 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2869 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2870 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2871 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2872 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2873 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2874 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2877 @cindex expiry-target
2878 Where expired messages end up. This parameter overrides
2879 @code{nnmail-expiry-target}.
2882 @cindex score file group parameter
2883 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2884 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2885 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2888 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2889 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2890 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2891 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2894 @cindex admin-address
2895 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2896 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2897 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2898 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2902 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2903 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2907 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2910 Display the last @var{integer} articles in the group. This is the same as
2911 entering the group with @kbd{C-u @var{integer}}.
2914 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2918 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2920 Here are some examples:
2924 Display only unread articles.
2927 Display everything except expirable articles.
2929 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2930 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2934 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2935 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2936 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2937 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2938 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
2942 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2943 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2944 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2948 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2949 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
2950 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
2954 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2955 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2956 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2958 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2960 @item ignored-charsets
2961 @cindex ignored-charset
2962 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2963 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2964 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2966 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2969 @cindex posting-style
2970 You can store additional posting style information for this group
2971 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2972 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2973 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2974 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2976 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2977 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2978 like this in the group parameters:
2983 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
2984 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2989 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2990 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2994 An item like @code{(banner . @var{regexp})} causes any part of an article
2995 that matches the regular expression @var{regexp} to be stripped. Instead of
2996 @var{regexp}, you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2997 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2998 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
3002 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
3003 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
3004 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
3005 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
3007 For example, if the @samp{INBOX.list.sieve} group has the @code{(sieve
3008 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
3009 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
3010 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
3013 if address \"sender\" \"sieve-admin@@extundo.com\" @{
3014 fileinto \"INBOX.list.sieve\";
3018 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, Emacs Sieve,
3019 Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
3021 @item (agent parameters)
3022 If the agent has been enabled, you can set any of the its parameters
3023 to control the behavior of the agent in individual groups. See Agent
3024 Parameters in @ref{Category Syntax}. Most users will choose to set
3025 agent parameters in either an agent category or group topic to
3026 minimize the configuration effort.
3028 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
3029 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
3030 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
3031 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
3032 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
3033 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
3034 @code{eval}ed there.
3036 Note that this feature sets the variable locally to the summary buffer.
3037 But some variables are evaluated in the article buffer, or in the
3038 message buffer (of a reply or followup or otherwise newly created
3039 message). As a workaround, it might help to add the variable in
3040 question to @code{gnus-newsgroup-variables}. @xref{Various Summary
3041 Stuff}. So if you want to set @code{message-from-style} via the group
3042 parameters, then you may need the following statement elsewhere in your
3043 @file{~/.gnus} file:
3046 (add-to-list 'gnus-newsgroup-variables 'message-from-style)
3049 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
3050 A use for this feature is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
3051 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
3054 nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps
3057 has the tag @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this
3058 tag can be removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for
3059 the group by putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")}
3060 into the group parameters for the group.
3062 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
3063 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
3064 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
3065 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
3066 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
3070 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
3071 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
3072 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
3073 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
3074 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
3076 @vindex gnus-parameters
3077 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
3078 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
3082 (setq gnus-parameters
3084 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3085 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
3086 (gnus-summary-line-format
3087 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
3091 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
3095 (gnus-use-scoring t))
3099 (broken-reply-to . t))))
3102 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
3103 the @code{to-group} example shows.
3106 @node Listing Groups
3107 @section Listing Groups
3108 @cindex group listing
3110 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3118 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3119 List all groups that have unread articles
3120 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3121 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3122 only lists groups of level five (i.e.,
3123 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3130 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3131 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3132 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3133 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3134 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3135 unsubscribed groups).
3139 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3140 List all unread groups on a specific level
3141 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3142 with no unread articles.
3146 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3147 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3148 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3149 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3154 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3155 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3159 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3160 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3161 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3165 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3166 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3170 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3171 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3172 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3173 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3174 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3175 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3176 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3177 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3181 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3182 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3183 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3187 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3188 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3189 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3193 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3194 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3198 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3199 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3203 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3204 List groups limited within the current selection
3205 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3209 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3210 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3214 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3215 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3219 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3220 @cindex visible group parameter
3221 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3222 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3223 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3224 get the same effect.
3226 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3227 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3228 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3229 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3230 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3233 @node Sorting Groups
3234 @section Sorting Groups
3235 @cindex sorting groups
3237 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3238 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3239 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3240 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3241 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3242 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3247 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3248 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3249 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3251 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3252 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3253 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3255 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3256 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3257 Sort by group level.
3259 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3260 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3261 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3263 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3264 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3265 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3266 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3268 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3269 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3270 Sort by number of unread articles.
3272 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3273 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3274 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3276 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3277 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3278 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3283 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3284 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3288 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3289 some sorting criteria:
3293 @kindex G S a (Group)
3294 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3295 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3296 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3299 @kindex G S u (Group)
3300 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3301 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3302 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3305 @kindex G S l (Group)
3306 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3307 Sort the group buffer by group level
3308 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3311 @kindex G S v (Group)
3312 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3313 Sort the group buffer by group score
3314 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3317 @kindex G S r (Group)
3318 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3319 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3320 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3323 @kindex G S m (Group)
3324 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3325 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name@*
3326 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3329 @kindex G S n (Group)
3330 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3331 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3332 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3336 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3337 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3339 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3340 commands will sort in reverse order.
3342 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3346 @kindex G P a (Group)
3347 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3348 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3349 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3352 @kindex G P u (Group)
3353 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3354 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3355 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3358 @kindex G P l (Group)
3359 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3360 Sort the groups by group level
3361 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3364 @kindex G P v (Group)
3365 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3366 Sort the groups by group score
3367 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3370 @kindex G P r (Group)
3371 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3372 Sort the groups by group rank
3373 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3376 @kindex G P m (Group)
3377 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3378 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name@*
3379 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3382 @kindex G P n (Group)
3383 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3384 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3385 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3388 @kindex G P s (Group)
3389 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3390 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3394 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3398 @node Group Maintenance
3399 @section Group Maintenance
3400 @cindex bogus groups
3405 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3406 Find bogus groups and delete them
3407 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3411 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3412 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3413 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3414 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3415 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3419 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3420 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3421 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3422 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3423 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3424 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3427 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3428 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3429 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3430 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3435 @node Browse Foreign Server
3436 @section Browse Foreign Server
3437 @cindex foreign servers
3438 @cindex browsing servers
3443 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3444 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3445 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3446 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3449 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3450 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3451 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3452 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3454 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3459 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3460 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3464 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3465 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3468 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3469 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3470 Enter the current group and display the first article
3471 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3474 @kindex RET (Browse)
3475 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3476 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3480 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3481 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3482 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3488 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3489 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3493 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3494 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3498 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3499 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3500 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3505 @section Exiting gnus
3506 @cindex exiting gnus
3508 Yes, gnus is ex(c)iting.
3513 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3514 Suspend gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit gnus,
3515 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3516 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3520 @findex gnus-group-exit
3521 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3522 Quit gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3526 @findex gnus-group-quit
3527 Quit gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3528 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3531 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3532 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3533 @vindex gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook
3534 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend gnus and
3535 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit gnus, while
3536 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3542 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3543 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3544 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3550 @section Group Topics
3553 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3554 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3555 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3556 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3557 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3558 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3562 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3563 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3574 2: alt.religion.emacs
3577 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3579 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3580 13: comp.sources.unix
3583 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3585 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3586 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3587 is a toggling command.)
3589 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3590 dum@dots{} Nice tune, that@dots{} la la la@dots{} What, you're back?
3591 Yes, and now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed
3592 under @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
3595 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3596 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3597 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
3600 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3604 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3605 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3606 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3607 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3608 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3612 @node Topic Commands
3613 @subsection Topic Commands
3614 @cindex topic commands
3616 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3617 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3618 definitions slightly.
3620 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3621 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3622 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3623 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3624 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3625 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3627 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3634 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3635 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3636 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3640 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3642 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3643 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3644 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3645 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3648 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3649 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3650 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3651 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3655 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3656 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3657 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3658 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3664 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3665 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3666 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3670 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3671 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3672 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3675 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3676 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the ``cut'' part of cut and paste. Then,
3677 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the ``Gnus''
3678 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the ``paste'' part of cut and
3679 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3681 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3682 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3686 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3687 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3694 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3696 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3697 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3698 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3699 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3700 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3701 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3705 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3711 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3712 Move the current group to some other topic
3713 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3714 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3718 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3719 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3723 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3724 Copy the current group to some other topic
3725 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3726 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3730 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3731 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3732 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3736 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3737 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3738 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3742 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3743 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3744 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3745 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3746 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3747 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3748 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3751 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3752 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3756 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3757 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3758 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3762 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3763 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3764 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3768 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3769 Toggle hiding empty topics
3770 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3774 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3775 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3776 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3777 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3780 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3781 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3782 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3783 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3784 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3787 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3788 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3789 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3790 expiry process (if any)
3791 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3795 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3796 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3799 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3800 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3801 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3805 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3806 List all groups that gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3807 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3810 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3811 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3812 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3815 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3816 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3817 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3821 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3822 @cindex group parameters
3823 @cindex topic parameters
3825 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3826 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3831 @node Topic Variables
3832 @subsection Topic Variables
3833 @cindex topic variables
3835 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3836 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3838 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3839 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3840 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3853 Number of groups in the topic.
3855 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3857 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3860 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3861 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3862 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3865 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3866 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3868 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3869 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3870 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3874 @subsection Topic Sorting
3875 @cindex topic sorting
3877 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3883 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3884 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3885 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3886 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3889 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3890 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3891 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3892 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3895 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3896 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3897 Sort the current topic by group level
3898 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3901 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3902 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3903 Sort the current topic by group score
3904 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3907 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3908 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3909 Sort the current topic by group rank
3910 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3913 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3914 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3915 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
3916 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3919 @kindex T S e (Topic)
3920 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
3921 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
3922 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
3925 @kindex T S s (Topic)
3926 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
3927 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
3928 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
3929 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
3933 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
3934 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
3938 @node Topic Topology
3939 @subsection Topic Topology
3940 @cindex topic topology
3943 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3950 2: alt.religion.emacs
3953 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3955 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3956 13: comp.sources.unix
3960 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3961 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3962 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3967 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3968 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3972 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3973 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3974 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3975 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3976 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3977 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3979 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3980 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3981 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3984 @node Topic Parameters
3985 @subsection Topic Parameters
3986 @cindex topic parameters
3988 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent
3989 (and ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid
3990 topic parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}). When the agent is
3991 enabled, all agent parameters (See Agent Parameters in @ref{Category
3992 Syntax}) are also valid topic parameters.
3994 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3999 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
4000 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
4001 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
4004 @item subscribe-level
4005 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
4006 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
4007 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
4011 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
4012 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
4013 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
4014 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
4021 2: alt.religion.emacs
4025 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
4027 8: comp.binaries.fractals
4028 13: comp.sources.unix
4033 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
4034 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
4035 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
4036 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
4037 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
4038 . "religion.SCORE")}.
4040 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
4041 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
4042 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
4043 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
4044 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
4046 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
4047 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
4048 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
4049 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
4050 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
4051 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
4052 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
4053 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
4056 @node Misc Group Stuff
4057 @section Misc Group Stuff
4060 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
4061 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
4062 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
4063 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
4064 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
4071 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
4072 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
4073 @xref{Server Buffer}.
4077 @findex gnus-group-post-news
4078 Start composing a message (a news by default)
4079 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
4080 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
4081 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
4082 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
4083 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4087 @findex gnus-group-mail
4088 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
4089 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
4090 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
4091 @xref{Composing Messages}.
4095 @findex gnus-group-news
4096 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
4097 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
4098 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4100 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
4101 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
4102 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
4103 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
4104 for this to work though.
4108 Variables for the group buffer:
4112 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
4113 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
4114 is called after the group buffer has been
4117 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
4118 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4119 is called after the group buffer is
4120 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
4123 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
4124 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4125 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
4126 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
4128 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4129 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4130 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
4131 whether they are empty or not.
4133 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4134 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4135 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
4136 non-@acronym{ASCII} group names.
4140 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4141 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4144 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4145 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4146 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4147 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names. It
4148 is used to show non-@acronym{ASCII} group names. @code{((".*"
4149 utf-8))} is the default value if UTF-8 is supported, otherwise the
4150 default is @code{nil}.
4154 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4155 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
4160 @node Scanning New Messages
4161 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4162 @cindex new messages
4163 @cindex scanning new news
4169 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4170 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4171 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4172 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4173 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4174 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4179 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4180 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4181 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4182 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4183 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4184 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4185 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4187 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4188 @cindex activating groups
4190 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4191 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4196 @findex gnus-group-restart
4197 Restart gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4198 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4199 gnus variables, and then starts gnus all over again.
4203 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4204 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4206 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4207 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4211 @node Group Information
4212 @subsection Group Information
4213 @cindex group information
4214 @cindex information on groups
4221 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4222 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4225 Try to fetch the @acronym{FAQ} for the current group
4226 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the @acronym{FAQ}
4227 from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on
4228 a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
4229 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4230 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be
4231 used for fetching the file.
4233 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, gnus will attempt to go
4234 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4238 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
4239 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
4241 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
4242 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
4245 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
4246 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
4247 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
4251 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
4252 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
4253 @cindex control message
4254 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
4255 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
4256 group if given a prefix argument.
4258 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-@code{nil},
4259 Gnus will open the control messages in a browser using
4260 @code{browse-url}. Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp}
4261 and displayed in an ephemeral group.
4263 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
4264 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode} (@pxref{Compressed
4265 Files, ,Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Manual}).
4269 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4271 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4272 @cindex describing groups
4273 @cindex group description
4274 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4275 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4276 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4280 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4281 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4282 prefix, force gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4289 @findex gnus-version
4290 Display current gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4294 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4295 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4298 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4301 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4302 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4306 @node Group Timestamp
4307 @subsection Group Timestamp
4309 @cindex group timestamps
4311 It can be convenient to let gnus keep track of when you last read a
4312 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4313 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4316 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4319 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4321 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4322 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4325 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4326 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4329 This will result in lines looking like:
4332 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4333 0: custom 19961002T012713
4336 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4337 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4341 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4342 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4345 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4346 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4350 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4351 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4352 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4353 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4355 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4361 @subsection File Commands
4362 @cindex file commands
4368 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4369 @vindex gnus-init-file
4370 @cindex reading init file
4371 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4372 @file{~/.gnus.el}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4376 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4377 @cindex saving .newsrc
4378 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4379 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4380 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4383 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4384 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4385 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4390 @node Sieve Commands
4391 @subsection Sieve Commands
4392 @cindex group sieve commands
4394 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4395 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4396 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4397 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4398 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4400 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4401 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4402 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4403 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4404 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4405 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4406 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4407 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4408 regenerate the Sieve script.
4410 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4411 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4412 is generated. If it is non-@code{nil} (the default) articles is
4413 placed in all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article
4414 is only placed in the group with the first matching rule. For
4415 example, the group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4416 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4417 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is @code{nil}. (When
4418 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-@code{nil}, it looks the same
4419 except that the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4422 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4423 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4428 @xref{Top, Emacs Sieve, Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4434 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4435 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4436 @cindex generating sieve script
4437 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4438 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4442 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4443 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4444 @cindex updating sieve script
4445 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4446 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4447 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4452 @node Summary Buffer
4453 @chapter Summary Buffer
4454 @cindex summary buffer
4456 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4457 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4459 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4460 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4462 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4465 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4466 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4467 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4468 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4469 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4470 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4471 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4472 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4473 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4474 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4475 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4476 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4477 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4478 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4479 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4480 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4481 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4482 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4483 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4484 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4485 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4486 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4487 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4488 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4489 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4490 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4491 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4492 or reselecting the current group.
4493 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4494 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4495 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4496 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4500 @node Summary Buffer Format
4501 @section Summary Buffer Format
4502 @cindex summary buffer format
4506 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4507 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4508 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4514 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4515 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4516 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4517 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4520 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4521 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4522 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4523 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4524 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4525 @code{From} header. Three pre-defined functions exist:
4526 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4527 fast, and too simplistic solution;
4528 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works nicely, but is
4529 slower; and @code{std11-extract-address-components}, which works very
4530 nicely, but is slower. The default function will return the wrong
4531 answer in 5% of the cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the
4532 other function instead:
4535 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4536 'mail-extract-address-components)
4539 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4540 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4541 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4542 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4545 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4546 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4548 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4549 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4550 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4551 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4552 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4554 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4555 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4556 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4557 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4558 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4559 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4561 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4563 The following format specification characters and extended format
4564 specification(s) are understood:
4570 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4571 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4573 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4574 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4575 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4577 Full @code{From} header.
4579 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4581 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4584 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4585 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4586 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4587 may be more thorough.
4589 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4592 Number of lines in the article.
4594 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4595 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4597 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4598 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4600 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4602 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4603 lines. A thread could be drawn like this:
4616 You can customize the appearance with the following options. Note
4617 that it is possible to make the thread display look really neat by
4618 replacing the default @acronym{ASCII} characters with graphic
4619 line-drawing glyphs.
4621 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4622 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4623 Used for the root of a thread. If @code{nil}, use subject
4624 instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4626 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4627 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4628 Used for the false root of a thread (@pxref{Loose Threads}). If
4629 @code{nil}, use subject instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4631 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4632 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4633 Used for a thread with just one message. If @code{nil}, use subject
4634 instead. The default is @samp{}.
4636 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4637 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4638 Used for drawing a vertical line. The default is @samp{| }.
4640 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4641 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4642 Used for indenting. The default is @samp{ }.
4644 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4645 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4646 Used for a leaf with brothers. The default is @samp{+-> }.
4648 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4649 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4650 Used for a leaf without brothers. The default is @samp{\-> }
4655 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4656 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4658 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4659 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4661 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4662 for adopted articles.
4664 One space for each thread level.
4666 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4668 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4671 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4672 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4673 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4676 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4678 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4679 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4680 default level. If the difference between
4681 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4682 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4690 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4692 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4698 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4699 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4701 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4702 article has any children.
4708 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4709 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4711 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4712 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4713 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{x}}, where @var{x} is the letter
4714 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4715 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4716 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4719 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4720 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4721 There can only be one such area.
4723 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4724 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, gnus will
4725 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4726 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4727 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4728 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4730 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4731 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4733 This restriction may disappear in later versions of gnus.
4736 @node To From Newsgroups
4737 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4741 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4742 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4743 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4744 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4745 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4749 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4750 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4751 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4755 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4756 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4759 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4760 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4763 @findex gnus-extra-header
4764 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4765 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4766 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4769 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4773 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4774 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4775 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4776 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4777 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4778 headers are used instead.
4782 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4783 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4784 to include extra headers when generating overview (@acronym{NOV}) files.
4785 If you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after
4786 changing this variable, by entering the server buffer using @kbd{^},
4787 and then @kbd{g} on the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause
4790 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4791 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4792 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4793 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4795 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4799 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4801 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4802 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4803 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4804 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4808 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
4811 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
4812 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
4815 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4816 the @acronym{NOV} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4817 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
4823 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4824 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4827 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4828 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4830 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4831 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4832 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4833 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4835 Here are the elements you can play with:
4841 Unprefixed group name.
4843 Current article number.
4845 Current article score.
4849 Number of unread articles in this group.
4851 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4854 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4855 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4856 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4857 and no unselected ones.
4859 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4860 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4862 Subject of the current article.
4864 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4866 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4868 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4870 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4872 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4874 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4878 @node Summary Highlighting
4879 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4883 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4884 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4885 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4886 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4887 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4889 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4890 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4891 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4892 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4894 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4895 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4896 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4897 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4899 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4900 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4901 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4902 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4903 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4904 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4907 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4908 ((> score default) . bold))
4910 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4911 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4915 @node Summary Maneuvering
4916 @section Summary Maneuvering
4917 @cindex summary movement
4919 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4920 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4922 None of these commands select articles.
4927 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4928 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4929 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4930 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4931 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4935 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4936 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4937 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4938 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4939 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4942 @kindex G g (Summary)
4943 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4944 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4945 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4948 If gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4949 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4950 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4951 to the group buffer.
4953 Variables related to summary movement:
4957 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4958 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4959 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4960 no more unread articles after the current one, gnus will offer to go to
4961 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4962 empty, gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4963 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, gnus will select the
4964 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
4965 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
4966 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
4967 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
4968 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
4969 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
4970 @pxref{Group Levels}.
4972 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4973 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4974 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4975 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4976 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4977 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4978 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4980 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4982 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4983 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4984 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4985 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4986 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4988 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4989 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4990 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4991 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4992 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4993 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4994 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4995 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4998 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4999 the given number of lines from the top.
5004 @node Choosing Articles
5005 @section Choosing Articles
5006 @cindex selecting articles
5009 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
5010 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
5014 @node Choosing Commands
5015 @subsection Choosing Commands
5017 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
5018 and they all select and display an article.
5020 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
5021 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
5025 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5026 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5027 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
5028 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5030 If you have an article window open already and you press @kbd{SPACE}
5031 again, the article will be scrolled. This lets you conveniently
5032 @kbd{SPACE} through an entire newsgroup. @xref{Paging the Article}.
5037 @kindex G n (Summary)
5038 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
5039 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
5040 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
5045 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
5046 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
5047 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
5052 @kindex G N (Summary)
5053 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
5054 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
5059 @kindex G P (Summary)
5060 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
5061 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
5064 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
5065 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
5066 Go to the next article with the same subject
5067 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
5070 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
5071 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
5072 Go to the previous article with the same subject
5073 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
5077 @kindex G f (Summary)
5079 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
5080 Go to the first unread article
5081 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
5085 @kindex G b (Summary)
5087 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
5088 Go to the unread article with the highest score
5089 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
5090 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
5095 @kindex G l (Summary)
5096 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
5097 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
5100 @kindex G o (Summary)
5101 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
5103 @cindex article history
5104 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
5105 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
5106 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
5107 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
5108 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
5109 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
5114 @kindex G j (Summary)
5115 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
5116 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
5117 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
5122 @node Choosing Variables
5123 @subsection Choosing Variables
5125 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
5128 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5129 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5130 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
5131 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
5132 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
5133 the server and display it in the article buffer.
5135 @item gnus-select-article-hook
5136 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
5137 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
5138 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article. If you would
5139 like each article to be saved in the Agent as you read it, putting
5140 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this hook will do so.
5142 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
5143 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
5144 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
5145 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
5146 @findex gnus-unread-mark
5147 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
5148 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
5149 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
5150 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
5151 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
5152 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
5153 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
5154 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
5155 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
5160 @node Paging the Article
5161 @section Scrolling the Article
5162 @cindex article scrolling
5167 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5168 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5169 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
5170 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
5171 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5173 @vindex gnus-article-boring-faces
5174 @vindex gnus-article-skip-boring
5175 If @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} is non-@code{nil} and the rest of
5176 the article consists only of citations and signature, then it will be
5177 skipped; the next article will be shown instead. You can customize
5178 what is considered uninteresting with
5179 @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}. You can manually view the article's
5180 pages, no matter how boring, using @kbd{C-M-v}.
5183 @kindex DEL (Summary)
5184 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
5185 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
5188 @kindex RET (Summary)
5189 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
5190 Scroll the current article one line forward
5191 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
5194 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
5195 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
5196 Scroll the current article one line backward
5197 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5201 @kindex A g (Summary)
5203 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5204 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5205 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5206 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
5207 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
5208 the way it came from the server.
5210 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5211 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5212 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5215 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5220 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5225 @kindex A < (Summary)
5226 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5227 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5228 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5233 @kindex A > (Summary)
5234 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5235 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5239 @kindex A s (Summary)
5241 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5242 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5243 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5247 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5248 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5253 @node Reply Followup and Post
5254 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5257 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5258 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5259 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5260 * Canceling and Superseding::
5264 @node Summary Mail Commands
5265 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5267 @cindex composing mail
5269 Commands for composing a mail message:
5275 @kindex S r (Summary)
5277 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5278 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5279 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5280 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5281 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5286 @kindex S R (Summary)
5287 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5288 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5289 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5290 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5291 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5294 @kindex S w (Summary)
5295 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5296 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5297 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5298 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5299 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers. If @code{Mail-Followup-To} is
5300 present, that's used instead.
5303 @kindex S W (Summary)
5304 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5305 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5306 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5307 the process/prefix convention.
5310 @kindex S v (Summary)
5311 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5312 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5313 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5314 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5315 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5316 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5319 @kindex S V (Summary)
5320 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5321 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5322 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5323 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5326 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5327 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5328 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5329 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5330 If you need this because a mailing list incorrectly sets a
5331 @code{Reply-To} header pointing to the list, you probably want to set
5332 the @code{broken-reply-to} group parameter instead, so things will work
5333 correctly. @xref{Group Parameters}.
5336 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5337 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5338 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5339 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5340 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5344 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5345 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5346 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5347 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5348 Forward the current article to some other person
5349 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5350 headers of the forwarded article.
5355 @kindex S m (Summary)
5356 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5357 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5358 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5359 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5360 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5365 @kindex S i (Summary)
5366 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5367 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5368 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5369 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5371 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5372 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
5373 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5374 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5375 for this to work though.
5378 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5379 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5380 @cindex bouncing mail
5381 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5382 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5383 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5384 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5385 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5386 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, gnus will try to fetch
5387 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5388 very well fail, though.
5391 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5392 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5393 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5394 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5395 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5396 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5397 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5398 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5399 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5400 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5402 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5403 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5404 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5405 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5406 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5408 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5409 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5412 @kindex S D e (Summary)
5413 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message-edit
5415 Like the previous command, but will allow you to edit the message as
5416 if it were a new message before resending.
5419 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5420 @findex gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward
5421 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5422 result using mail (@code{gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward}). This
5423 command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5426 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5427 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5428 @cindex crossposting
5429 @cindex excessive crossposting
5430 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5431 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5433 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5434 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5435 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5436 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5437 command understands the process/prefix convention
5438 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5442 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5443 Manual}, for more information.
5446 @node Summary Post Commands
5447 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5449 @cindex composing news
5451 Commands for posting a news article:
5457 @kindex S p (Summary)
5458 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5459 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5460 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5461 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5462 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5467 @kindex S f (Summary)
5468 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5469 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5470 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5474 @kindex S F (Summary)
5476 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5477 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5478 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5479 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5480 process/prefix convention.
5483 @kindex S n (Summary)
5484 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5485 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5486 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5489 @kindex S N (Summary)
5490 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5491 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5492 message through mail and include the original message
5493 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5494 the process/prefix convention.
5497 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5498 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5499 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5500 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5501 headers of the forwarded article.
5504 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5505 @findex gnus-summary-digest-post-forward
5507 @cindex making digests
5508 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5509 (@code{gnus-summary-digest-post-forward}). This command uses the
5510 process/prefix convention.
5513 @kindex S u (Summary)
5514 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5515 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5516 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5517 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5520 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5521 Manual}, for more information.
5524 @node Summary Message Commands
5525 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5529 @kindex S y (Summary)
5530 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5531 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5532 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5533 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5534 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5539 @node Canceling and Superseding
5540 @subsection Canceling Articles
5541 @cindex canceling articles
5542 @cindex superseding articles
5544 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5545 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5547 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5549 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5551 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5552 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5553 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5554 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5555 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5556 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5558 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5559 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5562 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5563 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5564 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5566 Gnus ensures that only you can cancel your own messages using a
5567 @code{Cancel-Lock} header (@pxref{Canceling News, Canceling News, ,
5568 message, Message Manual}).
5570 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5571 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5572 your original article.
5574 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5576 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5577 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5578 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5581 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5582 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5583 have posted almost the same article twice.
5585 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5586 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5587 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5588 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5589 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5590 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5591 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5592 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5593 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5594 canceled/superseded.
5596 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5598 @node Delayed Articles
5599 @section Delayed Articles
5600 @cindex delayed sending
5601 @cindex send delayed
5603 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5604 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5605 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5606 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5609 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5612 @findex gnus-delay-article
5613 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5614 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5615 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5616 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5620 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5621 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5622 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5623 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5626 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5627 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5628 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5631 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5632 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5633 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5634 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5635 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5636 that means a time tomorrow.
5639 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5640 couple of variables:
5643 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5644 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5645 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5646 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5648 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5649 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5650 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5651 formats described above.
5653 @item gnus-delay-group
5654 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5655 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5656 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5657 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5659 @item gnus-delay-header
5660 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5661 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5662 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5663 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5666 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5667 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5668 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5669 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5670 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5672 @findex gnus-delay-send-queue
5673 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5674 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5675 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5676 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5677 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5678 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5681 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5682 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5684 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5685 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
5686 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-@code{nil},
5687 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
5688 argument is ignored.
5690 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
5691 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
5692 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
5696 @node Marking Articles
5697 @section Marking Articles
5698 @cindex article marking
5699 @cindex article ticking
5702 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5704 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5705 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5706 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5708 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5711 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5712 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5713 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
5717 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
5721 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
5722 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
5723 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
5727 @node Unread Articles
5728 @subsection Unread Articles
5730 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5735 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5736 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5738 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5739 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5740 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5741 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5742 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5743 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5744 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5747 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5748 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5750 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5751 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5752 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5753 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5757 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5758 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5760 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5765 @subsection Read Articles
5766 @cindex expirable mark
5768 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5773 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5774 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5775 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5778 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5779 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5782 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5783 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5784 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5787 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5788 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5791 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5792 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5795 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5796 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5799 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5800 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5803 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5804 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5807 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5808 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5811 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5812 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5816 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5817 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5818 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5822 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5823 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5825 One more special mark, though:
5829 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5830 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5832 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5833 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5834 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5835 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by gnus at
5841 @subsection Other Marks
5842 @cindex process mark
5845 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5851 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5852 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5853 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5854 in the article, and gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5855 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5858 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5859 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5860 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5861 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5864 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5865 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5866 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5869 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5870 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5871 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5874 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5875 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5876 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5877 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5880 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5881 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
5882 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
5883 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
5884 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
5885 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
5888 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5889 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
5890 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5891 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
5894 @vindex gnus-downloaded-mark
5895 When using the Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}), articles may be
5896 downloaded for unplugged (offline) viewing. If you are using the
5897 @samp{%O} spec, these articles get the @samp{+} mark in that spec.
5898 (The variable @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} controls which character to
5902 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
5903 When using the Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}), some articles might
5904 not have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you
5905 are unplugged (offline). If you are using the @samp{%O} spec, these
5906 articles get the @samp{-} mark in that spec. (The variable
5907 @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls which character to use.)
5910 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
5911 The Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}) downloads some articles
5912 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
5913 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
5914 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
5915 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
5919 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5920 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5921 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5922 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5923 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5926 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5927 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5928 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5929 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5930 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5931 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5935 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5936 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5937 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5939 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5940 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5941 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5945 @subsection Setting Marks
5946 @cindex setting marks
5948 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5953 @kindex M c (Summary)
5954 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5955 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5956 @cindex mark as unread
5957 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5958 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5964 @kindex M t (Summary)
5965 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5966 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5967 @xref{Article Caching}.
5972 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5973 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5974 Mark the current article as dormant
5975 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5979 @kindex M d (Summary)
5981 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5982 Mark the current article as read
5983 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5987 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5988 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5989 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5994 @kindex M k (Summary)
5995 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5996 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5997 and then select the next unread article
5998 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
6002 @kindex M K (Summary)
6003 @kindex C-k (Summary)
6004 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
6005 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
6006 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
6009 @kindex M C (Summary)
6010 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
6011 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
6012 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
6015 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
6016 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
6017 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
6018 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
6021 @kindex M H (Summary)
6022 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
6023 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
6024 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
6027 @kindex M h (Summary)
6028 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
6029 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
6030 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
6033 @kindex C-w (Summary)
6034 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
6035 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
6036 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
6039 @kindex M V k (Summary)
6040 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
6041 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
6042 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
6046 @kindex M e (Summary)
6048 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
6049 Mark the current article as expirable
6050 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
6053 @kindex M b (Summary)
6054 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
6055 Set a bookmark in the current article
6056 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
6059 @kindex M B (Summary)
6060 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
6061 Remove the bookmark from the current article
6062 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
6065 @kindex M V c (Summary)
6066 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
6067 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
6068 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
6071 @kindex M V u (Summary)
6072 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
6073 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
6074 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
6077 @kindex M V m (Summary)
6078 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
6079 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
6080 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
6081 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
6084 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
6085 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
6086 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
6087 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
6088 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
6089 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
6090 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
6091 The default is @code{t}.
6094 @node Generic Marking Commands
6095 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
6097 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
6098 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
6099 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
6100 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
6101 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
6104 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
6105 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
6108 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
6109 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
6110 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
6111 to list in this manual.
6113 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
6114 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
6115 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
6116 article, you could say something like:
6120 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
6121 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6122 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
6130 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6131 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
6135 @node Setting Process Marks
6136 @subsection Setting Process Marks
6137 @cindex setting process marks
6139 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
6140 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
6141 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
6142 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
6143 commands into the cache. For more information,
6144 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
6151 @kindex M P p (Summary)
6152 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6153 Mark the current article with the process mark
6154 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
6155 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6159 @kindex M P u (Summary)
6160 @kindex M-# (Summary)
6161 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
6162 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6165 @kindex M P U (Summary)
6166 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6167 Remove the process mark from all articles
6168 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6171 @kindex M P i (Summary)
6172 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
6173 Invert the list of process marked articles
6174 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
6177 @kindex M P R (Summary)
6178 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6179 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6180 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6183 @kindex M P G (Summary)
6184 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6185 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6186 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6189 @kindex M P r (Summary)
6190 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6191 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6194 @kindex M P g (Summary)
6195 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6196 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6199 @kindex M P t (Summary)
6200 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6201 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6202 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6205 @kindex M P T (Summary)
6206 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6207 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6208 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6211 @kindex M P v (Summary)
6212 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
6213 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
6214 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
6217 @kindex M P s (Summary)
6218 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
6219 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6222 @kindex M P S (Summary)
6223 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
6224 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
6225 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
6228 @kindex M P a (Summary)
6229 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
6230 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6233 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6234 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6235 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6236 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6239 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6240 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6241 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6242 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6245 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6246 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6247 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6248 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6251 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6252 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6253 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6254 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6258 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @ref{Searching for Articles}, for how to
6259 set process marks based on article body contents.
6266 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6267 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6268 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6271 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
6272 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
6273 additional articles.
6279 @kindex / / (Summary)
6280 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6281 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6282 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6286 @kindex / a (Summary)
6287 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6288 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6289 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6293 @kindex / x (Summary)
6294 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6295 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6296 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6297 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6302 @kindex / u (Summary)
6304 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6305 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6306 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6307 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6308 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6311 @kindex / m (Summary)
6312 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6313 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6314 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6317 @kindex / t (Summary)
6318 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6319 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6320 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6321 articles younger than that number of days.
6324 @kindex / n (Summary)
6325 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6326 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
6327 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
6328 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6331 @kindex / w (Summary)
6332 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6333 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6334 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6338 @kindex / . (Summary)
6339 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6340 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6341 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6344 @kindex / v (Summary)
6345 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6346 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6347 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6350 @kindex / p (Summary)
6351 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6352 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6353 group parameter predicate
6354 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). @xref{Group
6355 Parameters}, for more on this predicate.
6358 @kindex / r (Summary)
6359 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-replied
6360 Limit the summary buffer to replied articles
6361 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-replied}). If given a prefix, exclude
6366 @kindex M S (Summary)
6367 @kindex / E (Summary)
6368 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6369 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6370 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6373 @kindex / D (Summary)
6374 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6375 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6376 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6379 @kindex / * (Summary)
6380 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6381 Include all cached articles in the limit
6382 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6385 @kindex / d (Summary)
6386 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6387 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6388 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6391 @kindex / M (Summary)
6392 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6393 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6396 @kindex / T (Summary)
6397 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6398 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6401 @kindex / c (Summary)
6402 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6403 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit@*
6404 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6407 @kindex / C (Summary)
6408 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6409 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6410 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6411 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6414 @kindex / N (Summary)
6415 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6416 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6417 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6420 @kindex / o (Summary)
6421 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6422 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6423 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6431 @cindex article threading
6433 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6434 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6435 hierarchical fashion.
6437 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6438 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6439 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6440 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6441 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6442 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6443 @ref{Customizing Threading}.
6445 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6449 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6452 A tree-like article structure.
6455 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6458 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6459 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6460 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6461 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6462 called loose threads.
6464 @item thread gathering
6465 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6467 @item sparse threads
6468 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6469 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6475 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6476 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6480 @node Customizing Threading
6481 @subsection Customizing Threading
6482 @cindex customizing threading
6485 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6486 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6487 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6488 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
6493 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6496 @cindex loose threads
6499 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6500 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6501 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6502 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6503 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6504 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6506 When there is no real root of a thread, gnus will have to fudge
6507 something. This variable says what fudging method gnus should use.
6508 There are four possible values:
6512 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6513 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6514 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6515 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6516 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6521 @cindex adopting articles
6526 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6527 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6528 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6529 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6532 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6533 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6534 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6535 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6536 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6537 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6538 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6539 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6540 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6541 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to @code{t}.
6544 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6545 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6546 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6550 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6551 display them after one another.
6554 Don't gather loose threads.
6557 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6558 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6559 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6560 variable is @code{nil}, gnus requires an exact match between the
6561 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6562 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6563 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6564 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6565 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6566 variable to a really low number, you'll find that gnus will gather
6567 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6569 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6570 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, gnus will
6571 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6574 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6575 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6576 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6577 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6578 simplification is used.
6580 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6581 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6582 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6583 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6585 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6587 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6593 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6594 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6595 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6596 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6601 (mapconcat 'identity
6602 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6604 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6607 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6610 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6611 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6612 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6613 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6614 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6615 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6617 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6620 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6621 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6622 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6624 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6625 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6628 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6629 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6630 Remove excessive whitespace.
6632 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6633 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6634 Remove all whitespace.
6637 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6640 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6641 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6642 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6643 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6644 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6645 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6646 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6647 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6649 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6650 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6651 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6652 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6653 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6654 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6655 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6656 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6657 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6661 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6662 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6663 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6664 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6666 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6667 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6668 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6671 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6675 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6676 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6682 @node Filling In Threads
6683 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6686 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6687 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6688 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6689 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you would
6690 like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still connect as
6691 many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable to
6692 @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than that
6693 number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case, fetching
6694 old headers only works if the back end you are using carries overview
6695 files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
6696 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
6697 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can
6700 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
6701 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
6702 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
6704 @item gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
6705 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
6706 Same as @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}, but only used for ephemeral
6709 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
6710 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
6711 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
6712 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
6713 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
6714 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
6715 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where gnus guesses that an article
6716 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
6717 lines. If you select a gap, gnus will try to fetch the article in
6718 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, gnus will display all these
6719 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
6720 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, gnus won't cut
6721 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
6722 @code{nil} by default.
6724 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
6725 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
6726 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
6727 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
6728 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
6729 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
6730 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
6732 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
6733 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
6734 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
6739 @node More Threading
6740 @subsubsection More Threading
6743 @item gnus-show-threads
6744 @vindex gnus-show-threads
6745 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
6746 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
6747 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
6748 slower and more awkward.
6750 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6751 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6752 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
6755 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
6756 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
6757 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}.
6762 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6763 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
6764 gnus-article-unseen-p))
6767 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
6768 unread, but you get my drift.)
6771 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
6772 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
6773 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
6774 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
6775 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
6776 threads are expunged.
6778 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
6779 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
6780 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
6783 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6784 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6785 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
6786 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
6787 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
6788 result in a new thread.
6790 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
6791 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
6792 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
6795 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6796 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6797 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
6798 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
6799 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
6800 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
6801 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
6802 Setting this variable to an alternate value
6803 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
6804 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
6805 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
6810 @node Low-Level Threading
6811 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
6815 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
6816 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
6817 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
6818 @code{(gnus-set-summary-default-charset)}, which sets up local value of
6819 @code{default-mime-charset} in summary buffer based on variable
6820 @code{gnus-newsgroup-default-charset-alist}.
6822 @item gnus-alter-header-function
6823 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
6824 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
6825 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
6826 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
6827 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
6828 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
6829 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
6830 meaningful. Here's one example:
6833 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
6835 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
6836 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
6838 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
6840 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6847 @node Thread Commands
6848 @subsection Thread Commands
6849 @cindex thread commands
6855 @kindex T k (Summary)
6856 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
6857 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6858 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6859 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6860 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6865 @kindex T l (Summary)
6866 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
6867 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6868 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6869 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6872 @kindex T i (Summary)
6873 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6874 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6875 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6878 @kindex T # (Summary)
6879 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6880 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6881 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6884 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6885 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6886 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
6887 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6890 @kindex T T (Summary)
6891 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
6892 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
6895 @kindex T s (Summary)
6896 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
6897 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any@*
6898 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
6901 @kindex T h (Summary)
6902 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
6903 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
6906 @kindex T S (Summary)
6907 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
6908 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
6911 @kindex T H (Summary)
6912 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
6913 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
6916 @kindex T t (Summary)
6917 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6918 Re-thread the current article's thread
6919 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6920 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6923 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6924 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6925 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6926 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6930 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6931 understand the numeric prefix.
6936 @kindex T n (Summary)
6938 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
6940 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6941 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6942 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6945 @kindex T p (Summary)
6947 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
6949 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6950 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6951 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6954 @kindex T d (Summary)
6955 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6956 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6959 @kindex T u (Summary)
6960 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6961 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6964 @kindex T o (Summary)
6965 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6966 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6969 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6970 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6971 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6972 a command like @kbd{T k} (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6973 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6974 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6975 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6976 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6977 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6978 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6979 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6980 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6984 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6985 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6987 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6988 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6989 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6990 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6991 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6992 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6993 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
6994 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6995 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number
6996 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date
6997 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6998 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6999 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
7000 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
7002 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
7003 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
7004 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
7005 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
7006 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
7007 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
7008 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
7009 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
7011 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
7012 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
7013 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
7015 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
7016 last function in the list. You should probably always include
7017 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
7018 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
7019 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
7020 ascending article order.
7022 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
7023 by number, you could do something like:
7026 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
7027 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
7028 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
7029 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
7032 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
7033 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
7034 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
7035 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
7036 which the articles arrived.
7038 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
7042 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
7044 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
7045 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
7048 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
7049 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
7050 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
7051 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
7054 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
7055 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
7056 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
7057 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
7058 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
7059 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
7060 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
7061 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
7062 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
7063 variable. It is very similar to the
7064 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
7065 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
7066 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
7067 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
7068 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
7069 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
7070 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
7072 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
7076 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
7077 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
7078 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
7083 @node Asynchronous Fetching
7084 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
7085 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
7086 @cindex article pre-fetch
7089 If you read your news from an @acronym{NNTP} server that's far away, the
7090 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
7091 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
7092 article appears. Why can't gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
7093 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
7095 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
7096 article fetching, especially the way gnus does it.
7098 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
7099 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
7100 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
7101 article 3, but since gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
7102 connection is blocked.
7104 To avoid these situations, gnus will open two (count 'em two)
7105 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
7106 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
7107 extra connection takes some time, so gnus startup will be slower.
7109 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
7110 the link between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server will become more
7111 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
7112 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
7115 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing@dots{} unless
7118 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
7119 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
7120 happen automatically.
7122 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
7123 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
7124 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
7125 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
7126 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
7127 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
7128 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
7130 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
7131 @findex gnus-async-read-p
7132 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
7133 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p}
7134 variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This
7135 function should return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is
7136 to be pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which
7137 returns @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an
7138 article data structure as the only parameter.
7140 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter
7141 than 100 lines, you could say something like:
7144 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
7145 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
7146 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
7147 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
7150 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
7153 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
7154 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down gnus too much.
7155 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
7157 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
7158 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
7159 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
7160 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
7164 Remove articles when they are read.
7167 Remove articles when exiting the group.
7170 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
7172 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
7173 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
7174 @c from the next group.
7177 @node Article Caching
7178 @section Article Caching
7179 @cindex article caching
7182 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @acronym{NNTP} connection, you may
7183 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
7184 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
7185 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
7186 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
7188 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
7190 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7191 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
7192 @vindex gnus-use-cache
7193 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
7194 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
7195 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
7196 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
7197 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
7199 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
7200 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
7201 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
7202 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
7203 as dormant, and don't worry.
7205 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
7207 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
7208 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
7209 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
7210 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
7211 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
7212 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
7213 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
7214 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
7215 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
7216 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
7218 @findex gnus-jog-cache
7219 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
7220 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
7221 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
7222 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
7223 command if 1) your connection to the @acronym{NNTP} server is really, really,
7224 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
7225 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
7226 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
7227 not then be downloaded by this command.
7229 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
7230 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
7231 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
7232 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
7233 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
7234 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
7236 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
7237 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
7238 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
7239 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
7240 variables, the group is not cached.
7242 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
7243 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
7244 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
7245 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
7246 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
7247 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, gnus
7248 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7249 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @acronym{NOV}
7250 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7253 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7254 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7255 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7256 where, isn't that cool?
7258 @node Persistent Articles
7259 @section Persistent Articles
7260 @cindex persistent articles
7262 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7263 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7264 useful in my opinion.
7266 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7267 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7268 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7269 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7270 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7271 the expiry going on at the news server.
7273 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7274 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7275 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7281 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7282 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7285 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7286 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7287 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7288 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7292 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7294 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7295 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7296 interested in persistent articles:
7299 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7303 @node Article Backlog
7304 @section Article Backlog
7306 @cindex article backlog
7308 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7309 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7310 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where gnus will buffer
7311 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7312 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7313 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7314 that, turning the backlog on will slow gnus down a little bit, and
7315 increase memory usage some.
7317 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7318 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, gnus will store
7319 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7320 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, gnus will store
7321 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7322 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7323 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7325 The default value is 20.
7328 @node Saving Articles
7329 @section Saving Articles
7330 @cindex saving articles
7332 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7333 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7334 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7335 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7336 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7338 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7339 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7340 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7342 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7343 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, gnus will not delete
7344 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7346 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7347 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7348 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7349 deleted before saving.
7355 @kindex O o (Summary)
7357 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7358 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7359 Save the current article using the default article saver
7360 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7363 @kindex O m (Summary)
7364 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7365 Save the current article in mail format
7366 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7369 @kindex O r (Summary)
7370 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7371 Save the current article in Rmail format
7372 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7375 @kindex O f (Summary)
7376 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7377 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7378 Save the current article in plain file format
7379 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7382 @kindex O F (Summary)
7383 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7384 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7385 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7388 @kindex O b (Summary)
7389 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7390 Save the current article body in plain file format
7391 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7394 @kindex O h (Summary)
7395 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7396 Save the current article in mh folder format
7397 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7400 @kindex O v (Summary)
7401 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7402 Save the current article in a VM folder
7403 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7407 @kindex O p (Summary)
7409 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7410 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7411 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7412 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
7413 complete headers in the piped output.
7416 @kindex O P (Summary)
7417 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7418 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7419 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7420 external program @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/,
7421 Muttprint}. The program name and options to use is controlled by the
7422 variable @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}.
7423 (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7427 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7428 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7429 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7430 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7431 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7432 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7433 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7434 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7435 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7436 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7437 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7438 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7442 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7443 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7444 gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
7445 functions below, or you can create your own.
7449 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7450 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7451 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7452 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7453 This is the default format, @dfn{Babyl}. Uses the function in the
7454 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7455 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7457 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7458 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7459 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7460 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7461 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7462 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7464 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7465 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7466 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7467 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7468 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7469 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7470 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7472 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7473 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7474 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7475 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7476 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7477 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7479 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7480 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7481 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7482 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7483 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7485 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7486 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7487 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7488 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7489 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7492 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7493 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7494 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7495 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7496 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7498 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7499 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7500 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7501 reader to use this setting.
7504 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7505 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7506 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7507 @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7510 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7511 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7512 available functions that generate names:
7516 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7517 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7518 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7520 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7521 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7522 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7524 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7525 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7526 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7528 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7529 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7530 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7532 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7533 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7534 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7537 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7538 You can have gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7539 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7540 save articles related to gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7541 related to VM in @file{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7545 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7546 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7547 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7548 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7551 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7552 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
7553 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
7554 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
7555 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
7556 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
7557 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
7558 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
7559 called returns a string or a list of strings.
7561 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
7562 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
7563 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
7564 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
7566 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
7567 means that gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
7568 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
7571 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
7572 lots of mail groups called things like
7573 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
7574 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
7575 following will do just that:
7578 (defun my-save-name (group)
7579 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
7580 (substring group (match-end 0))))
7582 (setq gnus-split-methods
7583 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
7588 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7589 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
7590 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
7591 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
7592 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
7593 all the files in the top level directory
7594 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
7595 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
7596 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
7597 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
7599 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
7600 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
7601 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
7602 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
7603 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
7606 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
7610 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; @r{to get a hierarchy}
7611 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
7612 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; @r{no encoding}
7615 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
7616 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
7617 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
7618 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
7621 @node Decoding Articles
7622 @section Decoding Articles
7623 @cindex decoding articles
7625 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
7626 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
7629 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
7630 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
7631 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
7632 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
7633 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
7634 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
7638 @cindex article series
7639 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
7640 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
7641 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
7642 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
7643 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
7645 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
7646 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
7647 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
7649 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, gnus
7650 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
7651 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
7653 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
7654 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
7655 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
7658 @node Uuencoded Articles
7659 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
7661 @cindex uuencoded articles
7666 @kindex X u (Summary)
7667 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
7668 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
7669 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
7672 @kindex X U (Summary)
7673 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
7674 Uudecodes and saves the current series
7675 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7678 @kindex X v u (Summary)
7679 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
7680 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
7683 @kindex X v U (Summary)
7684 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
7685 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
7686 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
7690 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
7691 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
7692 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
7693 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
7694 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7696 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
7697 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
7698 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
7699 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
7702 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
7703 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
7704 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
7705 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
7706 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
7707 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
7711 @node Shell Archives
7712 @subsection Shell Archives
7714 @cindex shell archives
7715 @cindex shared articles
7717 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
7718 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
7719 some commands to deal with these:
7724 @kindex X s (Summary)
7725 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
7726 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
7729 @kindex X S (Summary)
7730 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
7731 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
7734 @kindex X v s (Summary)
7735 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
7736 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
7739 @kindex X v S (Summary)
7740 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
7741 Unshars, views and saves the current series
7742 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
7746 @node PostScript Files
7747 @subsection PostScript Files
7753 @kindex X p (Summary)
7754 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
7755 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
7758 @kindex X P (Summary)
7759 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
7760 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
7761 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
7764 @kindex X v p (Summary)
7765 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
7766 View the current PostScript series
7767 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
7770 @kindex X v P (Summary)
7771 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
7772 View and save the current PostScript series
7773 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
7778 @subsection Other Files
7782 @kindex X o (Summary)
7783 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
7784 Save the current series
7785 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
7788 @kindex X b (Summary)
7789 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
7790 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
7791 doesn't really work yet.
7795 @node Decoding Variables
7796 @subsection Decoding Variables
7798 Adjective, not verb.
7801 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
7802 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
7803 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
7807 @node Rule Variables
7808 @subsubsection Rule Variables
7809 @cindex rule variables
7811 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
7812 variables are of the form
7815 (list '(regexp1 command2)
7822 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7823 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7825 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
7826 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @file{.au} sound file, you could
7829 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7830 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
7833 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7834 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7835 This variable is consulted if gnus couldn't make any matches from the
7836 user and default view rules.
7838 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7839 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7840 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
7845 @node Other Decode Variables
7846 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
7849 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7851 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7852 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
7853 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
7854 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
7855 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
7859 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
7860 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
7863 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
7864 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
7865 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
7868 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7869 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7870 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
7871 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
7872 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
7875 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7876 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7877 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
7879 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7880 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7881 Files with a @acronym{MIME} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
7882 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
7883 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @acronym{MIME} package (yet), so this is slightly
7886 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7887 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7888 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
7890 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7891 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7892 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
7893 looking for files to display.
7895 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
7896 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
7897 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
7900 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7901 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7902 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
7905 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7906 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7907 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
7910 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7911 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7912 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
7915 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7916 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7917 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
7918 decoded articles as unread.
7920 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7921 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7922 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
7923 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
7925 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7926 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7927 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
7929 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7930 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7932 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
7933 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @acronym{MIME}
7934 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
7935 @code{metamail} for viewing.
7937 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7938 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7939 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
7940 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
7941 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
7942 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
7943 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
7944 simply dropped them.
7949 @node Uuencoding and Posting
7950 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
7954 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7955 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7956 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
7957 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
7958 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7959 for you when you post the article.
7961 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7962 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7963 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7964 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7966 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7967 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7968 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7969 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7970 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7971 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7972 think that counts@dots{}) Default is @code{nil}.
7974 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7975 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7976 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7977 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7978 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7979 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7980 Default is @code{t}.
7986 @subsection Viewing Files
7987 @cindex viewing files
7988 @cindex pseudo-articles
7990 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, gnus will attempt
7991 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7992 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7993 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, gnus will
7994 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7995 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7996 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7998 Finally, gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7999 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
8000 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
8001 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
8003 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
8004 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
8005 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
8007 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
8008 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
8009 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
8010 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
8011 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
8013 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
8014 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
8015 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
8016 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
8017 a list of parameters to that command.
8019 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
8020 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
8021 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
8023 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
8024 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
8025 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
8028 @node Article Treatment
8029 @section Article Treatment
8031 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
8032 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
8033 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
8034 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
8035 these articles easier.
8038 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
8039 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
8040 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
8041 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
8042 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
8043 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
8044 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
8045 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
8046 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
8047 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
8048 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
8052 @node Article Highlighting
8053 @subsection Article Highlighting
8054 @cindex highlighting
8056 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
8057 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
8062 @kindex W H a (Summary)
8063 @findex gnus-article-highlight
8064 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
8065 Do much highlighting of the current article
8066 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
8067 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
8070 @kindex W H h (Summary)
8071 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
8072 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
8073 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
8074 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
8075 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
8076 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
8077 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
8078 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
8079 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
8080 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
8081 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
8084 @kindex W H c (Summary)
8085 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
8086 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
8088 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
8091 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8093 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8094 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
8095 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
8097 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
8098 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
8099 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
8101 @item gnus-cite-face-list
8102 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
8103 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
8104 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
8105 gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
8106 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
8108 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
8109 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
8110 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
8112 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8113 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8114 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
8116 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8117 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8118 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
8119 that it's a citation.
8121 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8122 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8123 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
8125 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8126 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8127 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
8129 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
8130 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
8131 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
8132 cited text belonging to the attribution.
8138 @kindex W H s (Summary)
8139 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8140 @vindex gnus-signature-face
8141 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
8142 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
8143 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
8144 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
8145 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
8150 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
8153 @node Article Fontisizing
8154 @subsection Article Fontisizing
8156 @cindex article emphasis
8158 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
8159 @kindex W e (Summary)
8160 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
8161 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
8162 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
8163 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
8165 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
8166 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
8167 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
8168 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
8169 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
8170 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
8171 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
8172 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
8176 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
8177 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
8178 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
8187 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
8188 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
8189 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
8190 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
8191 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
8192 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
8193 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
8194 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
8195 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
8196 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
8197 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
8198 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
8199 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
8201 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
8202 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
8203 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
8207 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
8210 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
8212 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
8213 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
8214 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
8215 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
8217 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
8220 @node Article Hiding
8221 @subsection Article Hiding
8222 @cindex article hiding
8224 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
8225 too much cruft in most articles.
8230 @kindex W W a (Summary)
8231 @findex gnus-article-hide
8232 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
8233 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
8234 headers, @acronym{PGP}, cited text and the signature.
8237 @kindex W W h (Summary)
8238 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
8239 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
8243 @kindex W W b (Summary)
8244 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8245 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
8246 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
8249 @kindex W W s (Summary)
8250 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
8251 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8255 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8256 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8257 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8258 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8259 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8260 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8261 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8262 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8266 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8267 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8268 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8269 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8274 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8275 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8276 Hide @acronym{PEM} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8277 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8280 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8281 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8282 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8283 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8286 @cindex stripping advertisements
8287 @cindex advertisements
8288 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8289 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8290 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8291 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8292 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8293 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8294 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8295 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8296 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8297 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8300 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8301 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8302 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8306 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8307 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8308 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8309 @code{(@var{address} . @var{banner})}, where @var{address} is a regexp
8310 matching a mail address in the From header, @var{banner} is one of a
8311 symbol @code{signature}, an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist},
8312 a regexp and @code{nil}. If @var{address} matches author's mail
8313 address, it will remove things like advertisements. For example, if a
8314 sender has the mail address @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a
8315 banner something like @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he
8316 sends, you can use the following element to remove them:
8319 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" .
8320 "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8326 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8327 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8328 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8329 customizing the hiding:
8333 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8334 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8335 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8336 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8337 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8338 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8339 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8344 Starting point of the hidden text.
8346 Ending point of the hidden text.
8348 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8350 Number of lines of hidden text.
8353 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8354 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8355 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8356 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8357 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8362 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8363 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8365 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8366 following two variables:
8369 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8370 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8371 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8372 50), hide the cited text.
8374 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8375 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8376 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8381 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8382 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8383 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8384 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8385 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8386 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8390 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8391 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8392 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8394 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8395 citation customization.
8397 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8401 @node Article Washing
8402 @subsection Article Washing
8404 @cindex article washing
8406 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8407 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8409 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8410 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8413 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8414 articles by default.
8419 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8420 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8424 Force redisplaying of the current article
8425 (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). This is also not really washing.
8426 If you type this, you see the article without any previously applied
8427 interactive Washing functions but with all default treatments
8428 (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8431 @kindex W l (Summary)
8432 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8433 Remove page breaks from the current article
8434 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8438 @kindex W r (Summary)
8439 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8440 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8441 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8442 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8443 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8444 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8446 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8447 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8448 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8449 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8452 @kindex W m (Summary)
8453 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8454 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8458 @kindex W t (Summary)
8460 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8461 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8462 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8465 @kindex W v (Summary)
8466 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8467 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8468 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8471 @kindex W m (Summary)
8472 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
8473 Toggle whether to run the article through @acronym{MIME} before
8474 displaying (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
8477 @kindex W o (Summary)
8478 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8479 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8482 @kindex W d (Summary)
8483 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8484 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8486 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8488 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8489 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8490 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8491 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8494 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8495 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8496 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8497 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8500 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
8501 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8502 @cindex Outlook Express
8503 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
8504 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
8505 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8508 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
8509 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
8510 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min
8511 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max
8512 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
8513 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
8514 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
8515 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the minimum and
8516 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
8517 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines}).
8520 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
8521 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
8522 Repair a broken attribution line.@*
8523 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
8526 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
8527 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
8528 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
8529 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
8532 @kindex W w (Summary)
8533 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
8534 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
8536 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
8540 @kindex W Q (Summary)
8541 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
8542 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
8545 @kindex W C (Summary)
8546 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
8547 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
8548 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
8551 @kindex W c (Summary)
8552 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
8553 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
8554 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
8555 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
8556 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
8558 @kindex W q (Summary)
8559 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
8560 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
8561 Quoted-Printable is one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when
8562 sending non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. It typically
8563 makes strings like @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which
8564 doesn't look very readable to me. Note that this is usually done
8565 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8566 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
8567 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8570 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
8571 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
8572 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}). Base64 is
8573 one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when sending
8574 non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is
8575 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8576 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
8577 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8580 @kindex W Z (Summary)
8581 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
8582 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
8583 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
8584 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
8587 @kindex W A (Summary)
8588 @findex gnus-article-treat-ansi-sequences
8589 Translate ANSI SGR control sequences into overlays or extents
8590 (@code{gnus-article-treat-ansi-sequences}). ANSI sequences are used in
8591 some Chinese hierarchies for highlighting.
8594 @kindex W u (Summary)
8595 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
8596 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
8597 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
8598 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
8599 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
8602 @kindex W h (Summary)
8603 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
8604 Treat @acronym{HTML} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
8605 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8606 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @acronym{HTML}.
8608 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8610 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
8611 The default is to use the function specified by
8612 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display
8613 Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) to convert the
8614 @acronym{HTML}, but this is controlled by the
8615 @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions you
8623 Use @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/, emacs-w3m}.
8626 Use @uref{http://links.sf.net/, Links}.
8629 Use @uref{http://lynx.isc.org/, Lynx}.
8632 Use html2text---a simple @acronym{HTML} converter included with Gnus.
8637 @kindex W b (Summary)
8638 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
8639 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
8640 @xref{Article Buttons}.
8643 @kindex W B (Summary)
8644 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
8645 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
8646 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
8649 @kindex W p (Summary)
8650 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
8651 Verify a signed control message
8652 (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}). Control messages such as
8653 @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are usually signed by the
8654 hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the @acronym{PGP} public key of
8655 the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
8656 message.@footnote{@acronym{PGP} keys for many hierarchies are
8657 available at @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
8660 @kindex W s (Summary)
8661 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
8662 Verify a signed (@acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME} or
8663 @acronym{S/MIME}) message
8664 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
8667 @kindex W a (Summary)
8668 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
8669 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
8670 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
8673 @kindex W E l (Summary)
8674 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
8675 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
8676 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
8679 @kindex W E m (Summary)
8680 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8681 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
8682 lines with a single empty line.
8683 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
8686 @kindex W E t (Summary)
8687 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
8688 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
8689 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
8692 @kindex W E a (Summary)
8693 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
8694 Do all the three commands above
8695 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
8698 @kindex W E A (Summary)
8699 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
8700 Remove all blank lines
8701 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
8704 @kindex W E s (Summary)
8705 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
8706 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
8707 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
8710 @kindex W E e (Summary)
8711 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
8712 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
8713 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
8717 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
8720 @node Article Header
8721 @subsection Article Header
8723 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
8728 @kindex W G u (Summary)
8729 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
8730 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
8733 @kindex W G n (Summary)
8734 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
8735 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
8736 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
8739 @kindex W G f (Summary)
8740 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
8741 Fold all the message headers
8742 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
8745 @kindex W E w (Summary)
8746 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
8747 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
8748 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
8753 @node Article Buttons
8754 @subsection Article Buttons
8757 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
8758 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
8759 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
8760 button on these references.
8762 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8763 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
8764 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man pages and
8765 Emacs or Gnus related references. This is controlled by two variables,
8766 one that handles article bodies and one that handles article heads:
8770 @item gnus-button-alist
8771 @vindex gnus-button-alist
8772 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
8775 (@var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
8781 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
8782 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
8783 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
8784 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
8785 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp} and @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp}.
8788 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
8789 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
8790 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
8793 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
8794 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
8795 avoid false matches. Often variables named
8796 @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} are used here, @xref{Article Button
8797 Levels}, but any other form may be used too.
8799 @c @code{use-p} is @code{eval}ed only if @code{regexp} matches.
8802 This function will be called when you click on this button.
8805 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
8806 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
8810 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
8813 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
8816 @item gnus-header-button-alist
8817 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
8818 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
8819 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
8820 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
8823 (@var{header} @var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
8826 @var{header} is a regular expression.
8829 @subsubsection Related variables and functions
8832 @item gnus-button-@var{*}-level
8833 @xref{Article Button Levels}.
8835 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-browse-level
8837 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
8838 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
8839 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
8840 default values of the variables above.
8842 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-man-level
8844 @item gnus-button-man-handler
8845 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8846 The function to use for displaying man pages. It must take at least one
8847 argument with a string naming the man page.
8849 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-message-level
8851 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
8852 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
8853 Regular expression that matches a message ID or a mail address.
8855 @item gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
8856 @vindex gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
8857 This variable determines what to do when the button on a string as
8858 @samp{foo123@@bar.invalid} is pushed. Strings like this can be either a
8859 message ID or a mail address. If it is one of the symbols @code{mid} or
8860 @code{mail}, Gnus will always assume that the string is a message ID or
8861 a mail address, respectively. If this variable is set to the symbol
8862 @code{ask}, always query the user what do do. If it is a function, this
8863 function will be called with the string as its only argument. The
8864 function must return @code{mid}, @code{mail}, @code{invalid} or
8865 @code{ask}. The default value is the function
8866 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
8868 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
8869 @findex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
8870 Function that guesses whether its argument is a message ID or a mail
8871 address. Returns @code{mid} if it's a message IDs, @code{mail} if
8872 it's a mail address, @code{ask} if unsure and @code{invalid} if the
8875 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
8876 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
8877 An alist of @code{(RATE . REGEXP)} pairs used by the function
8878 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
8880 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-tex-level
8882 @item gnus-button-ctan-handler
8883 @findex gnus-button-ctan-handler
8884 The function to use for displaying CTAN links. It must take one
8885 argument, the string naming the URL.
8888 @vindex gnus-ctan-url
8889 Top directory of a CTAN (Comprehensive TeX Archive Network) archive used
8890 by @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler}.
8894 @item gnus-article-button-face
8895 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
8896 Face used on buttons.
8898 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
8899 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
8900 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
8904 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
8907 @node Article Button Levels
8908 @subsection Article button levels
8909 @cindex button levels
8910 The higher the value of the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level},
8911 the more buttons will appear. If the level is zero, no corresponding
8912 buttons are displayed. With the default value (which is 5) you should
8913 already see quite a lot of buttons. With higher levels, you will see
8914 more buttons, but you may also get more false positives. To avoid them,
8915 you can set the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} local to
8916 specific groups (@pxref{Group Parameters}). Here's an example for the
8917 variable @code{gnus-parameters}:
8920 ;; @r{increase @code{gnus-button-*-level} in some groups:}
8921 (setq gnus-parameters
8922 '(("\\<\\(emacs\\|gnus\\)\\>" (gnus-button-emacs-level 10))
8923 ("\\<unix\\>" (gnus-button-man-level 10))
8924 ("\\<tex\\>" (gnus-button-tex-level 10))))
8929 @item gnus-button-browse-level
8930 @vindex gnus-button-browse-level
8931 Controls the display of references to message IDs, mail addresses and
8932 news URLs. Related variables and functions include
8933 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}, @code{browse-url}, and
8934 @code{browse-url-browser-function}.
8936 @item gnus-button-emacs-level
8937 @vindex gnus-button-emacs-level
8938 Controls the display of Emacs or Gnus references. Related functions are
8939 @code{gnus-button-handle-custom},
8940 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-function},
8941 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-variable},
8942 @code{gnus-button-handle-symbol},
8943 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-key},
8944 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos},
8945 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-command},
8946 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-variable},
8947 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-documentation}, and
8948 @code{gnus-button-handle-library}.
8950 @item gnus-button-man-level
8951 @vindex gnus-button-man-level
8952 Controls the display of references to (Unix) man pages.
8953 See @code{gnus-button-man-handler}.
8955 @item gnus-button-message-level
8956 @vindex gnus-button-message-level
8957 Controls the display of message IDs, mail addresses and news URLs.
8958 Related variables and functions include
8959 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp},
8960 @code{gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail},
8961 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}, and
8962 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist}.
8964 @item gnus-button-tex-level
8965 @vindex gnus-button-tex-level
8966 Controls the display of references to @TeX{} or LaTeX stuff, e.g. for CTAN
8967 URLs. See the variables @code{gnus-ctan-url},
8968 @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler},
8969 @code{gnus-button-ctan-directory-regexp}, and
8970 @code{gnus-button-handle-ctan-bogus-regexp}.
8976 @subsection Article Date
8978 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
8979 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
8980 when the article was sent.
8985 @kindex W T u (Summary)
8986 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
8987 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
8988 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
8991 @kindex W T i (Summary)
8992 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
8994 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
8995 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
8998 @kindex W T l (Summary)
8999 @findex gnus-article-date-local
9000 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
9003 @kindex W T p (Summary)
9004 @findex gnus-article-date-english
9005 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
9006 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
9009 @kindex W T s (Summary)
9010 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
9011 @findex gnus-article-date-user
9012 @findex format-time-string
9013 Display the date using a user-defined format
9014 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
9015 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
9016 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
9017 for a list of possible format specs.
9020 @kindex W T e (Summary)
9021 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
9022 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
9023 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
9024 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
9025 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
9028 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
9031 @vindex gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header
9032 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
9033 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
9036 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
9037 into wonderful absurdities.
9039 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
9042 (gnus-start-date-timer)
9045 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
9046 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
9050 @kindex W T o (Summary)
9051 @findex gnus-article-date-original
9052 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
9053 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
9054 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
9055 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
9056 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
9060 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
9061 preferred format automatically.
9064 @node Article Display
9065 @subsection Article Display
9070 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
9071 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
9073 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
9074 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
9076 @code{Face} headers are small colored images supplied by the message
9077 headers (@pxref{Face}).
9079 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
9080 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
9082 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
9083 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
9085 All these functions are toggles---if the elements already exist,
9090 @kindex W D x (Summary)
9091 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
9092 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
9093 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
9096 @kindex W D d (Summary)
9097 @findex gnus-article-display-face
9098 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
9099 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
9102 @kindex W D s (Summary)
9103 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
9104 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
9107 @kindex W D f (Summary)
9108 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
9109 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
9112 @kindex W D m (Summary)
9113 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
9114 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
9115 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
9118 @kindex W D n (Summary)
9119 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
9120 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
9121 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
9124 @kindex W D D (Summary)
9125 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
9126 Remove all images from the article buffer
9127 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
9133 @node Article Signature
9134 @subsection Article Signature
9136 @cindex article signature
9138 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
9139 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
9140 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
9141 that says what is to be considered a signature is
9142 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
9143 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
9144 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
9145 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
9146 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
9149 (setq gnus-signature-separator
9150 '("^-- $" ; @r{The standard}
9151 "^-- *$" ; @r{A common mangling}
9152 "^-------*$" ; @r{Many people just use a looong}
9153 ; @r{line of dashes. Shame!}
9154 "^ *--------*$" ; @r{Double-shame!}
9155 "^________*$" ; @r{Underscores are also popular}
9156 "^========*$")) ; @r{Pervert!}
9159 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
9162 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
9163 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
9164 signature when displaying articles.
9168 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
9171 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
9174 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
9175 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
9177 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
9178 in question is not a signature.
9181 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
9182 listed above. Here's an example:
9185 (setq gnus-signature-limit
9186 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
9189 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
9190 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
9191 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
9192 signature after all.
9195 @node Article Miscellanea
9196 @subsection Article Miscellanea
9200 @kindex A t (Summary)
9201 @findex gnus-article-babel
9202 Translate the article from one language to another
9203 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
9209 @section MIME Commands
9210 @cindex MIME decoding
9212 @cindex viewing attachments
9214 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
9215 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @acronym{MIME} part''.
9221 @kindex K v (Summary)
9222 View the @acronym{MIME} part.
9225 @kindex K o (Summary)
9226 Save the @acronym{MIME} part.
9229 @kindex K c (Summary)
9230 Copy the @acronym{MIME} part.
9233 @kindex K e (Summary)
9234 View the @acronym{MIME} part externally.
9237 @kindex K i (Summary)
9238 View the @acronym{MIME} part internally.
9241 @kindex K | (Summary)
9242 Pipe the @acronym{MIME} part to an external command.
9245 The rest of these @acronym{MIME} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
9250 @kindex K b (Summary)
9251 Make all the @acronym{MIME} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
9252 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
9256 @kindex K m (Summary)
9257 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
9258 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
9259 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
9260 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
9261 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
9264 @kindex X m (Summary)
9265 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
9266 Save all parts matching a @acronym{MIME} type to a directory
9267 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
9268 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9271 @kindex M-t (Summary)
9272 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
9273 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
9274 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
9277 @kindex W M w (Summary)
9278 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
9279 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
9280 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
9283 @kindex W M c (Summary)
9284 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
9285 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
9286 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
9288 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
9289 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
9290 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
9291 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
9292 include @acronym{MIME} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
9293 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
9296 @kindex W M v (Summary)
9297 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
9298 View all the @acronym{MIME} parts in the current article
9299 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
9306 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
9307 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
9308 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9309 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
9312 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
9315 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
9319 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
9320 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
9321 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't require the @samp{MIME-Version} header
9322 before interpreting the message as a @acronym{MIME} message. This helps
9323 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
9324 default is @code{nil}.
9326 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
9327 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
9328 There are other, non-@acronym{MIME} encoding methods used. The most common
9329 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
9330 this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
9331 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
9332 Gnus @acronym{MIME} machinery. The default is @code{t}.
9334 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9335 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9336 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9337 this list won't have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9338 displayed or this variable is overridden by
9339 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
9340 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
9341 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is @code{nil}.
9343 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9344 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9345 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9346 this list will have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9347 displayed. This variable overrides
9348 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
9349 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
9352 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
9353 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
9354 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
9356 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9357 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9358 If this is non-@code{nil}, then all @acronym{MIME} parts get buttons. The
9359 default value is @code{nil}.
9361 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
9362 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
9363 For each @acronym{MIME} part, this function will be called with the @acronym{MIME}
9364 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
9365 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
9366 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
9367 save all jpegs into some directory).
9369 Here's an example function the does the latter:
9372 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
9373 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
9375 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
9376 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
9377 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
9378 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
9379 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
9382 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9383 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9384 Alist of @acronym{MIME} multipart types and functions to handle them.
9386 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9387 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9388 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @acronym{MIME} parts.
9389 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
9391 Ready-made functions include@*
9392 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
9393 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
9394 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
9395 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
9396 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
9397 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
9398 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
9399 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
9400 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9401 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9402 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9403 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9405 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
9406 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
9408 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
9409 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
9410 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
9413 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9414 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9415 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9416 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
9420 to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
9429 People use different charsets, and we have @acronym{MIME} to let us know what
9430 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
9431 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @acronym{MIME}, and
9432 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
9433 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
9434 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
9435 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
9437 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
9438 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
9439 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
9440 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
9442 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets
9443 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @acronym{MIME}-aware agents that
9444 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
9445 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
9446 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
9447 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
9448 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
9449 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
9450 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
9452 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
9453 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
9454 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @acronym{MIME}
9455 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
9456 quoted-printable header encoding.
9458 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
9459 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
9460 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
9464 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
9467 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
9468 means encode all charsets),
9470 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
9471 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
9472 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
9479 @cindex coding system aliases
9480 @cindex preferred charset
9482 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
9484 If there are several @acronym{MIME} charsets that encode the same Emacs
9485 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
9488 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
9489 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
9492 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
9493 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @acronym{MIME} charset.
9495 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
9498 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
9501 This will almost do the right thing.
9503 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
9507 (codepage-setup 1251)
9508 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
9512 @node Article Commands
9513 @section Article Commands
9520 @kindex A P (Summary)
9521 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
9522 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
9523 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
9524 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
9525 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
9526 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
9531 @node Summary Sorting
9532 @section Summary Sorting
9533 @cindex summary sorting
9535 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
9536 can't really see why you'd want that.
9541 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
9542 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
9543 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
9546 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
9547 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
9548 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
9551 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
9552 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
9553 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
9556 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
9557 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
9558 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
9561 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
9562 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
9563 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
9566 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
9567 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
9568 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
9571 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
9572 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
9573 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
9576 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
9577 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
9578 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
9581 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
9582 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
9583 Sort using the default sorting method
9584 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
9587 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
9588 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
9589 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
9590 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
9591 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
9595 @node Finding the Parent
9596 @section Finding the Parent
9597 @cindex parent articles
9598 @cindex referring articles
9603 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
9604 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
9605 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
9606 if the current group is fetched by @acronym{NNTP}, the parent hasn't expired
9607 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
9608 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
9609 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
9610 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
9611 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
9613 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
9614 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
9615 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, gnus will fetch the parent, the
9616 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
9617 @kbd{-3 ^}, gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
9621 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
9622 @kindex A R (Summary)
9623 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
9624 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
9627 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
9628 @kindex A T (Summary)
9629 Display the full thread where the current article appears
9630 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
9631 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
9632 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
9633 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
9634 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
9635 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
9637 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
9638 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
9639 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
9640 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
9641 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
9642 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
9645 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
9646 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
9648 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
9649 You can also ask the @acronym{NNTP} server for an arbitrary article, no
9650 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
9651 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
9652 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
9653 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
9654 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
9657 The current select method will be used when fetching by
9658 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
9659 by giving this command a prefix.
9661 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
9662 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
9663 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
9664 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @acronym{NNTP} method. It
9665 would, perhaps, be best if the @acronym{NNTP} server you consult is the one
9666 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
9669 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
9670 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
9671 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
9674 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
9675 then ask Google if that fails:
9678 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
9680 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
9683 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
9684 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
9685 @code{nnbabyl}, @code{nnmaildir}, @code{nnml}, are able to locate
9686 articles from any groups, while @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
9687 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current
9688 group. (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does
9689 not support this at all.
9692 @node Alternative Approaches
9693 @section Alternative Approaches
9695 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
9696 gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
9699 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
9700 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
9705 @subsection Pick and Read
9706 @cindex pick and read
9708 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
9709 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
9710 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
9711 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
9713 @findex gnus-pick-mode
9714 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
9715 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
9716 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
9717 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
9718 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
9720 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
9725 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
9726 Pick the article or thread on the current line
9727 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9728 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
9729 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
9730 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
9731 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
9732 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
9735 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
9736 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
9737 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
9738 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
9742 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
9743 Unpick the thread or article
9744 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9745 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
9746 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
9747 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
9748 the thread or article at that line.
9752 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
9753 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
9754 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
9755 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
9756 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
9757 will still be visible when you are reading.
9761 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
9762 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
9763 which is mapped to the same function
9764 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
9766 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
9769 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
9772 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
9773 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
9775 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
9776 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
9777 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
9779 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
9780 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
9781 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
9782 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
9783 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
9784 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
9785 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
9789 @subsection Binary Groups
9790 @cindex binary groups
9792 @findex gnus-binary-mode
9793 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
9794 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
9795 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
9796 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
9797 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
9798 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
9801 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
9802 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
9803 command, when you have turned on this mode
9804 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
9806 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
9807 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
9811 @section Tree Display
9814 @vindex gnus-use-trees
9815 If you don't like the normal gnus summary display, you might try setting
9816 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
9817 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
9820 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
9823 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
9824 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
9825 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
9827 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9828 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9829 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
9830 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
9831 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
9833 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
9834 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
9835 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
9836 default is @code{modeline}.
9838 @item gnus-tree-line-format
9839 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
9840 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
9841 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
9842 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
9843 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
9844 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
9850 The name of the poster.
9852 The @code{From} header.
9854 The number of the article.
9856 The opening bracket.
9858 The closing bracket.
9863 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
9865 Variables related to the display are:
9868 @item gnus-tree-brackets
9869 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
9870 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
9871 ``sparse'' articles. The format is
9873 ((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
9874 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close})
9875 (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))
9877 and the default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
9879 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9880 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9881 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
9882 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
9886 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
9887 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
9888 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will try to keep the tree
9889 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other gnus
9890 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
9891 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
9892 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
9893 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
9894 other windows displayed next to it.
9896 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
9900 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
9901 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
9904 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
9905 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
9906 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9907 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
9908 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
9909 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
9910 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
9914 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
9917 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
9927 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
9932 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
9933 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
9935 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
9937 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
9943 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
9944 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
9945 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
9948 (setq gnus-use-trees t
9949 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9950 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
9951 (gnus-add-configuration
9955 (summary 0.75 point)
9960 @xref{Window Layout}.
9963 @node Mail Group Commands
9964 @section Mail Group Commands
9965 @cindex mail group commands
9967 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
9968 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
9970 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
9971 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9976 @kindex B e (Summary)
9977 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
9978 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
9979 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
9980 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
9981 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
9984 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
9985 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
9986 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
9987 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
9988 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
9989 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
9992 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
9993 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
9994 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
9995 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
9996 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
9997 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
10000 @kindex B m (Summary)
10002 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
10003 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
10004 Move the article from one mail group to another
10005 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
10006 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
10009 @kindex B c (Summary)
10011 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
10012 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
10013 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
10014 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
10015 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
10018 @kindex B B (Summary)
10019 @cindex crosspost mail
10020 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
10021 Crosspost the current article to some other group
10022 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
10023 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
10024 be properly updated.
10027 @kindex B i (Summary)
10028 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
10029 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
10030 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
10031 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
10034 @kindex B I (Summary)
10035 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
10036 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
10037 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
10038 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
10041 @kindex B r (Summary)
10042 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
10043 @vindex gnus-summary-respool-default-method
10044 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
10045 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
10046 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
10047 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
10048 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
10049 (which is the default).
10053 @kindex B w (Summary)
10054 @kindex e (Summary)
10055 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
10056 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
10057 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
10058 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
10059 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
10060 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
10061 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, gnus won't re-highlight the article.
10064 @kindex B q (Summary)
10065 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
10066 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
10067 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
10068 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
10071 @kindex B t (Summary)
10072 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
10073 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
10074 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
10077 @kindex B p (Summary)
10078 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
10079 Some people have a tendency to send you ``courtesy'' copies when they
10080 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
10081 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
10082 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
10083 article from your news server (or rather, from
10084 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
10085 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
10086 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
10087 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
10088 just not have arrived yet.
10091 @kindex K E (Summary)
10092 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
10093 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
10094 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
10095 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
10096 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
10100 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
10101 @cindex moving articles
10102 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have gnus
10103 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
10104 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
10105 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
10106 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
10107 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
10108 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
10111 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
10112 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
10113 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
10114 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
10118 @node Various Summary Stuff
10119 @section Various Summary Stuff
10122 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
10123 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
10124 * Summary Generation Commands::
10125 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
10129 @vindex gnus-summary-display-while-building
10130 @item gnus-summary-display-while-building
10131 If non-@code{nil}, show and update the summary buffer as it's being
10132 built. If @code{t}, update the buffer after every line is inserted.
10133 If the value is an integer, @var{n}, update the display every @var{n}
10134 lines. The default is @code{nil}.
10136 @vindex gnus-summary-display-arrow
10137 @item gnus-summary-display-arrow
10138 If non-@code{nil}, display an arrow in the fringe to indicate the
10141 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
10142 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
10143 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
10145 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
10146 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
10147 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
10148 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
10149 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
10150 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
10153 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10154 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10155 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
10156 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
10157 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
10159 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10160 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10161 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
10164 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10165 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10166 When gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
10167 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
10168 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
10169 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
10170 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), gnus will rename the
10171 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
10172 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
10173 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
10175 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10176 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10177 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
10178 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
10179 list of articles to be selected.
10181 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
10182 the list in one particular group:
10185 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
10186 (if (string= group "some.group")
10187 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
10191 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
10192 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
10193 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
10194 variables and their default values (when the default values are not
10195 @code{nil}), that should be made global while the summary buffer is
10196 active. These variables can be used to set variables in the group
10197 parameters while still allowing them to affect operations done in
10198 other buffers. For example:
10201 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
10202 '(message-use-followup-to
10203 (gnus-visible-headers .
10204 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
10210 @node Summary Group Information
10211 @subsection Summary Group Information
10216 @kindex H f (Summary)
10217 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
10218 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
10219 Try to fetch the @acronym{FAQ} (list of frequently asked questions)
10220 for the current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try
10221 to get the @acronym{FAQ} from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which
10222 is usually a directory on a remote machine. This variable can also be
10223 a list of directories. In that case, giving a prefix to this command
10224 will allow you to choose between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp}
10225 or @code{efs} will probably be used for fetching the file.
10228 @kindex H d (Summary)
10229 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
10230 Give a brief description of the current group
10231 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
10232 rereading the description from the server.
10235 @kindex H h (Summary)
10236 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
10237 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
10238 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
10241 @kindex H i (Summary)
10242 @findex gnus-info-find-node
10243 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
10247 @node Searching for Articles
10248 @subsection Searching for Articles
10253 @kindex M-s (Summary)
10254 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
10255 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
10256 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
10259 @kindex M-r (Summary)
10260 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
10261 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
10262 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
10265 @kindex & (Summary)
10266 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
10267 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
10268 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
10269 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
10270 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
10271 search backward instead.
10273 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string RET #} will put the process mark on
10274 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
10277 @kindex M-& (Summary)
10278 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
10279 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
10280 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
10283 @node Summary Generation Commands
10284 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
10289 @kindex Y g (Summary)
10290 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
10291 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
10294 @kindex Y c (Summary)
10295 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
10296 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10297 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
10300 @kindex Y d (Summary)
10301 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
10302 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10303 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
10308 @node Really Various Summary Commands
10309 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
10315 @kindex C-d (Summary)
10316 @kindex A D (Summary)
10317 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
10318 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
10319 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
10320 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
10321 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
10322 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
10323 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
10324 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
10328 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
10329 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
10330 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
10331 several documents into one biiig group
10332 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
10333 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
10334 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
10335 command understands the process/prefix convention
10336 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10339 @kindex C-t (Summary)
10340 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
10341 Toggle truncation of summary lines
10342 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
10343 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
10344 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
10347 @kindex = (Summary)
10348 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
10349 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
10350 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
10353 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
10354 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
10355 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10356 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
10359 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
10360 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
10361 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10362 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
10367 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
10368 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
10369 @cindex summary exit
10370 @cindex exiting groups
10372 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
10373 group and return you to the group buffer.
10380 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
10381 @kindex Z Q (Summary)
10382 @kindex q (Summary)
10383 @findex gnus-summary-exit
10384 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
10385 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
10386 @vindex gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook
10387 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
10388 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
10389 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
10390 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
10391 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
10392 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
10393 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
10394 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
10398 @kindex Z E (Summary)
10399 @kindex Q (Summary)
10400 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
10401 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
10402 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
10406 @kindex Z c (Summary)
10407 @kindex c (Summary)
10408 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
10409 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
10410 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
10411 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
10414 @kindex Z C (Summary)
10415 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
10416 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
10417 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
10420 @kindex Z n (Summary)
10421 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
10422 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
10423 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
10427 @kindex Z R (Summary)
10428 @kindex C-x C-s (Summary)
10429 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
10430 Exit this group, and then enter it again
10431 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
10432 all articles, both read and unread.
10436 @kindex Z G (Summary)
10437 @kindex M-g (Summary)
10438 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
10439 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
10440 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
10441 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
10442 articles, both read and unread.
10445 @kindex Z N (Summary)
10446 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
10447 Exit the group and go to the next group
10448 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
10451 @kindex Z P (Summary)
10452 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
10453 Exit the group and go to the previous group
10454 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
10457 @kindex Z s (Summary)
10458 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
10459 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
10460 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
10461 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
10462 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
10465 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
10466 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
10467 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
10468 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
10470 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
10471 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
10472 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
10473 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
10474 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
10475 If you do that, gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
10476 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
10477 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
10478 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
10479 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
10480 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
10481 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
10483 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
10485 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
10486 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
10487 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
10488 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
10489 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
10490 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
10491 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
10492 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
10493 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
10496 @node Crosspost Handling
10497 @section Crosspost Handling
10501 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
10502 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
10503 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
10504 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
10505 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
10506 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
10509 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
10510 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
10511 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
10512 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
10513 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
10515 @cindex cross-posting
10517 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
10518 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
10519 correctly is if you use an @acronym{NNTP} server that supports @sc{xover}
10520 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
10521 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @acronym{NOV} lines. This is
10522 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
10523 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
10524 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
10525 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
10526 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
10527 the cross reference mechanism.
10529 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
10530 @cindex overview.fmt
10531 To check whether your @acronym{NNTP} server includes the @code{Xref} header
10532 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
10533 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
10534 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
10535 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
10536 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
10539 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
10540 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
10541 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
10546 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
10549 @node Duplicate Suppression
10550 @section Duplicate Suppression
10552 By default, gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
10553 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
10554 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
10555 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
10560 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
10561 is evil and not very common.
10564 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
10565 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
10568 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
10569 different @acronym{NNTP} servers.
10572 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
10575 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
10576 well, but these four are the most common situations.
10578 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
10579 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
10580 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
10581 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
10582 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
10583 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
10584 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
10587 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
10588 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
10589 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
10590 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
10591 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
10592 saw the article in.
10595 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
10596 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
10597 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
10599 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
10600 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
10601 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
10602 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
10603 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single gnus
10604 session are suppressed.
10606 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
10607 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
10608 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
10609 suppression list. The default is 10000.
10611 @item gnus-duplicate-file
10612 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
10613 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
10614 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
10617 If you have a tendency to stop and start gnus often, setting
10618 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
10619 you leave gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
10620 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
10621 so that means that if you stop and start gnus often, you should set
10622 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
10623 to you to figure out, I think.
10628 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
10629 The formats that are supported are @acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME}
10630 and @acronym{S/MIME}, however you need some external programs to get
10635 To handle @acronym{PGP} and @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages, you have to
10636 install an OpenPGP implementation such as GnuPG. The Lisp interface
10637 to GnuPG included with Gnus is called PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg, PGG
10638 Manual}), but Mailcrypt and gpg.el are also supported.
10641 To handle @acronym{S/MIME} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
10642 or newer is recommended.
10646 More information on how to set things up can be found in the message
10647 manual (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
10650 @item mm-verify-option
10651 @vindex mm-verify-option
10652 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
10653 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
10654 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10656 @item mm-decrypt-option
10657 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
10658 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
10659 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
10660 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10663 @vindex mml1991-use
10664 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10665 @acronym{PGP} messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but
10666 @code{mailcrypt} and @code{gpg} are also supported although
10670 @vindex mml2015-use
10671 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10672 @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but
10673 @code{mailcrypt} and @code{gpg} are also supported although
10678 @cindex snarfing keys
10679 @cindex importing PGP keys
10680 @cindex PGP key ring import
10681 Snarfing OpenPGP keys (i.e., importing keys from articles into your
10682 key ring) is not supported explicitly through a menu item or command,
10683 rather Gnus do detect and label keys as @samp{application/pgp-keys},
10684 allowing you to specify whatever action you think is appropriate
10685 through the usual @acronym{MIME} infrastructure. You can use a
10686 @file{~/.mailcap} entry (@pxref{mailcap, , mailcap, emacs-mime, The
10687 Emacs MIME Manual}) such as the following to import keys using GNU
10688 Privacy Guard when you click on the @acronym{MIME} button
10689 (@pxref{Using MIME}).
10692 application/pgp-keys; gpg --import --interactive --verbose; needsterminal
10695 This happens to also be the default action defined in
10696 @code{mailcap-mime-data}.
10699 @section Mailing List
10700 @cindex mailing list
10703 @kindex A M (summary)
10704 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
10705 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
10706 add a @code{to-list} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
10707 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
10710 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
10715 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
10716 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
10717 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
10720 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
10721 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
10722 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
10725 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
10726 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
10727 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
10731 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
10732 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
10733 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
10736 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
10737 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10738 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
10741 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
10742 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10743 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
10748 @node Article Buffer
10749 @chapter Article Buffer
10750 @cindex article buffer
10752 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
10753 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
10754 tell gnus otherwise.
10757 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
10758 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
10759 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
10760 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
10761 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
10765 @node Hiding Headers
10766 @section Hiding Headers
10767 @cindex hiding headers
10768 @cindex deleting headers
10770 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
10771 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
10773 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
10774 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
10775 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
10776 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
10777 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
10778 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
10779 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseam---and you'll probably want to get rid
10780 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
10781 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
10783 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
10787 @item gnus-visible-headers
10788 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
10789 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
10790 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
10791 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
10793 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
10794 the article and the subject, you'd say:
10797 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
10800 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10803 @item gnus-ignored-headers
10804 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
10805 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
10806 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
10807 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
10808 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
10810 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} field
10811 and the @code{Xref} field, you might say:
10814 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
10817 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10820 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
10821 variable will have no effect.
10825 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
10826 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
10827 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
10828 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
10829 the headers are to be displayed.
10831 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
10832 and then the subject, you might say something like:
10835 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
10838 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
10839 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
10841 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
10842 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
10843 You can hide further boring headers by setting
10844 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
10845 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
10846 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead it
10847 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
10850 These conditions are:
10853 Remove all empty headers.
10855 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
10856 @code{Newsgroups} header.
10858 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same addresses as
10859 the @code{From} header, or if the @code{broken-reply-to} group
10862 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
10865 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10866 the current group's @code{to-address} parameter.
10868 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10869 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
10871 Remove the @code{CC} header if it only contains the address identical to
10872 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
10874 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
10877 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
10879 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
10882 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
10885 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
10886 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
10889 This is also the default value for this variable.
10893 @section Using MIME
10894 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
10896 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
10897 while people stand around yawning.
10899 @acronym{MIME}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
10900 while all newsreaders die of fear.
10902 @acronym{MIME} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
10903 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
10904 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
10906 @vindex gnus-show-mime
10907 @vindex gnus-article-display-method-for-mime
10908 @findex gnus-article-display-mime-message
10909 gnus handles @acronym{MIME} by pushing the articles through
10910 @code{gnus-article-display-method-for-mime}, which is
10911 @code{gnus-article-display-mime-message} by default. This function
10912 calls the @acronym{SEMI} MIME-View program to actually do the work. For
10913 more information on @acronym{SEMI} MIME-View, see its manual page
10914 (however it is not existed yet, sorry).
10916 Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
10917 @acronym{MIME} all the time. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime} set,
10918 then you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article buffer.
10919 These can't be avoided.
10921 In GNUS or Gnus, it might be best to just use the toggling functions
10922 from the summary buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance,
10923 you enter the group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it,
10924 @acronym{MIME} has decoded the sound file in the article and some
10925 horrible sing-a-long song comes screaming out your speakers, and you
10926 can't find the volume button, because there isn't one, and people are
10927 starting to look at you, and you try to stop the program, but you can't,
10928 and you can't find the program to control the volume, and everybody else
10929 in the room suddenly decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll
10930 feel rather stupid.)
10932 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
10934 To avoid such kind of situation, gnus stops to use
10935 @code{metamail-buffer}. So now, you can set @code{gnus-show-mime} to
10936 non-@code{nil} every-time, then you can push button in the article
10937 buffer when there are nobody else.
10939 Also @pxref{MIME Commands}.
10942 @node Customizing Articles
10943 @section Customizing Articles
10944 @cindex article customization
10946 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
10947 exist. You can call these functions interactively
10948 (@pxref{Article Washing}), or you can have them
10949 called automatically when you select the articles.
10951 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
10952 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
10953 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
10954 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
10956 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
10957 for sensible values.
10961 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
10964 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
10967 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
10970 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
10973 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
10977 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
10978 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
10979 regexps in the list.
10982 A list where the first element is not a string:
10984 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
10985 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
10986 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
10990 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
10994 @code{mime}: Do this treatment if the value of @code{gnus-show-mime}' is
10999 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
11000 to the fact that some messages are @acronym{MIME} multipart articles that may
11001 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
11002 considered to contain just a single part.
11004 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
11005 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
11006 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
11007 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
11008 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
11009 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
11010 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
11012 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
11013 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
11014 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
11015 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
11018 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
11019 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
11021 @xref{Article Buttons}.
11023 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
11024 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
11025 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
11026 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
11027 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
11028 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
11029 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
11030 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
11031 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
11032 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
11033 @item gnus-treat-decode-article-as-default-mime-charset (t, integer)
11035 @xref{Article Washing}.
11037 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
11038 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
11039 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
11040 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
11041 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
11042 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
11043 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
11045 @xref{Article Date}.
11047 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
11048 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
11049 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
11053 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
11055 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
11057 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
11058 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
11059 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
11063 @item gnus-treat-display-x-face (head)
11067 @item gnus-treat-display-face (head)
11071 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
11072 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
11073 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
11074 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
11075 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
11076 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
11077 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
11078 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
11079 @item gnus-treat-strip-banner (t, last)
11080 @item gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers (head)
11082 @xref{Article Hiding}.
11084 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
11085 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
11086 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
11088 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
11090 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
11091 @item gnus-treat-translate
11092 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
11094 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
11095 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
11096 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
11097 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
11099 @xref{Article Header}.
11104 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
11105 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
11106 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
11107 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
11108 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
11112 @node Article Keymap
11113 @section Article Keymap
11115 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
11116 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
11117 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
11118 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
11121 A few additional keystrokes are available:
11126 @kindex SPACE (Article)
11127 @findex gnus-article-next-page
11128 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
11129 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h SPACE h}.
11132 @kindex DEL (Article)
11133 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
11134 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
11135 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h DEL h}.
11138 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
11139 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
11140 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
11141 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
11142 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
11145 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
11146 @findex gnus-article-mail
11147 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
11148 given a prefix, include the mail.
11151 @kindex s (Article)
11152 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
11153 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
11154 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
11157 @kindex ? (Article)
11158 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
11159 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
11160 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
11163 @kindex TAB (Article)
11164 @findex gnus-article-next-button
11165 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
11166 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
11169 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
11170 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
11171 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
11174 @kindex R (Article)
11175 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
11176 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
11177 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If given a prefix, make a
11178 wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
11182 @kindex F (Article)
11183 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
11184 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
11185 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If given a prefix, make
11186 a wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
11194 @section Misc Article
11198 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
11199 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
11200 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
11201 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
11204 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
11205 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
11206 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
11207 Hook used to decode @acronym{MIME} articles. The default value is
11208 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
11210 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
11211 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
11212 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
11213 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
11214 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
11215 the contents of the article buffer.
11217 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
11218 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
11219 Hook called in article mode buffers.
11221 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
11222 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
11223 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
11224 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
11226 @vindex gnus-article-over-scroll
11227 @item gnus-article-over-scroll
11228 If non-@code{nil}, allow scrolling the article buffer even when there
11229 no more new text to scroll in. The default is @code{nil}.
11231 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
11232 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
11233 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
11234 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
11235 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
11241 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
11242 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
11243 performed. The characters and their meaning:
11248 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
11251 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
11254 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
11255 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
11256 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
11259 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
11262 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
11265 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
11270 The number of @acronym{MIME} parts in the article.
11274 @vindex gnus-break-pages
11276 @item gnus-break-pages
11277 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
11278 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
11279 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
11280 paging will not be done.
11282 @item gnus-page-delimiter
11283 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
11284 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
11288 @cindex internationalized domain names
11289 @vindex gnus-use-idna
11290 @item gnus-use-idna
11291 This variable controls whether Gnus performs IDNA decoding of
11292 internationalized domain names inside @samp{From}, @samp{To} and
11293 @samp{Cc} headers. This requires
11294 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/, GNU Libidn}, and this
11295 variable is only enabled if you have installed it.
11300 @node Composing Messages
11301 @chapter Composing Messages
11302 @cindex composing messages
11305 @cindex sending mail
11310 @cindex using s/mime
11311 @cindex using smime
11313 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
11314 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
11315 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
11316 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
11317 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
11318 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
11321 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
11322 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
11323 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
11324 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
11325 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
11326 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
11327 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
11328 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
11331 Also @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
11332 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
11338 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
11341 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
11342 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
11343 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
11344 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
11345 @code{nil} include all headers.
11347 @item gnus-add-to-list
11348 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
11349 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
11350 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
11352 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11353 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11354 This can also be a function receiving the group name as the only
11355 parameter which should return non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is
11356 needed, or a regular expression matching group names, where
11357 confirmation is should be asked for.
11359 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
11360 press R anyway, this variable might be for you.
11362 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11363 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11364 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
11365 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
11366 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
11371 @node Posting Server
11372 @section Posting Server
11374 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
11375 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
11377 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
11379 It can be quite complicated.
11381 @vindex gnus-post-method
11382 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
11383 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
11384 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
11385 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
11386 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
11387 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
11388 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
11389 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
11390 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
11393 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
11396 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
11397 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
11398 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
11399 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
11401 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
11402 gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
11404 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
11405 If that's the case, gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
11408 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
11409 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
11411 When sending mail, Message invokes @code{message-send-mail-function}.
11412 The default function, @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, pipes
11413 your article to the @code{sendmail} binary for further queuing and
11414 sending. When your local system is not configured for sending mail
11415 using @code{sendmail}, and you have access to a remote @acronym{SMTP}
11416 server, you can set @code{message-send-mail-function} to
11417 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and make sure to setup the @code{smtpmail}
11418 package correctly. An example:
11421 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
11422 smtpmail-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11423 ;; The following variable needs to be set because of the FLIM version of
11424 ;; smtpmail.el. Which smtpmail.el is used depends on the `load-path'.
11425 (setq smtp-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11428 To the thing similar to this, there is
11429 @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}. It is useful if your ISP requires
11430 the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication. See the
11431 documentation for the function @code{mail-source-touch-pop}.
11433 Other possible choices for @code{message-send-mail-function} includes
11434 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
11435 and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
11437 @node Mail and Post
11438 @section Mail and Post
11440 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
11444 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
11445 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
11446 @cindex mailing lists
11448 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
11449 gatewayed to the @acronym{NNTP} server, you can read those groups without
11450 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
11451 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
11452 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
11453 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
11454 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
11455 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
11456 still a pain, though.
11458 @item gnus-user-agent
11459 @vindex gnus-user-agent
11462 This variable controls which information should be exposed in the
11463 User-Agent header. It can be one of the symbols @code{gnus} (show only
11464 Gnus version), @code{emacs-gnus} (show only Emacs and Gnus versions),
11465 @code{emacs-gnus-config} (same as @code{emacs-gnus} plus system
11466 configuration), @code{emacs-gnus-type} (same as @code{emacs-gnus} plus
11467 system type) or a custom string. If you set it to a string, be sure to
11468 use a valid format, see RFC 2616.
11472 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
11473 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
11474 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
11477 @findex ispell-message
11479 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
11482 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
11483 you're in, you could say something like the following:
11486 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
11490 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
11491 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
11493 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
11496 Modify to suit your needs.
11499 @node Archived Messages
11500 @section Archived Messages
11501 @cindex archived messages
11502 @cindex sent messages
11504 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
11505 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
11506 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
11507 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
11510 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
11511 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
11514 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
11515 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server gnus is to
11516 use to store sent messages. The default is:
11519 (nnfolder "archive"
11520 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
11521 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
11522 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
11523 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
11526 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
11527 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
11528 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
11529 directory chosen, you could say something like:
11532 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
11533 '(nnfolder "archive"
11534 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
11535 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
11536 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
11539 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
11541 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
11542 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
11543 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
11545 This variable can be used to do the following:
11549 Messages will be saved in that group.
11551 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
11552 message will not be stored in the select method given by
11553 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
11554 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
11555 has the default value shown above. Then setting
11556 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
11557 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
11558 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
11561 @item a list of strings
11562 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
11564 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
11565 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
11568 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
11573 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
11575 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
11578 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
11580 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
11583 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
11585 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11586 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
11587 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
11588 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
11591 More complex stuff:
11593 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11594 '((if (message-news-p)
11599 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
11600 messages in one file per month:
11603 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11604 '((if (message-news-p)
11606 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
11609 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
11610 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
11612 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
11613 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
11614 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
11615 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
11616 gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
11617 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
11618 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
11619 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
11620 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
11621 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
11623 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
11624 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
11625 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
11626 this will disable archiving.
11629 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
11630 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
11631 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
11632 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
11633 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
11636 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
11637 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
11638 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
11641 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
11642 but the latter is the preferred method.
11644 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11645 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11646 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
11648 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11649 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11650 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
11651 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
11652 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
11653 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
11654 changed in the future.
11659 @node Posting Styles
11660 @section Posting Styles
11661 @cindex posting styles
11664 All them variables, they make my head swim.
11666 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
11667 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
11668 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
11671 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
11672 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
11673 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
11674 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
11675 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
11680 (signature "Peace and happiness")
11681 (organization "What me?"))
11683 (signature "Death to everybody"))
11684 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
11685 (organization "Emacs is it")))
11688 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
11689 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
11690 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
11691 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
11692 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
11693 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
11694 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
11695 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
11697 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
11698 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
11699 If it is the form @code{(header @var{match} @var{regexp})}, then Gnus
11700 will look in the original article for a header whose name is
11701 @var{match} and compare that @var{regexp}. @var{match} and
11702 @var{regexp} are strings. (The original article is the one you are
11703 replying or following up to. If you are not composing a reply or a
11704 followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
11705 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with
11706 no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
11707 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
11708 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is
11709 said to @dfn{match}.
11711 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
11712 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
11713 attribute name can be one of:
11716 @item @code{signature}
11717 @item @code{signature-file}
11718 @item @code{x-face-file}
11719 @item @code{address}, overriding @code{user-mail-address}
11720 @item @code{name}, overriding @code{(user-full-name)}
11724 The attribute name can also be a string or a symbol. In that case,
11725 this will be used as a header name, and the value will be inserted in
11726 the headers of the article; if the value is @code{nil}, the header
11727 name will be removed. If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form
11728 is evaluated, and the result is thrown away.
11730 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
11731 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
11732 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
11733 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
11734 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
11735 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
11736 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
11737 references chars lines xref extra.
11739 @vindex message-reply-headers
11741 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
11742 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
11743 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
11745 @findex message-mail-p
11746 @findex message-news-p
11748 So here's a new example:
11751 (setq gnus-posting-styles
11753 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11755 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11756 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11758 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
11759 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; @r{A form}
11760 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
11761 (message-news-p ;; @r{A function symbol}
11762 (signature my-news-signature))
11763 (window-system ;; @r{A value symbol}
11764 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
11765 ;; @r{If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.}
11766 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
11767 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
11768 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; @r{A user defined function}
11769 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
11770 (address "user@@bar.foo")
11771 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
11772 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
11774 (From (save-excursion
11775 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
11776 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
11778 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
11781 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
11782 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
11783 if you fill many roles.
11785 Setting the @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} variable will make
11786 posting-styles allow to have distinctive names. You can specify an
11787 arbitrary posting-style when article posting with @kbd{S P} in the
11788 summary buffer. @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} is an alist which maps
11789 the names to styles. Once a posting-style is added to the alist, we can
11790 import it from @code{gnus-posting-styles}. If an attribute whose name
11791 is @code{import} is found, Gnus will look for the attribute value in
11792 @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} and expand it in place.
11797 (setq gnus-named-posting-styles
11799 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11801 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11802 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11805 (organization "The Church of Emacs"))))
11808 The posting-style named "Emacs" will inherit all the attributes from
11809 "Default" except @code{organization}.
11816 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
11817 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
11818 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
11819 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
11820 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
11822 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
11823 some sort using the gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
11824 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
11825 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
11826 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
11830 @vindex nndraft-directory
11831 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
11832 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
11833 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
11834 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
11835 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
11836 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
11838 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
11839 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
11840 unsubscribe it. The special properties of the draft group comes from
11841 a group property (@pxref{Group Parameters}), and if lost the group
11842 behaves like any other group. This means the commands below will not
11843 be available. To restore the special properties of the group, the
11844 simplest way is to kill the group, using @kbd{C-k}, and restart
11845 Gnus. The group is automatically created again with the
11846 correct parameters. The content of the group is not lost.
11848 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
11849 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
11850 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
11851 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
11852 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
11853 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
11854 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
11855 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
11856 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
11857 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
11858 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
11859 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
11860 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
11861 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
11863 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
11864 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
11865 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
11867 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
11868 @kindex D e (Draft)
11869 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
11870 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
11871 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
11873 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
11876 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
11877 @kindex D s (Draft)
11878 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
11879 @kindex D S (Draft)
11880 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
11881 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
11882 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
11883 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
11884 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
11887 @findex gnus-draft-toggle-sending
11888 @kindex D t (Draft)
11889 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
11890 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
11891 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
11894 @node Rejected Articles
11895 @section Rejected Articles
11896 @cindex rejected articles
11898 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
11899 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
11900 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
11901 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
11903 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of gnus.
11904 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
11905 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
11906 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So gnus saves these
11907 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
11909 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
11910 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
11911 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
11913 @node Signing and encrypting
11914 @section Signing and encrypting
11916 @cindex using s/mime
11917 @cindex using smime
11919 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla
11920 @acronym{PGP} format or @acronym{PGP/MIME} or @acronym{S/MIME}. For
11921 decoding such messages, see the @code{mm-verify-option} and
11922 @code{mm-decrypt-option} options (@pxref{Security}).
11924 @vindex gnus-message-replysign
11925 @vindex gnus-message-replyencrypt
11926 @vindex gnus-message-replysignencrypted
11927 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
11928 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
11929 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
11930 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
11931 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
11932 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
11933 automatically encrypted messages.
11935 Instructing @acronym{MML} to perform security operations on a
11936 @acronym{MIME} part is done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for
11937 signing and the @kbd{C-c C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
11942 @kindex C-c C-m s s (Message)
11943 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
11945 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
11948 @kindex C-c C-m s o (Message)
11949 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11951 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP}.
11954 @kindex C-c C-m s p (Message)
11955 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11957 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
11960 @kindex C-c C-m c s (Message)
11961 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
11963 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
11966 @kindex C-c C-m c o (Message)
11967 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
11969 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP}.
11972 @kindex C-c C-m c p (Message)
11973 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
11975 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
11978 @kindex C-c C-m C-n (Message)
11979 @findex mml-unsecure-message
11980 Remove security related @acronym{MML} tags from message.
11984 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
11986 @node Select Methods
11987 @chapter Select Methods
11988 @cindex foreign groups
11989 @cindex select methods
11991 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
11992 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
11993 @acronym{NNTP} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
11994 personal mail group.
11996 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
11997 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
11998 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
11999 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
12000 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
12001 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
12003 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
12004 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
12006 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
12009 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @acronym{NNTP} server
12010 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
12011 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
12012 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
12013 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
12015 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
12018 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
12019 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
12020 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
12021 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
12022 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @acronym{IMAP} client.
12023 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
12024 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
12025 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
12029 @node Server Buffer
12030 @section Server Buffer
12032 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
12033 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
12034 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
12035 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
12036 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
12037 back end represents a virtual server.
12039 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
12040 different actual @acronym{NNTP} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
12041 on the same actual @acronym{NNTP} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
12042 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
12044 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
12045 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
12046 @acronym{NNTP} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
12047 hangs if queried for @acronym{NOV} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
12048 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
12049 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
12050 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
12052 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
12053 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
12056 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
12057 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
12058 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
12059 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
12060 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
12061 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
12062 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
12065 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
12066 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
12069 @node Server Buffer Format
12070 @subsection Server Buffer Format
12071 @cindex server buffer format
12073 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
12074 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
12075 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
12076 variable, with some simple extensions:
12081 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
12084 The name of this server.
12087 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
12090 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
12093 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
12094 The mode line can also be customized by using the
12095 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
12096 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
12106 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
12109 @node Server Commands
12110 @subsection Server Commands
12111 @cindex server commands
12117 @findex gnus-server-add-server
12118 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
12122 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
12123 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
12126 @kindex SPACE (Server)
12127 @findex gnus-server-read-server
12128 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
12132 @findex gnus-server-exit
12133 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
12137 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
12138 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
12142 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
12143 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
12147 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
12148 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
12152 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
12153 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
12157 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
12158 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
12159 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
12164 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
12165 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
12166 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
12167 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
12172 @node Example Methods
12173 @subsection Example Methods
12175 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
12178 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
12181 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
12187 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
12188 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
12191 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
12192 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
12194 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
12195 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
12199 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
12202 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
12203 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
12205 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
12206 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
12207 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
12211 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
12214 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
12217 Here's the method for a public spool:
12221 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
12222 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
12228 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @acronym{NNTP}
12229 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
12230 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @acronym{NNTP} server.
12231 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
12232 should probably look something like this:
12236 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
12237 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
12238 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
12239 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
12242 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
12243 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
12244 configuration to the example above:
12247 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
12250 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}.
12252 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
12253 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
12254 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
12258 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12259 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
12260 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
12261 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
12264 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
12265 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
12266 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
12267 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
12270 @node Creating a Virtual Server
12271 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
12273 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
12274 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
12276 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
12277 would probably be best to use @code{nnml} to read the cache. You
12278 could also use @code{nnspool} or @code{nnmh}, though.
12280 Type @kbd{a nnml RET cache RET}.
12282 You should now have a brand new @code{nnml} virtual server called
12283 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
12284 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
12285 will contain the following:
12295 (nnml-directory "~/News/cache/")
12296 (nnml-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
12299 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
12300 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
12301 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
12304 @node Server Variables
12305 @subsection Server Variables
12306 @cindex server variables
12307 @cindex server parameters
12309 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
12310 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
12311 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
12312 change the ``base'' variable after the variables have been loaded, you
12313 won't change the ``derived'' variables.
12315 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
12316 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
12317 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
12318 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
12319 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
12320 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
12321 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
12322 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
12323 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
12327 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
12328 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
12329 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
12332 Server variables are often called @dfn{server parameters}.
12334 @node Servers and Methods
12335 @subsection Servers and Methods
12337 Wherever you would normally use a select method
12338 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
12339 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
12340 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
12344 @node Unavailable Servers
12345 @subsection Unavailable Servers
12347 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
12348 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
12349 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
12350 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
12351 actually the case or not.
12353 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
12354 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
12355 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
12356 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
12357 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
12358 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
12359 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
12360 it will regard that server as ``down''.
12362 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
12363 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
12365 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
12366 with the following commands:
12372 @findex gnus-server-open-server
12373 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
12374 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
12378 @findex gnus-server-close-server
12379 Close the connection (if any) to the server
12380 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
12384 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
12385 Mark the current server as unreachable
12386 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
12389 @kindex M-o (Server)
12390 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
12391 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
12392 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
12395 @kindex M-c (Server)
12396 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
12397 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
12398 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
12402 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
12403 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
12404 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
12408 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
12409 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
12415 @section Getting News
12416 @cindex reading news
12417 @cindex news back ends
12419 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
12420 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @acronym{NNTP} server,
12421 or it can read from a local spool.
12424 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
12425 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
12433 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @acronym{NNTP} server is rather easy.
12434 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @acronym{NNTP}
12435 server as the, uhm, address.
12437 If the @acronym{NNTP} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
12438 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
12439 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
12440 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12442 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
12443 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
12444 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
12446 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
12451 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
12452 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
12453 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
12455 @cindex authentification
12456 @cindex nntp authentification
12457 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12458 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
12459 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
12460 commands to the @acronym{NNTP} server after it has been contacted. By
12461 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
12462 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
12463 present in this hook.
12465 @item nntp-authinfo-function
12466 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
12467 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12468 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
12469 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @acronym{NNTP}
12470 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
12471 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
12472 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
12473 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
12474 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
12475 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
12476 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
12480 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
12483 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
12485 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
12486 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
12487 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
12488 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
12489 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
12490 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
12491 @samp{force} is explained below.
12495 Here's an example file:
12498 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
12499 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
12502 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
12503 have to be first, for instance.
12505 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
12506 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
12507 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
12508 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
12509 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
12510 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
12511 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
12513 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
12514 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
12520 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
12521 previously mentioned.
12523 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
12525 @item nntp-server-action-alist
12526 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
12527 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
12528 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
12529 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
12532 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
12533 '(("innd" (ding))))
12536 You probably don't want to do that, though.
12538 The default value is
12541 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
12542 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
12543 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
12546 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
12547 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
12549 @item nntp-maximum-request
12550 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
12551 If the @acronym{NNTP} server doesn't support @acronym{NOV} headers, this back end
12552 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
12553 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
12554 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
12555 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
12556 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
12558 @item nntp-connection-timeout
12559 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
12560 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
12561 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @acronym{NNTP} servers not
12562 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
12563 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
12564 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
12565 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
12566 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
12567 no timeouts are done.
12569 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
12570 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
12571 @c @cindex PPP connections
12572 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
12573 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
12574 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
12575 @c changes after connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server, Gnus will simply sit
12576 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
12577 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
12578 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
12579 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
12580 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
12581 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
12583 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
12584 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
12585 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
12586 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
12587 @c described above.
12589 @item nntp-server-hook
12590 @vindex nntp-server-hook
12591 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @acronym{NNTP}
12594 @item nntp-buggy-select
12595 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
12596 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
12598 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
12599 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
12600 If the @acronym{NNTP} server does not support @acronym{NOV}, you could set this
12601 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @acronym{NOV}
12604 @item nntp-xover-commands
12605 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
12606 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
12608 List of strings used as commands to fetch @acronym{NOV} lines from a
12609 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
12613 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
12614 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @acronym{NOV} lines to
12615 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
12616 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
12617 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @acronym{NOV}
12618 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
12619 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
12620 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
12621 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
12622 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
12623 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
12625 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
12626 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
12627 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @acronym{NNTP} server.
12629 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12630 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12631 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
12632 server closes connection.
12634 @item nntp-record-commands
12635 @vindex nntp-record-commands
12636 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
12637 @acronym{NNTP} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
12638 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@acronym{NNTP} connection
12639 that doesn't seem to work.
12641 @item nntp-open-connection-function
12642 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
12643 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
12644 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
12645 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
12646 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
12647 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
12648 indirect ones (two pre-made).
12650 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
12651 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
12652 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
12653 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
12654 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
12655 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
12656 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
12659 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
12662 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
12663 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
12665 @item nntp-read-timeout
12666 @vindex nntp-read-timeout
12667 How long nntp should wait between checking for the end of output.
12668 Shorter values mean quicker response, but is more CPU intensive. The
12669 default is 0.1 seconds. If you have a slow line to the server (and
12670 don't like to see Emacs eat your available CPU power), you might set
12673 @item nntp-list-options
12674 @vindex nntp-list-options
12675 List of newsgroup name used for a option of the LIST command to restrict
12676 the listing output to only the specified newsgroups. Each newsgroup name
12677 can be a shell-style wildcard, for instance, @dfn{fj.*}, @dfn{japan.*},
12678 etc. Fortunately, if the server can accept such a option, it will
12679 probably make gnus run faster. You may use it as a server variable as
12683 (setq gnus-select-method
12684 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12685 (nntp-list-options ("fj.*" "japan.*"))))
12688 @item nntp-options-subscribe
12689 @vindex nntp-options-subscribe
12690 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will be subscribed
12691 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12692 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12693 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12694 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12697 (setq gnus-select-method
12698 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12699 (nntp-options-subscribe "^fj\\.\\|^japan\\.")))
12702 @item nntp-options-not-subscribe
12703 @vindex nntp-options-not-subscribe
12704 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will not be subscribed
12705 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12706 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12707 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12708 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12711 (setq gnus-select-method
12712 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12713 (nntp-options-not-subscribe "\\.binaries\\.")))
12718 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
12719 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
12720 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
12724 @node Direct Functions
12725 @subsubsection Direct Functions
12726 @cindex direct connection functions
12728 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
12729 between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server. The behavior of these
12730 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
12731 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12734 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
12735 @item nntp-open-network-stream
12736 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
12739 @findex nntp-open-tls-stream
12740 @item nntp-open-tls-stream
12741 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12742 this you must have @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/, GNUTLS}
12743 installed. You then define a server as follows:
12746 ;; @r{"nntps" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
12747 ;; @r{however, @samp{gnutls-cli -p} doesn't like named ports.}
12749 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12750 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-tls-stream)
12751 (nntp-port-number )
12752 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12755 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
12756 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
12757 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12758 this you must have @uref{http://www.openssl.org, OpenSSL} or
12759 @uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL, SSLeay} installed. You
12760 then define a server as follows:
12763 ;; @r{"snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
12764 ;; @r{however, @samp{openssl s_client -port} doesn't like named ports.}
12766 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12767 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
12768 (nntp-port-number 563)
12769 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12772 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
12773 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
12774 Opens a connection to an @acronym{NNTP} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
12775 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
12776 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
12777 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
12778 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
12779 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
12783 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12784 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
12785 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
12788 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
12789 session, which is not a good idea.
12793 @node Indirect Functions
12794 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
12795 @cindex indirect connection functions
12797 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
12798 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server.
12799 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
12800 the ``via'' family of connection: they're all prefixed with ``via'' to make
12801 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
12802 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12805 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12806 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12807 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
12808 to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from there. This is useful for instance if
12809 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
12811 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12814 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
12815 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
12816 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
12817 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
12819 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12820 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12821 List of strings to be used as the switches to
12822 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
12823 @samp{ssh} for @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}, you may set this to
12824 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
12825 this to @samp{("-t" "-e" "none")} or @samp{("-C" "-t" "-e" "none")} if
12826 the telnet command requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate
12830 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12831 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12832 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
12833 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
12835 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12838 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
12839 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
12840 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
12843 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
12844 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
12845 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
12846 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
12848 @item nntp-via-user-password
12849 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
12850 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
12852 @item nntp-via-envuser
12853 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
12854 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
12855 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
12856 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
12858 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
12859 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
12860 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
12861 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
12868 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
12873 @item nntp-via-user-name
12874 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
12875 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
12877 @item nntp-via-address
12878 @vindex nntp-via-address
12879 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
12884 @node Common Variables
12885 @subsubsection Common Variables
12887 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
12888 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
12893 @item nntp-pre-command
12894 @vindex nntp-pre-command
12895 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native
12896 connection function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream},
12897 @code{nntp-open-tls-stream}, and @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is
12898 where you would put a @samp{SOCKS} wrapper for instance.
12901 @vindex nntp-address
12902 The address of the @acronym{NNTP} server.
12904 @item nntp-port-number
12905 @vindex nntp-port-number
12906 Port number to connect to the @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
12907 @samp{nntp}. If you use @acronym{NNTP} over
12908 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}, you may want to use integer ports rather
12909 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews} or
12910 @samp{nntps}), because external @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} tools may
12911 not work with named ports.
12913 @item nntp-end-of-line
12914 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
12915 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @acronym{NNTP}
12916 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
12917 using a non native connection function.
12919 @item nntp-telnet-command
12920 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
12921 Command to use when connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server through
12922 @samp{telnet}. This is @emph{not} for an intermediate host. This is
12923 just for the real @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
12926 @item nntp-telnet-switches
12927 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
12928 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
12935 @subsection News Spool
12939 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
12940 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
12941 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
12944 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
12945 anything else) as the address.
12947 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
12948 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
12949 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
12950 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
12954 @item nnspool-inews-program
12955 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
12956 Program used to post an article.
12958 @item nnspool-inews-switches
12959 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
12960 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
12962 @item nnspool-spool-directory
12963 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
12964 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
12965 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
12967 @item nnspool-nov-directory
12968 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
12969 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @acronym{NOV} files. This is normally@*
12970 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
12972 @item nnspool-lib-dir
12973 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
12974 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
12976 @item nnspool-active-file
12977 @vindex nnspool-active-file
12978 The name of the active file.
12980 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
12981 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
12982 The name of the group descriptions file.
12984 @item nnspool-history-file
12985 @vindex nnspool-history-file
12986 The name of the news history file.
12988 @item nnspool-active-times-file
12989 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
12990 The name of the active date file.
12992 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
12993 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
12994 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @acronym{NOV} files
12997 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12998 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
13000 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
13001 relevant portion from the overview file. If @code{nil},
13002 @code{nnspool} will load the entire file into a buffer and process it
13009 @section Getting Mail
13010 @cindex reading mail
13013 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
13017 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
13018 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
13019 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
13020 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
13021 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
13022 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
13023 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
13024 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
13025 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
13026 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
13027 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
13028 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
13029 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
13033 @node Mail in a Newsreader
13034 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
13036 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
13037 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
13038 of a culture shock.
13040 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
13041 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
13043 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
13044 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
13045 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
13046 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
13048 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
13050 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
13051 deleted? How awful!
13053 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
13054 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
13055 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
13056 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @ref{Expiring
13059 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
13060 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
13061 they want to treat a message.
13063 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
13064 via @acronym{SMTP}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
13065 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
13066 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
13067 archived somewhere else.
13069 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
13070 These are transported via @acronym{NNTP}, and are therefore news. But we may need
13071 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
13072 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
13073 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
13075 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
13076 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
13077 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
13079 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
13080 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
13083 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
13084 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
13085 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
13086 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
13087 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
13089 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
13090 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
13091 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
13092 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
13093 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
13094 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
13098 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
13099 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
13101 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
13102 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
13103 and things will happen automatically.
13105 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a ``one file per
13106 mail'' back end), you could put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
13109 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
13112 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
13113 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
13114 directory, which is @file{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
13115 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
13116 like any other group.
13118 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
13121 (setq nnmail-split-methods
13122 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13123 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
13127 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
13128 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
13129 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
13132 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
13133 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
13134 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
13137 @node Splitting Mail
13138 @subsection Splitting Mail
13139 @cindex splitting mail
13140 @cindex mail splitting
13141 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
13143 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
13144 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
13145 to be split into groups.
13148 (setq nnmail-split-methods
13149 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13150 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
13151 ("mail.other" "")))
13154 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
13155 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
13156 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
13157 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
13158 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
13159 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
13160 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
13163 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
13166 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
13167 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
13168 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
13169 mail belongs in that group.
13171 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
13172 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{*} so that it matches any mails
13173 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
13174 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
13175 rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have crossposting enabled.
13176 In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.)
13178 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
13179 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
13180 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
13181 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
13182 thinks should carry this mail message.
13184 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
13185 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
13186 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
13187 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
13189 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
13190 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
13191 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
13192 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
13193 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{*}) group.
13195 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
13198 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
13199 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
13200 links. If that's the case for you, set
13201 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
13202 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
13204 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
13205 @findex nnmail-split-history
13206 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
13207 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
13208 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
13209 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
13212 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
13213 Header lines longer than the value of
13214 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
13217 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
13218 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
13219 By default the splitting codes @acronym{MIME} decodes headers so you
13220 can match on non-@acronym{ASCII} strings. The
13221 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset} variable specifies the default
13222 charset for decoding. The behaviour can be turned off completely by
13223 binding @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} to @code{nil}, which is
13224 useful if you want to match articles based on the raw header data.
13226 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
13227 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If you
13228 specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable @code{mail-sources}
13229 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}), however, then splitting does
13230 @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
13231 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-@code{nil} value to make
13232 splitting happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on
13233 other kinds of entries.)
13235 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
13236 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
13237 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
13238 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
13239 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
13240 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
13241 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
13242 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
13243 month's rent money.
13247 @subsection Mail Sources
13249 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from
13250 a @acronym{POP} mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a
13251 maildir, for instance.
13254 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
13255 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
13256 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
13260 @node Mail Source Specifiers
13261 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
13263 @cindex mail server
13266 @cindex mail source
13268 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
13269 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
13274 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
13277 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
13278 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
13279 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
13282 The following mail source types are available:
13286 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
13292 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @env{MAIL}
13293 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
13294 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
13298 Script run before/after fetching mail.
13301 An example file mail source:
13304 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
13307 Or using the default file name:
13313 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best
13314 to use @acronym{POP} or @acronym{IMAP} or the like to fetch the mail.
13315 You can not use ange-ftp file names here---it has no way to lock the
13316 mail spool while moving the mail.
13318 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
13322 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
13325 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
13329 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
13332 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
13334 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
13337 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
13341 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
13342 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used
13343 when you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files.
13344 That is, there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that
13345 directory and groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool}
13346 will be put in the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix
13347 to be used instead of @code{.spool}.) Setting
13348 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-@code{nil} forces
13349 Gnus to scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful
13350 if you want to scan mail groups at a specified level.
13352 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
13353 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
13354 that to a non-@code{nil} value, then the normal splitting process is
13355 applied to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
13361 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
13365 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
13369 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
13370 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
13371 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
13372 predicate are considered.
13376 Script run before/after fetching mail.
13380 An example directory mail source:
13383 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
13388 Get mail from a @acronym{POP} server.
13394 The name of the @acronym{POP} server. The default is taken from the
13395 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13398 The port number of the @acronym{POP} server. This can be a number (eg,
13399 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
13400 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
13401 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
13402 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
13405 The user name to give to the @acronym{POP} server. The default is the login
13409 The password to give to the @acronym{POP} server. If not specified,
13410 the user is prompted.
13413 The program to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. This
13414 should be a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
13417 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
13420 The valid format specifier characters are:
13424 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
13425 included in this string.
13428 The name of the server.
13431 The port number of the server.
13434 The user name to use.
13437 The password to use.
13440 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13441 corresponding keywords.
13444 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13445 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13448 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13449 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13452 The function to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. The
13453 function is called with one parameter---the name of the file where the
13454 mail should be moved to.
13456 @item :authentication
13457 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
13458 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
13462 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this can be the symbol
13463 @code{ssl}, the symbol @code{tls} or others. The default is @code{nil}
13464 and use insecure connections. Note that for SSL/TLS, you need external
13465 programs and libraries:
13469 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL@. Requires OpenSSL (the program
13470 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
13471 library @samp{ssl.el}.
13473 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to SSL)@.
13474 Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
13479 Non-@code{nil} if mail is to be left on the server and UIDL used for
13480 message retrieval. The default is @code{nil}.
13484 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
13485 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
13487 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default @acronym{POP} server,
13488 using the default user name, and default fetcher:
13494 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
13497 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
13498 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
13501 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
13504 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
13508 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
13509 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
13510 contains exactly one mail.
13516 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
13517 taken from the @env{MAILDIR} environment variable or
13520 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
13521 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
13523 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
13524 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
13525 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
13528 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
13529 from locking problems).
13533 Two example maildir mail sources:
13536 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
13537 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
13541 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
13546 Get mail from a @acronym{IMAP} server. If you don't want to use
13547 @acronym{IMAP} as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie
13548 with nnimap), for some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar
13549 to a @acronym{POP} server and fetches articles from a given
13550 @acronym{IMAP} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for more information.
13552 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} and STARTTLS support you
13553 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
13559 The name of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is taken from the
13560 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13563 The port number of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
13564 @samp{993} for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} connections.
13567 The user name to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is the login
13571 The password to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. If not specified, the user is
13575 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
13576 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
13577 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{tls},
13578 @samp{ssl}, @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
13580 @item :authentication
13581 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
13582 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
13583 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
13584 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
13587 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
13588 mapped into the @code{imap-shell-program} variable. This should be a
13589 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
13595 The valid format specifier characters are:
13599 The name of the server.
13602 User name from @code{imap-default-user}.
13605 The port number of the server.
13608 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13609 corresponding keywords.
13612 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
13613 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
13616 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
13617 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
13618 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @acronym{IMAP} client and mark some
13619 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
13620 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
13621 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
13624 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
13625 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
13626 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
13627 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
13630 If non-@code{nil}, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the
13631 mailbox after finishing the fetch.
13635 An example @acronym{IMAP} mail source:
13638 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
13640 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
13644 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{http://www.hotmail.com/},
13645 @uref{http://webmail.netscape.com/}, @uref{http://www.netaddress.com/},
13646 @uref{http://mail.yahoo.com/}.
13648 NOTE: Webmail largely depends on cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
13649 required for url "4.0pre.46".
13651 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
13657 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
13658 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
13661 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
13665 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
13669 If non-@code{nil}, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to
13670 trash folder after finishing the fetch.
13674 An example webmail source:
13677 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
13679 :password "secret")
13684 @item Common Keywords
13685 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
13691 If non-@code{nil}, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you
13692 use directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this
13697 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
13702 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
13703 useful when you use local mail and news.
13708 @subsubsection Function Interface
13710 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
13711 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
13712 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
13713 consider the following mail-source setting:
13716 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
13717 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
13720 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
13721 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
13722 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
13723 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
13724 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
13726 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
13729 @node Mail Source Customization
13730 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
13732 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
13733 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
13737 @item mail-source-crash-box
13738 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
13739 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is@*
13740 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
13742 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
13743 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
13744 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them. If
13745 @code{t}, delete the files immediately, if @code{nil}, never delete any
13746 files. If a positive number, delete files older than number of days
13747 (This will only happen, when receiving new mail). You may also set
13748 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} to @code{nil} and call
13749 @code{mail-source-delete-old-incoming} from a hook or interactively.
13751 @item mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
13752 @vindex mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
13753 If non-@code{nil}, ask for for confirmation before deleting old incoming
13754 files. This variable only applies when
13755 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is a positive number.
13757 @item mail-source-ignore-errors
13758 @vindex mail-source-ignore-errors
13759 If non-@code{nil}, ignore errors when reading mail from a mail source.
13761 @item mail-source-directory
13762 @vindex mail-source-directory
13763 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
13764 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
13765 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
13768 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13769 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13770 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
13771 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
13772 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
13773 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
13775 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
13776 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
13777 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
13779 @item mail-source-movemail-program
13780 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
13781 If non-@code{nil}, name of program for fetching new mail. If
13782 @code{nil}, @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
13787 @node Fetching Mail
13788 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
13790 @vindex mail-sources
13791 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
13792 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
13793 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
13794 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
13796 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
13797 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
13800 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a
13801 @acronym{POP} mail server, you'd say something like:
13806 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13807 :password "secret")))
13810 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
13814 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
13815 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13818 :password "secret")))
13822 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
13823 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
13824 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
13825 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
13826 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
13827 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
13831 @node Mail Back End Variables
13832 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
13834 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
13838 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13839 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13840 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
13841 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
13843 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
13844 @item nnmail-split-hook
13845 @findex gnus-article-decode-encoded-words
13846 @cindex RFC 1522 decoding
13847 @cindex RFC 2047 decoding
13848 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
13849 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
13850 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
13851 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
13852 in the buffer will show up in any files.
13853 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
13856 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13857 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13858 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13859 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13860 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
13861 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
13862 starting to handle the new mail) and
13863 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
13864 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
13865 default file modes the new mail files get:
13868 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13869 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
13871 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13872 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
13875 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
13876 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
13877 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
13878 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
13879 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
13880 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
13881 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
13883 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
13884 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
13885 @findex delete-file
13886 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
13888 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13889 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13890 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
13891 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
13892 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
13894 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13895 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13896 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
13897 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
13898 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
13900 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
13901 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
13902 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
13907 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
13908 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
13909 @cindex mail splitting
13910 @cindex fancy mail splitting
13912 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
13913 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
13914 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
13915 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
13916 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
13917 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
13919 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
13922 ;; @r{Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of}
13923 ;; @r{the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group}
13924 ;; @r{from real errors.}
13925 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
13927 ;; @r{Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant}
13928 ;; @r{groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the}
13929 ;; @r{(ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.}
13930 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
13931 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
13932 ;; @r{Other mailing lists@dots{}}
13933 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
13934 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
13935 ;; @r{Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent}
13936 ;; @r{cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to}
13937 ;; @r{the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the}
13938 ;; @r{message was really cross-posted.}
13939 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
13940 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
13941 ;; @r{People@dots{}}
13942 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
13943 ;; @r{Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.}
13947 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a
13948 (possibly) recursive structure where each split may contain other
13949 splits. Here are the possible split syntaxes:
13954 If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group name. Normal
13955 regexp match expansion will be done. See below for examples.
13957 @item (@var{field} @var{value} [- @var{restrict} [@dots{}] ] @var{split})
13958 If the split is a list, the first element of which is a string, then
13959 store the message as specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field}
13960 (a regexp) contains @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict}
13961 (yet another regexp) matches some string after @var{field} and before
13962 the end of the matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If
13963 none of the @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
13965 @item (| @var{split} @dots{})
13966 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{|} (vertical
13967 bar), then process each @var{split} until one of them matches. A
13968 @var{split} is said to match if it will cause the mail message to be
13969 stored in one or more groups.
13971 @item (& @var{split} @dots{})
13972 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{&}, then
13973 process all @var{split}s in the list.
13976 If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save (i.e., delete)
13977 this message. Use with extreme caution.
13979 @item (: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})
13980 If the split is a list, and the first element is @samp{:}, then the
13981 second element will be called as a function with @var{args} given as
13982 arguments. The function should return a @var{split}.
13985 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
13986 body of the messages:
13989 (defun split-on-body ()
13993 (goto-char (point-min))
13994 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
13998 The buffer is narrowed to the message in question when @var{function}
13999 is run. That's why @code{(widen)} needs to be called after
14000 @code{save-excursion} and @code{save-restriction} in the example
14001 above. Also note that with the nnimap backend, message bodies will
14002 not be downloaded by default. You need to set
14003 @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to @code{t} to do that
14004 (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}).
14006 @item (! @var{func} @var{split})
14007 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{!}, then
14008 @var{split} will be processed, and @var{func} will be called as a
14009 function with the result of @var{split} as argument. @var{func}
14010 should return a split.
14013 If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
14017 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
14018 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
14019 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
14020 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
14021 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
14023 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
14024 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be Lisp symbols, in that case
14025 they are expanded as specified by the variable
14026 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells,
14027 where the @sc{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @sc{cdr}
14028 contains the associated value. Predefined entries in
14029 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist} include:
14033 Matches the @samp{From}, @samp{Sender} and @samp{Resent-From} fields.
14035 Matches the @samp{To}, @samp{Cc}, @samp{Apparently-To},
14036 @samp{Resent-To} and @samp{Resent-Cc} fields.
14038 Is the union of the @code{from} and @code{to} entries.
14041 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
14042 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
14043 when all this splitting is performed.
14045 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
14046 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
14047 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
14050 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
14053 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
14054 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
14056 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
14057 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
14058 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
14059 groupings 1 through 9.
14061 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words
14062 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} controls whether partial
14063 words are matched during fancy splitting.
14065 Normally, regular expressions given in @code{nnmail-split-fancy} are
14066 implicitly surrounded by @code{\<...\>} markers, which are word
14067 delimiters. If this variable is true, they are not implicitly
14068 surrounded by anything.
14071 (any "joe" "joemail")
14074 In this example, messages sent from @samp{joedavis@@foo.org} will
14075 normally not be filed in @samp{joemail}. With
14076 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} set to t, however, the
14077 match will happen. In effect, the requirement of a word boundary is
14078 removed and instead the match becomes more like a grep.
14080 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
14081 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
14082 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
14083 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
14084 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
14085 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
14086 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
14087 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
14088 it once per thread.
14090 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates}
14091 and @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-@code{nil}
14092 value. And then you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}
14093 using the colon feature, like so:
14095 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; @r{or @code{delete}}
14096 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
14098 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
14099 ;; @r{other splits go here}
14103 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
14104 non-@code{nil}, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees
14105 in the file specified by the variable
14106 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, together with the group it is in
14107 (the group is omitted for non-mail messages). When mail splitting is
14108 invoked, the function @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks
14109 at the References (and In-Reply-To) header of each message to split
14110 and searches the file specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}
14111 for the message ids. When it has found a parent, it returns the
14112 corresponding group name unless the group name matches the regexp
14113 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is
14114 recommended that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a
14115 somewhat higher number than the default so that the message ids are
14116 still in the cache. (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some
14117 300 kBytes in size.)
14118 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
14119 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
14120 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
14121 messages goes into the new group.
14123 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
14124 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
14125 outgoing messages are written to an ``outgoing'' group, you could set
14126 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
14127 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
14128 ``outgoing'' group.
14131 @node Group Mail Splitting
14132 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
14133 @cindex mail splitting
14134 @cindex group mail splitting
14136 @findex gnus-group-split
14137 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
14138 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
14139 You just have to set @code{to-list} and/or @code{to-address} in group
14140 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
14141 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
14142 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
14143 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @code{to-list} or
14144 @code{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
14146 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
14147 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @code{extra-aliases} group
14148 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
14149 rather use a regular expression, set @code{split-regexp}.
14151 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
14152 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
14153 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
14154 @code{to-list}, @code{to-address}, all of @code{extra-aliases} and all
14155 matches of @code{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
14156 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
14157 @code{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
14159 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
14160 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
14161 parameter @code{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
14162 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
14163 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @code{split-spec} may be set to
14164 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
14165 @code{gnus-group-split}.
14167 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
14168 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
14169 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
14170 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
14171 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
14172 some group has @code{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
14173 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
14174 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
14175 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
14176 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
14177 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
14178 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
14179 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
14181 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
14186 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
14187 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
14189 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
14190 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
14191 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
14192 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
14194 ((split-spec . catch-all))
14197 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
14198 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
14199 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
14202 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
14203 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
14204 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
14208 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
14209 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
14210 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
14214 (: gnus-group-split-fancy @var{groups} @var{no-crosspost} @var{catch-all})
14217 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
14218 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
14219 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
14220 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fall back
14221 fancy split, used like @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
14222 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @code{split-regexp} matches the
14223 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
14224 Otherwise, if some group has @code{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
14225 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
14227 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
14228 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
14229 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
14230 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
14231 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
14232 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
14233 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
14234 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
14235 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
14237 @findex gnus-group-split-update
14238 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
14239 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
14240 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
14241 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
14242 you. For example, add to your @file{~/.gnus.el}:
14245 (gnus-group-split-setup @var{auto-update} @var{catch-all})
14248 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
14249 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
14250 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
14251 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
14252 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
14255 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
14256 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
14257 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
14258 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
14260 @node Incorporating Old Mail
14261 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
14262 @cindex incorporating old mail
14263 @cindex import old mail
14265 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
14266 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
14267 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
14270 Doing so can be quite easy.
14272 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
14273 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
14274 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
14275 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
14276 your @code{nnml} groups.
14282 Go to the group buffer.
14285 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
14286 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14289 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
14292 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
14293 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
14296 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
14297 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
14300 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
14301 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
14302 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
14303 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
14304 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
14306 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
14307 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
14308 using the new mail back end.
14311 @node Expiring Mail
14312 @subsection Expiring Mail
14313 @cindex article expiry
14315 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
14316 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
14317 different approach to mail reading.
14319 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
14320 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
14321 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
14322 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
14323 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
14324 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
14327 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
14328 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default key bindings, this means
14329 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
14330 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
14331 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
14332 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
14333 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
14334 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
14335 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
14337 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
14338 two features, called ``auto-expire'' and ``total-expire'', that can help you
14339 with this. In a nutshell, ``auto-expire'' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
14340 for you when you select an article. And ``total-expire'' means that Gnus
14341 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
14342 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
14343 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
14346 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
14347 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
14348 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
14349 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
14350 into its own group.)
14352 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
14353 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
14354 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
14355 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
14356 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
14357 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
14358 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive
14359 Scoring}). Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
14362 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
14363 Groups that match the regular expression
14364 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
14365 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
14366 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
14368 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
14369 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
14370 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
14371 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
14372 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
14374 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
14376 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
14377 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
14378 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
14381 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
14382 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
14383 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
14384 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
14385 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
14387 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
14388 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
14391 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
14392 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
14395 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
14396 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
14398 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
14399 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
14400 don't really mix very well.
14402 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
14403 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
14404 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
14405 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
14408 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
14409 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
14410 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
14411 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
14414 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
14416 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
14418 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
14420 ((string= group "mail.junk")
14422 ((string= group "important")
14428 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
14429 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
14431 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
14432 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
14433 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
14436 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
14437 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
14439 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
14440 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
14441 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
14442 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
14443 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
14444 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
14445 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
14446 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
14447 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
14448 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
14449 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
14450 from as its parameter) which should return a target---either a group
14451 name or @code{delete}.
14453 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
14455 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
14458 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14459 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14460 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
14461 expire mail to groups according to the variable
14462 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
14465 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14466 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14467 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
14468 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
14469 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
14472 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
14473 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
14474 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
14475 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
14476 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
14477 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
14479 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
14480 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
14481 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
14482 easier for procmail users.
14484 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
14485 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
14486 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
14487 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
14488 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
14489 caution. Even more dangerous is the
14490 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
14491 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
14492 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
14493 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
14494 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
14495 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
14496 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
14499 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
14501 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
14502 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
14503 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
14504 auto-expire turned on.
14508 @subsection Washing Mail
14509 @cindex mail washing
14510 @cindex list server brain damage
14511 @cindex incoming mail treatment
14513 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
14514 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
14515 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
14516 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
14517 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
14518 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
14520 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
14521 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
14522 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
14525 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
14526 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
14527 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
14528 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
14531 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14532 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14533 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
14534 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
14535 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
14538 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14539 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14540 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
14541 Emacs running on MS machines.
14545 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14546 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14547 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
14548 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
14551 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14552 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14553 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
14554 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
14556 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
14557 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
14558 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
14559 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
14560 into a feature by documenting it.)
14562 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14563 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14564 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
14565 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
14566 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
14567 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
14568 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
14571 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
14572 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
14575 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
14576 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
14579 This can also be done non-destructively with
14580 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
14582 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
14583 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
14584 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
14586 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14587 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14589 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
14590 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
14591 @code{References} headers.
14595 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14596 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14597 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
14601 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
14602 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
14603 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
14610 @subsection Duplicates
14612 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
14613 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
14614 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
14615 @cindex duplicate mails
14616 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
14617 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
14618 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
14619 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
14620 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
14621 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
14622 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
14623 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
14624 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
14625 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
14626 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
14627 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
14628 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
14630 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
14631 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
14632 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
14633 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
14635 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
14638 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
14639 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
14643 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
14644 '(| ;; @r{Messages duplicates go to a separate group.}
14645 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
14646 ;; @r{Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.}
14647 (any mail "mail.misc")
14648 ;; @r{Other rules.}
14654 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14655 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
14656 ;; @r{Other rules.}
14660 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
14661 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
14662 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
14663 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
14664 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
14667 @node Not Reading Mail
14668 @subsection Not Reading Mail
14670 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
14671 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
14672 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
14674 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
14675 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
14676 mail, which should help.
14678 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14679 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14680 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14681 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14682 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14683 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
14684 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old Rmail
14685 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
14686 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
14687 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
14688 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
14690 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
14691 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
14695 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
14696 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
14698 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
14699 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
14700 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
14702 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
14703 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
14704 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
14708 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
14709 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the Rmail Babyl format.
14710 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
14711 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
14712 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
14713 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
14714 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
14718 @node Unix Mail Box
14719 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
14721 @cindex unix mail box
14723 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14724 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14725 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
14726 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
14727 which group it belongs in.
14729 Virtual server settings:
14732 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
14733 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14734 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
14737 @item nnmbox-active-file
14738 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14739 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
14740 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
14742 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
14743 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14744 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
14745 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
14750 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
14754 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14755 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14756 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a Babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{Rmail
14757 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
14758 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
14760 Virtual server settings:
14763 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
14764 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14765 The name of the Rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
14767 @item nnbabyl-active-file
14768 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14769 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
14770 @file{~/.rmail-active}
14772 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14773 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14774 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
14780 @subsubsection Mail Spool
14782 @cindex mail @acronym{NOV} spool
14784 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
14785 format. It should be used with some caution.
14787 @vindex nnml-directory
14788 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
14789 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
14790 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
14791 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
14793 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
14796 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
14797 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
14798 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
14799 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
14800 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
14801 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
14802 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
14803 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
14805 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
14806 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
14807 @acronym{NOV} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
14808 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
14810 @cindex self contained nnml servers
14812 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
14813 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14814 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14815 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
14816 for a group is usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
14817 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
14818 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
14819 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
14822 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
14823 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
14824 them next time it starts.
14826 Virtual server settings:
14829 @item nnml-directory
14830 @vindex nnml-directory
14831 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory. The
14832 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default value
14835 @item nnml-active-file
14836 @vindex nnml-active-file
14837 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
14838 @file{~/Mail/active}.
14840 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
14841 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
14842 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14843 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}.
14845 @item nnml-get-new-mail
14846 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14847 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
14850 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
14851 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
14852 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
14853 default is @code{nil}.
14855 @item nnml-nov-file-name
14856 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
14857 The name of the @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
14859 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14860 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14861 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
14863 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
14864 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
14865 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14866 default is @code{nil}.
14868 @item nnml-marks-file-name
14869 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
14870 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
14872 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
14873 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
14874 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
14879 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
14880 If your @code{nnml} groups and @acronym{NOV} files get totally out of
14881 whack, you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
14882 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
14883 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
14884 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
14885 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
14890 @subsubsection MH Spool
14892 @cindex mh-e mail spool
14894 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
14895 @acronym{NOV} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks
14896 file. This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than
14897 @code{nnml}, but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts
14900 Virtual server settings:
14903 @item nnmh-directory
14904 @vindex nnmh-directory
14905 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
14906 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14909 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
14910 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14911 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
14915 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
14916 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
14917 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks
14918 they are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
14919 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
14920 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not
14921 have to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
14926 @subsubsection Maildir
14930 @code{nnmaildir} stores mail in the maildir format, with each maildir
14931 corresponding to a group in Gnus. This format is documented here:
14932 @uref{http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html} and here:
14933 @uref{http://www.qmail.org/man/man5/maildir.html}. @code{nnmaildir}
14934 also stores extra information in the @file{.nnmaildir/} directory
14937 Maildir format was designed to allow concurrent deliveries and
14938 reading, without needing locks. With other back ends, you would have
14939 your mail delivered to a spool of some kind, and then you would
14940 configure Gnus to split mail from that spool into your groups. You
14941 can still do that with @code{nnmaildir}, but the more common
14942 configuration is to have your mail delivered directly to the maildirs
14943 that appear as group in Gnus.
14945 @code{nnmaildir} is designed to be perfectly reliable: @kbd{C-g} will
14946 never corrupt its data in memory, and @code{SIGKILL} will never
14947 corrupt its data in the filesystem.
14949 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks and @acronym{NOV} data in each
14950 maildir. So you can copy a whole maildir from one Gnus setup to
14951 another, and you will keep your marks.
14953 Virtual server settings:
14957 For each of your @code{nnmaildir} servers (it's very unlikely that
14958 you'd need more than one), you need to create a directory and populate
14959 it with maildirs or symlinks to maildirs (and nothing else; do not
14960 choose a directory already used for other purposes). Each maildir
14961 will be represented in Gnus as a newsgroup on that server; the
14962 filename of the symlink will be the name of the group. Any filenames
14963 in the directory starting with @samp{.} are ignored. The directory is
14964 scanned when you first start Gnus, and each time you type @kbd{g} in
14965 the group buffer; if any maildirs have been removed or added,
14966 @code{nnmaildir} notices at these times.
14968 The value of the @code{directory} parameter should be a Lisp form
14969 which is processed by @code{eval} and @code{expand-file-name} to get
14970 the path of the directory for this server. The form is @code{eval}ed
14971 only when the server is opened; the resulting string is used until the
14972 server is closed. (If you don't know about forms and @code{eval},
14973 don't worry---a simple string will work.) This parameter is not
14974 optional; you must specify it. I don't recommend using
14975 @code{"~/Mail"} or a subdirectory of it; several other parts of Gnus
14976 use that directory by default for various things, and may get confused
14977 if @code{nnmaildir} uses it too. @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} is a typical
14980 @item target-prefix
14981 This should be a Lisp form which is processed by @code{eval} and
14982 @code{expand-file-name}. The form is @code{eval}ed only when the
14983 server is opened; the resulting string is used until the server is
14986 When you create a group on an @code{nnmaildir} server, the maildir is
14987 created with @code{target-prefix} prepended to its name, and a symlink
14988 pointing to that maildir is created, named with the plain group name.
14989 So if @code{directory} is @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} and
14990 @code{target-prefix} is @code{"../maildirs/"}, then when you create
14991 the group @code{foo}, @code{nnmaildir} will create
14992 @file{~/.nnmaildir/../maildirs/foo} as a maildir, and will create
14993 @file{~/.nnmaildir/foo} as a symlink pointing to
14994 @file{../maildirs/foo}.
14996 You can set @code{target-prefix} to a string without any slashes to
14997 create both maildirs and symlinks in the same @code{directory}; in
14998 this case, any maildirs found in @code{directory} whose names start
14999 with @code{target-prefix} will not be listed as groups (but the
15000 symlinks pointing to them will be).
15002 As a special case, if @code{target-prefix} is @code{""} (the default),
15003 then when you create a group, the maildir will be created in
15004 @code{directory} without a corresponding symlink. Beware that you
15005 cannot use @code{gnus-group-delete-group} on such groups without the
15006 @code{force} argument.
15008 @item directory-files
15009 This should be a function with the same interface as
15010 @code{directory-files} (such as @code{directory-files} itself). It is
15011 used to scan the server's @code{directory} for maildirs. This
15012 parameter is optional; the default is
15013 @code{nnheader-directory-files-safe} if
15014 @code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is @code{nil}, and
15015 @code{directory-files} otherwise.
15016 (@code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is checked only once when the
15017 server is opened; if you want to check it each time the directory is
15018 scanned, you'll have to provide your own function that does that.)
15021 If non-@code{nil}, then after scanning for new mail in the group
15022 maildirs themselves as usual, this server will also incorporate mail
15023 the conventional Gnus way, from @code{mail-sources} according to
15024 @code{nnmail-split-methods} or @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. The default
15025 value is @code{nil}.
15027 Do @emph{not} use the same maildir both in @code{mail-sources} and as
15028 an @code{nnmaildir} group. The results might happen to be useful, but
15029 that would be by chance, not by design, and the results might be
15030 different in the future. If your split rules create new groups,
15031 remember to supply a @code{create-directory} server parameter.
15034 @subsubsection Group parameters
15036 @code{nnmaildir} uses several group parameters. It's safe to ignore
15037 all this; the default behavior for @code{nnmaildir} is the same as the
15038 default behavior for other mail back ends: articles are deleted after
15039 one week, etc. Except for the expiry parameters, all this
15040 functionality is unique to @code{nnmaildir}, so you can ignore it if
15041 you're just trying to duplicate the behavior you already have with
15044 If the value of any of these parameters is a vector, the first element
15045 is evaluated as a Lisp form and the result is used, rather than the
15046 original value. If the value is not a vector, the value itself is
15047 evaluated as a Lisp form. (This is why these parameters use names
15048 different from those of other, similar parameters supported by other
15049 back ends: they have different, though similar, meanings.) (For
15050 numbers, strings, @code{nil}, and @code{t}, you can ignore the
15051 @code{eval} business again; for other values, remember to use an extra
15052 quote and wrap the value in a vector when appropriate.)
15056 An integer specifying the minimum age, in seconds, of an article
15057 before it will be expired, or the symbol @code{never} to specify that
15058 articles should never be expired. If this parameter is not set,
15059 @code{nnmaildir} falls back to the usual
15060 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) variables (overrideable by
15061 the @code{expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) group parameters. If you
15062 wanted a value of 3 days, you could use something like @code{[(* 3 24
15063 60 60)]}; @code{nnmaildir} will evaluate the form and use the result.
15064 An article's age is measured starting from the article file's
15065 modification time. Normally, this is the same as the article's
15066 delivery time, but editing an article makes it younger. Moving an
15067 article (other than via expiry) may also make an article younger.
15070 If this is set to a string such as a full Gnus group name, like
15072 "backend+server.address.string:group.name"
15074 and if it is not the name of the same group that the parameter belongs
15075 to, then articles will be moved to the specified group during expiry
15076 before being deleted. @emph{If this is set to an @code{nnmaildir}
15077 group, the article will be just as old in the destination group as it
15078 was in the source group.} So be careful with @code{expire-age} in the
15079 destination group. If this is set to the name of the same group that
15080 the parameter belongs to, then the article is not expired at all. If
15081 you use the vector form, the first element is evaluated once for each
15082 article. So that form can refer to
15083 @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name}, etc., to decide where to put the
15084 article. @emph{If this parameter is not set, @code{nnmaildir} does
15085 not fall back to the @code{expiry-target} group parameter or the
15086 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} variable.}
15089 If this is set to @code{t}, @code{nnmaildir} will treat the articles
15090 in this maildir as read-only. This means: articles are not renamed
15091 from @file{new/} into @file{cur/}; articles are only found in
15092 @file{new/}, not @file{cur/}; articles are never deleted; articles
15093 cannot be edited. @file{new/} is expected to be a symlink to the
15094 @file{new/} directory of another maildir---e.g., a system-wide mailbox
15095 containing a mailing list of common interest. Everything in the
15096 maildir outside @file{new/} is @emph{not} treated as read-only, so for
15097 a shared mailbox, you do still need to set up your own maildir (or
15098 have write permission to the shared mailbox); your maildir just won't
15099 contain extra copies of the articles.
15101 @item directory-files
15102 A function with the same interface as @code{directory-files}. It is
15103 used to scan the directories in the maildir corresponding to this
15104 group to find articles. The default is the function specified by the
15105 server's @code{directory-files} parameter.
15107 @item distrust-Lines:
15108 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmaildir} will always count the lines of an
15109 article, rather than use the @code{Lines:} header field. If
15110 @code{nil}, the header field will be used if present.
15113 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(read expire)]}. Whenever
15114 Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for article marks, @code{nnmaildir} will
15115 say that all articles have these marks, regardless of whether the
15116 marks stored in the filesystem say so. This is a proof-of-concept
15117 feature that will probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done
15118 in Gnus proper, or abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
15121 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(tick expire)]}. Whenever
15122 Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for article marks, @code{nnmaildir} will
15123 say that no articles have these marks, regardless of whether the marks
15124 stored in the filesystem say so. @code{never-marks} overrides
15125 @code{always-marks}. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will
15126 probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
15127 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
15129 @item nov-cache-size
15130 An integer specifying the size of the @acronym{NOV} memory cache. To
15131 speed things up, @code{nnmaildir} keeps @acronym{NOV} data in memory
15132 for a limited number of articles in each group. (This is probably not
15133 worthwhile, and will probably be removed in the future.) This
15134 parameter's value is noticed only the first time a group is seen after
15135 the server is opened---i.e., when you first start Gnus, typically.
15136 The @acronym{NOV} cache is never resized until the server is closed
15137 and reopened. The default is an estimate of the number of articles
15138 that would be displayed in the summary buffer: a count of articles
15139 that are either marked with @code{tick} or not marked with
15140 @code{read}, plus a little extra.
15143 @subsubsection Article identification
15144 Articles are stored in the @file{cur/} subdirectory of each maildir.
15145 Each article file is named like @code{uniq:info}, where @code{uniq}
15146 contains no colons. @code{nnmaildir} ignores, but preserves, the
15147 @code{:info} part. (Other maildir readers typically use this part of
15148 the filename to store marks.) The @code{uniq} part uniquely
15149 identifies the article, and is used in various places in the
15150 @file{.nnmaildir/} subdirectory of the maildir to store information
15151 about the corresponding article. The full pathname of an article is
15152 available in the variable @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name} after you
15153 request the article in the summary buffer.
15155 @subsubsection NOV data
15156 An article identified by @code{uniq} has its @acronym{NOV} data (used
15157 to generate lines in the summary buffer) stored in
15158 @code{.nnmaildir/nov/uniq}. There is no
15159 @code{nnmaildir-generate-nov-databases} function. (There isn't much
15160 need for it---an article's @acronym{NOV} data is updated automatically
15161 when the article or @code{nnmail-extra-headers} has changed.) You can
15162 force @code{nnmaildir} to regenerate the @acronym{NOV} data for a
15163 single article simply by deleting the corresponding @acronym{NOV}
15164 file, but @emph{beware}: this will also cause @code{nnmaildir} to
15165 assign a new article number for this article, which may cause trouble
15166 with @code{seen} marks, the Agent, and the cache.
15168 @subsubsection Article marks
15169 An article identified by @code{uniq} is considered to have the mark
15170 @code{flag} when the file @file{.nnmaildir/marks/flag/uniq} exists.
15171 When Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for a group's marks, @code{nnmaildir}
15172 looks for such files and reports the set of marks it finds. When Gnus
15173 asks @code{nnmaildir} to store a new set of marks, @code{nnmaildir}
15174 creates and deletes the corresponding files as needed. (Actually,
15175 rather than create a new file for each mark, it just creates hard
15176 links to @file{.nnmaildir/markfile}, to save inodes.)
15178 You can invent new marks by creating a new directory in
15179 @file{.nnmaildir/marks/}. You can tar up a maildir and remove it from
15180 your server, untar it later, and keep your marks. You can add and
15181 remove marks yourself by creating and deleting mark files. If you do
15182 this while Gnus is running and your @code{nnmaildir} server is open,
15183 it's best to exit all summary buffers for @code{nnmaildir} groups and
15184 type @kbd{s} in the group buffer first, and to type @kbd{g} or
15185 @kbd{M-g} in the group buffer afterwards. Otherwise, Gnus might not
15186 pick up the changes, and might undo them.
15190 @subsubsection Mail Folders
15192 @cindex mbox folders
15193 @cindex mail folders
15195 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a
15196 separate file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format.
15197 @code{nnfolder} will add extra headers to keep track of article
15198 numbers and arrival dates.
15200 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
15202 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
15203 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
15204 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
15205 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
15206 Marks for a group is usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
15207 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
15208 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder}
15209 directory. Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to
15210 backup, use @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup
15211 into the @code{nnfolder} directory).
15213 Virtual server settings:
15216 @item nnfolder-directory
15217 @vindex nnfolder-directory
15218 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this
15219 directory. The default is the value of @code{message-directory}
15220 (whose default is @file{~/Mail})
15222 @item nnfolder-active-file
15223 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
15224 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
15226 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
15227 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
15228 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
15229 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}
15231 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
15232 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
15233 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The
15234 default is @code{t}
15236 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
15237 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
15238 @cindex backup files
15239 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
15240 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If
15241 you wish to switch this off, you could say something like the
15242 following in your @file{.emacs} file:
15245 (defun turn-off-backup ()
15246 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
15248 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
15251 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
15252 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
15253 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
15254 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
15255 extract some information from it before removing it.
15257 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
15258 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
15259 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
15260 default is @code{nil}.
15262 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
15263 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
15264 The extension for @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
15266 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
15267 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
15268 The directory where the @acronym{NOV} files should be stored. If
15269 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
15271 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
15272 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
15273 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
15274 default is @code{nil}.
15276 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
15277 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
15278 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
15280 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
15281 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
15282 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If
15283 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
15288 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
15289 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
15290 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
15291 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
15292 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
15293 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
15296 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
15297 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
15299 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
15300 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
15301 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
15302 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
15303 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
15305 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
15306 typically done by @acronym{NNTP} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
15307 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
15308 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @acronym{NNTP} server), and
15309 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
15310 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
15311 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
15312 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
15315 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
15316 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
15317 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
15318 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
15323 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
15324 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
15325 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
15326 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
15327 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
15328 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
15329 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
15330 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
15331 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
15332 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
15333 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
15334 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
15335 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
15340 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
15341 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
15342 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
15343 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
15344 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
15345 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
15346 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
15347 Rmail was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
15348 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote Rmail
15349 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
15350 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
15351 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
15352 headers/status bits stuff. Rmail itself still exists as well, of
15353 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
15355 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
15356 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
15361 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
15362 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
15363 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
15364 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
15365 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
15366 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
15367 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
15368 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
15369 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
15370 @acronym{NNTP} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
15371 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
15372 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
15373 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
15374 provided by the active file and overviews.
15376 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
15377 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
15378 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
15379 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
15380 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
15383 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
15384 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
15389 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
15390 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
15391 individual files, but with little or no indexing support---@code{nnmh}
15392 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
15393 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
15394 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
15395 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
15399 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
15400 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
15401 itself puts @emph{all} one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
15402 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
15403 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
15404 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
15405 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
15406 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
15407 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
15409 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
15410 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
15411 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
15412 friendly mail back end all over.
15416 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses
15417 incompatible group parameters, slightly different from those of other
15420 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
15421 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
15422 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
15423 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
15424 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
15425 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
15426 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to
15427 @uref{http://www.namesys.com/, ReiserFS} or another non-block-structured
15430 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
15431 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
15432 This means you can skip Gnus' mail splitting if your mail is already
15433 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
15434 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
15435 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
15436 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
15437 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
15438 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
15439 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will not
15440 undergo treatment such as duplicate checking.
15442 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
15443 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
15444 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
15445 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
15446 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
15449 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
15450 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
15451 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
15452 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
15453 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
15454 would) to make it use less memory. This caching will probably be
15455 removed in the future.
15457 Startup is likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than with other
15458 back ends. Everything else is likely to be faster, depending in part
15459 on your file system.
15461 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
15462 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
15467 @node Browsing the Web
15468 @section Browsing the Web
15470 @cindex browsing the web
15474 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
15475 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
15476 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
15477 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
15478 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
15479 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
15480 even know what a news group is.
15482 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
15483 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
15484 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
15485 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
15486 you mad in the end.
15488 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
15491 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
15492 interfaces to these sources.
15496 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
15497 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
15498 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
15499 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
15500 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
15501 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
15504 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
15506 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
15507 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @acronym{HTML} data
15508 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
15509 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
15510 though, you should be ok.
15512 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
15513 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
15514 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
15515 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
15516 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
15518 @node Archiving Mail
15519 @subsection Archiving Mail
15520 @cindex archiving mail
15521 @cindex backup of mail
15523 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
15524 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
15525 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
15526 marks is fairly simple.
15528 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
15529 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
15532 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
15533 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
15534 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
15535 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
15536 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
15537 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
15538 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
15539 before you restore the data.
15541 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
15542 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
15543 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
15544 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
15545 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
15546 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
15547 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
15548 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
15549 is unnecessary in that case.
15552 @subsection Web Searches
15557 @cindex Usenet searches
15558 @cindex searching the Usenet
15560 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
15561 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
15562 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
15563 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
15564 searches without having to use a browser.
15566 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
15567 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
15568 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
15569 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
15570 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
15572 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
15573 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
15574 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
15575 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
15576 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
15577 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
15578 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
15579 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
15580 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
15581 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
15584 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
15585 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
15586 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
15587 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
15588 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
15589 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
15591 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
15592 to use @code{nnweb}.
15594 Virtual server variables:
15599 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
15600 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
15601 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
15604 @vindex nnweb-search
15605 The search string to feed to the search engine.
15607 @item nnweb-max-hits
15608 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
15609 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
15612 @item nnweb-type-definition
15613 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
15614 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
15615 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
15620 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
15624 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
15627 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
15630 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
15634 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
15641 @subsection Slashdot
15645 @uref{http://slashdot.org/, Slashdot} is a popular news site, with
15646 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
15647 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
15649 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
15650 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
15653 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15654 '((nnslashdot "")))
15657 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
15658 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
15659 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
15660 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
15661 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
15664 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
15665 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
15667 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
15668 comments), some light @acronym{HTML}izations will be performed. In
15669 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
15670 @samp{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @samp{br} added to
15671 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @acronym{HTML}
15672 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
15673 @acronym{HTML} forms.
15675 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
15678 @item nnslashdot-threaded
15679 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
15680 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
15681 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
15682 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
15683 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
15684 but much, much slower than unthreaded.
15686 @item nnslashdot-login-name
15687 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
15688 The login name to use when posting.
15690 @item nnslashdot-password
15691 @vindex nnslashdot-password
15692 The password to use when posting.
15694 @item nnslashdot-directory
15695 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
15696 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
15697 @file{~/News/slashdot/}.
15699 @item nnslashdot-active-url
15700 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
15701 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch the
15702 information on news articles and comments. The default is@*
15703 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
15705 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
15706 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
15707 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch comments.
15709 @item nnslashdot-article-url
15710 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
15711 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch the news
15712 article. The default is
15713 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
15715 @item nnslashdot-threshold
15716 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
15717 The score threshold. The default is -1.
15719 @item nnslashdot-group-number
15720 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
15721 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
15722 updated. The default is 0.
15729 @subsection Ultimate
15731 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
15733 @uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/, The Ultimate Bulletin Board} is
15734 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
15735 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
15736 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
15738 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
15739 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
15740 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @acronym{URL}
15741 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
15742 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
15743 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
15744 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
15746 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
15749 @item nnultimate-directory
15750 @vindex nnultimate-directory
15751 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is@*
15752 @file{~/News/ultimate/}.
15757 @subsection Web Archive
15759 @cindex Web Archive
15761 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
15762 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
15763 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
15764 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15767 @findex gnus-group-make-warchive-group
15768 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
15769 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
15770 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET @var{an_egroup} RET egroups RET
15771 www.egroups.com RET @var{your@@email.address} RET}. (Substitute the
15772 @var{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
15773 @var{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
15774 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
15776 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
15779 @item nnwarchive-directory
15780 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
15781 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is@*
15782 @file{~/News/warchive/}.
15784 @item nnwarchive-login
15785 @vindex nnwarchive-login
15786 The account name on the web server.
15788 @item nnwarchive-passwd
15789 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
15790 The password for your account on the web server.
15798 Some web sites have an RDF Site Summary (@acronym{RSS}).
15799 @acronym{RSS} is a format for summarizing headlines from news related
15800 sites (such as BBC or CNN). But basically anything list-like can be
15801 presented as an @acronym{RSS} feed: weblogs, changelogs or recent
15802 changes to a wiki (e.g. @url{http://cliki.net/recent-changes.rdf}).
15804 @acronym{RSS} has a quite regular and nice interface, and it's
15805 possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
15807 @kindex G R (Summary)
15808 Use @kbd{G R} from the summary buffer to subscribe to a feed---you
15809 will be prompted for the location of the feed.
15811 An easy way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something like
15812 the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET y}, then
15813 subscribe to groups.
15815 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
15818 @item nnrss-directory
15819 @vindex nnrss-directory
15820 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
15821 @file{~/News/rss/}.
15823 @item nnrss-use-local
15824 @vindex nnrss-use-local
15825 @findex nnrss-generate-download-script
15826 If you set @code{nnrss-use-local} to @code{t}, @code{nnrss} will read
15827 the feeds from local files in @code{nnrss-directory}. You can use
15828 the command @code{nnrss-generate-download-script} to generate a
15829 download script using @command{wget}.
15832 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
15833 the summary buffer.
15836 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
15837 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
15839 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
15841 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
15842 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
15845 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
15848 (require 'browse-url)
15850 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
15852 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
15855 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
15856 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
15859 (browse-url (cdr url))
15860 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
15861 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
15863 (eval-after-load "gnus"
15864 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
15865 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
15866 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
15869 @node Customizing w3
15870 @subsection Customizing w3
15876 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
15877 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
15878 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
15880 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
15881 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
15882 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
15885 (eval-after-load "w3"
15887 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
15888 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
15889 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
15890 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
15892 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
15895 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
15896 @acronym{HTML} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
15903 @cindex @acronym{IMAP}
15905 @acronym{IMAP} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or @dots{}),
15906 think of it as a modernized @acronym{NNTP}. Connecting to a @acronym{IMAP}
15907 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
15908 specify the network address of the server.
15910 @acronym{IMAP} has two properties. First, @acronym{IMAP} can do
15911 everything that @acronym{POP} can, it can hence be viewed as a
15912 @acronym{POP++}. Secondly, @acronym{IMAP} is a mail storage protocol,
15913 similar to @acronym{NNTP} being a news storage protocol---however,
15914 @acronym{IMAP} offers more features than @acronym{NNTP} because news
15915 is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
15917 If you want to use @acronym{IMAP} as a @acronym{POP++}, use an imap
15918 entry in @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from
15919 the @acronym{IMAP} server and store them on the local disk. This is
15920 not the usage described in this section---@xref{Mail Sources}.
15922 If you want to use @acronym{IMAP} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
15923 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
15924 manipulate mails stored on the @acronym{IMAP} server. This is the kind of
15925 usage explained in this section.
15927 A server configuration in @file{~/.gnus.el} with a few @acronym{IMAP}
15928 servers might look something like the following. (Note that for
15929 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}, you need external programs and libraries,
15933 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15934 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; @r{no special configuration}
15935 ; @r{perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:}
15937 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15938 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
15939 ; @r{a UW server running on localhost}
15941 (nnimap-server-port 143)
15942 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15943 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
15944 ; @r{anonymous public cyrus server:}
15945 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
15946 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
15947 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
15948 (nnimap-stream network))
15949 ; @r{a ssl server on a non-standard port:}
15951 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
15952 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
15953 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
15956 After defining the new server, you can subscribe to groups on the
15957 server using normal Gnus commands such as @kbd{U} in the Group Buffer
15958 (@pxref{Subscription Commands}) or via the Server Buffer
15959 (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
15961 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
15966 @item nnimap-address
15967 @vindex nnimap-address
15969 The address of the remote @acronym{IMAP} server. Defaults to the virtual
15970 server name if not specified.
15972 @item nnimap-server-port
15973 @vindex nnimap-server-port
15974 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}.
15976 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
15979 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15980 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
15983 @item nnimap-list-pattern
15984 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
15985 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
15986 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
15987 interested in a few---some servers export your home directory via
15988 @acronym{IMAP}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
15989 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
15991 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
15992 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
15993 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
15996 Example server specification:
15999 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
16000 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
16001 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
16004 @item nnimap-stream
16005 @vindex nnimap-stream
16006 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
16007 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
16008 of @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}. (@acronym{IMAP} over
16009 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is being replaced by STARTTLS, which can
16010 be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
16012 Example server specification:
16015 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
16016 (nnimap-stream ssl))
16019 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
16023 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
16024 @samp{gsasl} or @samp{imtest} program.
16026 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
16028 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
16029 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
16032 @dfn{tls:} Connect through @acronym{TLS}. Requires GNUTLS (the program
16033 @samp{gnutls-cli}).
16035 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through @acronym{SSL}. Requires OpenSSL (the program
16036 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
16038 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @acronym{IMAP} connection.
16040 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
16043 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
16044 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
16045 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
16046 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
16047 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
16048 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
16049 restrictions on @acronym{IMAP} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
16050 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
16051 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
16054 For @acronym{TLS} connection, the @code{gnutls-cli} program from GNUTLS is
16055 needed. It is available from
16056 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/}.
16058 @vindex imap-gssapi-program
16059 This parameter specifies a list of command lines that invoke a GSSAPI
16060 authenticated @acronym{IMAP} stream in a subshell. They are tried
16061 sequentially until a connection is made, or the list has been
16062 exhausted. By default, @samp{gsasl} from GNU SASL, available from
16063 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gsasl/}, and the @samp{imtest}
16064 program from Cyrus IMAPD (see @code{imap-kerberos4-program}), are
16067 @vindex imap-ssl-program
16068 For @acronym{SSL} connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
16069 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
16070 and nnimap support it too---although the most recent versions of
16071 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
16072 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
16073 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
16076 @vindex imap-shell-program
16077 @vindex imap-shell-host
16078 For @acronym{IMAP} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
16079 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
16081 @item nnimap-authenticator
16082 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
16084 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
16085 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
16087 Example server specification:
16090 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
16091 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
16094 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
16098 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
16099 external program @code{gsasl} or @code{imtest}.
16101 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
16104 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
16105 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
16107 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
16109 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
16111 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as ``anonymous'', supplying your email address as password.
16114 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
16116 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
16117 Unlike Parmenides the @acronym{IMAP} designers have decided things that
16118 don't exist actually do exist. More specifically, @acronym{IMAP} has
16119 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
16120 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
16121 nnimap does when you delete an article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
16124 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
16125 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
16126 running in circles yet?
16128 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
16129 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
16132 The possible options are:
16137 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as ``Deleted'' when
16140 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
16141 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @acronym{IMAP} clients
16142 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
16143 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
16145 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
16150 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
16151 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
16153 If non-@code{nil} (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as
16154 well), for other @acronym{IMAP} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
16155 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
16156 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @acronym{IMAP}
16157 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @acronym{IMAP}
16160 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
16161 enable per-user persistent dormant flags, using something like:
16164 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
16165 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
16166 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
16167 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
16170 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
16171 as ticked for other users.
16173 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
16175 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
16177 This variable contain the @acronym{IMAP} search command sent to server when
16178 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
16179 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
16180 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
16182 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
16183 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
16184 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
16185 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
16187 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
16188 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
16190 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
16191 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
16192 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
16195 @item nnimap-need-unselect-to-notice-new-mail
16196 @vindex nnimap-need-unselect-to-notice-new-mail
16198 Unselect mailboxes before looking for new mail in them. Some servers
16199 seem to need this under some circumstances; it was reported that
16205 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
16206 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
16207 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
16208 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
16209 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use @acronym{IMAP} namespace in Gnus.
16210 * Debugging IMAP:: What to do when things don't work.
16215 @node Splitting in IMAP
16216 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
16217 @cindex splitting imap mail
16219 Splitting is something Gnus users have loved and used for years, and now
16220 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
16221 @acronym{IMAP} servers have server side splitting and those that have
16222 splitting seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that
16223 @acronym{IMAP} support for Gnus has to do its own splitting.
16227 (Incidentally, people seem to have been dreaming on, and Sieve has
16228 gaining a market share and is supported by several IMAP servers.
16229 Fortunately, Gnus support it too, @xref{Sieve Commands}.)
16231 Here are the variables of interest:
16235 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
16236 @cindex splitting, crosspost
16238 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
16240 If non-@code{nil}, do crossposting if several split methods match the
16241 mail. If @code{nil}, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule}
16242 found will be used.
16244 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
16246 @item nnimap-split-inbox
16247 @cindex splitting, inbox
16249 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
16251 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @acronym{IMAP}
16252 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to @code{nil}, which means that
16253 splitting is disabled!
16256 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
16257 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
16260 No nnmail equivalent.
16262 @item nnimap-split-rule
16263 @cindex splitting, rules
16264 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
16266 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
16269 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
16270 sublist gives the name of the @acronym{IMAP} mailbox to move articles
16271 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
16272 Neither did I, we need examples.
16275 (setq nnimap-split-rule
16277 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
16278 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
16279 ("INBOX.private" "")))
16282 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
16283 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
16284 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
16286 The first string may contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by
16287 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
16291 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
16294 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
16295 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
16297 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
16298 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
16299 containing the headers of the article. It should return a
16300 non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
16302 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
16303 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
16304 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
16305 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
16306 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
16307 them every time you fetch new mail.)
16309 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
16310 end. The first rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have
16311 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.
16313 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
16314 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
16315 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
16317 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
16319 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
16320 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
16321 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
16324 (setq nnimap-split-rule
16325 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
16326 ("junk" "From:.*Simon"))))
16327 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
16328 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
16329 ("junk" my-junk-func))))))
16332 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
16333 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
16334 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
16335 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
16336 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
16337 group/function elements.
16339 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
16341 @item nnimap-split-predicate
16343 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
16345 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
16346 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
16348 This might be useful if you use another @acronym{IMAP} client to read mail in
16349 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
16350 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
16353 @item nnimap-split-fancy
16354 @cindex splitting, fancy
16355 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
16356 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
16358 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
16359 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
16360 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
16362 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
16363 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
16364 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
16365 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
16370 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
16371 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
16374 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
16376 @item nnimap-split-download-body
16377 @findex nnimap-split-download-body
16378 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
16380 Set to non-@code{nil} to download entire articles during splitting.
16381 This is generally not required, and will slow things down
16382 considerably. You may need it if you want to use an advanced
16383 splitting function that analyses the body to split the article.
16387 @node Expiring in IMAP
16388 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
16389 @cindex expiring imap mail
16391 Even though @code{nnimap} is not a proper @code{nnmail} derived back
16392 end, it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring
16393 Mail}). Unlike splitting in @acronym{IMAP} (@pxref{Splitting in
16394 IMAP}) it does not clone the @code{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating
16395 @var{nnimap-expiry-wait}) but reuse the @code{nnmail} variables. What
16396 follows below are the variables used by the @code{nnimap} expiry
16399 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @acronym{IMAP} server is
16400 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
16401 @code{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
16402 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
16403 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
16404 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
16405 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
16406 messages. Most do, fortunately.
16410 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
16411 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
16413 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
16414 number, the symbol @code{immediate} or @code{never}.
16416 @item nnmail-expiry-target
16418 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
16419 @code{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
16420 that if the destination is a @acronym{IMAP} group on the same server, the
16421 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
16425 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
16426 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
16427 @cindex editing imap acls
16428 @cindex Access Control Lists
16429 @cindex Editing @acronym{IMAP} ACLs
16430 @kindex G l (Group)
16431 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
16433 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @acronym{IMAP} for
16434 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
16435 @acronym{IMAP} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
16438 To edit an ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
16439 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with an ACL
16440 editing window with detailed instructions.
16442 Some possible uses:
16446 Giving ``anyone'' the ``lrs'' rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
16447 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
16448 follow the list without subscribing to it.
16450 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
16451 ``anyone'' posting ("p") capabilities to have ``plussing'' work (that is,
16452 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @acronym{IMAP} mailbox
16456 @node Expunging mailboxes
16457 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
16461 @cindex manual expunging
16462 @kindex G x (Group)
16463 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
16465 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
16466 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
16467 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
16469 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
16472 @node A note on namespaces
16473 @subsection A note on namespaces
16474 @cindex IMAP namespace
16477 The @acronym{IMAP} protocol has a concept called namespaces, described
16478 by the following text in the RFC:
16481 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
16483 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
16484 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
16485 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
16486 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
16488 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
16489 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
16490 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
16491 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
16492 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
16493 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
16496 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the
16497 @acronym{IMAP} implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace
16498 prefixes in a way that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
16500 Specifically, University of Washington's @acronym{IMAP} server uses
16501 mailbox names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only
16502 in the @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is
16503 created (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed
16504 without the namespace prefix, i.e. @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do
16505 not make it possible for the user to guarantee that user entered
16506 mailbox names will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands,
16507 you should simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in
16510 See the UoW IMAPD documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
16511 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
16512 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
16514 @node Debugging IMAP
16515 @subsection Debugging IMAP
16516 @cindex IMAP debugging
16517 @cindex protocol dump (IMAP)
16519 @acronym{IMAP} is a complex protocol, more so than @acronym{NNTP} or
16520 @acronym{POP3}. Implementation bugs are not unlikely, and we do our
16521 best to fix them right away. If you encounter odd behaviour, chances
16522 are that either the server or Gnus is buggy.
16524 If you are familiar with network protocols in general, you will
16525 probably be able to extract some clues from the protocol dump of the
16526 exchanges between Gnus and the server. Even if you are not familiar
16527 with network protocols, when you include the protocol dump in
16528 @acronym{IMAP}-related bug reports you are helping us with data
16529 critical to solving the problem. Therefore, we strongly encourage you
16530 to include the protocol dump when reporting IMAP bugs in Gnus.
16534 Because the protocol dump, when enabled, generates lots of data, it is
16535 disabled by default. You can enable it by setting @code{imap-log} as
16542 This instructs the @code{imap.el} package to log any exchanges with
16543 the server. The log is stored in the buffer @samp{*imap-log*}. Look
16544 for error messages, which sometimes are tagged with the keyword
16545 @code{BAD}---but when submitting a bug, make sure to include all the
16548 @node Other Sources
16549 @section Other Sources
16551 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
16552 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
16556 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
16557 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
16558 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
16559 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
16560 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
16564 @node Directory Groups
16565 @subsection Directory Groups
16567 @cindex directory groups
16569 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
16570 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
16573 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
16574 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
16575 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
16576 back end to read directories. Big deal.
16578 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
16579 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
16580 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
16581 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
16582 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
16584 @code{nndir} will use @acronym{NOV} files if they are present.
16586 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
16587 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
16588 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
16589 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
16592 @node Anything Groups
16593 @subsection Anything Groups
16596 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
16597 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
16598 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
16601 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
16602 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
16603 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
16604 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
16605 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
16606 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
16607 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
16608 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
16609 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
16610 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
16613 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
16614 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
16615 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
16616 in the article buffer, just as usual.
16618 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
16619 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
16620 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
16621 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
16623 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
16624 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
16625 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
16626 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
16627 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
16628 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
16629 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
16630 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
16635 @item nneething-map-file-directory
16636 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
16637 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
16638 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
16640 @item nneething-exclude-files
16641 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
16642 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
16643 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
16645 @item nneething-include-files
16646 @vindex nneething-include-files
16647 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
16648 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
16650 @item nneething-map-file
16651 @vindex nneething-map-file
16652 Name of the map files.
16656 @node Document Groups
16657 @subsection Document Groups
16659 @cindex documentation group
16662 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
16663 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
16670 The Babyl (Rmail) mail box.
16675 The standard Unix mbox file.
16677 @cindex MMDF mail box
16679 The MMDF mail box format.
16682 Several news articles appended into a file.
16685 @cindex rnews batch files
16686 The rnews batch transport format.
16687 @cindex forwarded messages
16690 Forwarded articles.
16693 Netscape mail boxes.
16696 @acronym{MIME} multipart messages.
16698 @item standard-digest
16699 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
16702 A @acronym{MIME} digest of messages.
16704 @item lanl-gov-announce
16705 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
16707 @item rfc822-forward
16708 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
16711 The Outlook mail box.
16714 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
16717 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
16720 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
16723 An RFC934-forwarded message.
16729 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
16732 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
16738 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
16739 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
16740 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
16743 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
16744 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
16745 group. And that's it.
16747 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
16748 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
16749 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
16750 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
16751 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
16752 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
16753 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
16754 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
16755 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
16756 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
16758 Virtual server variables:
16761 @item nndoc-article-type
16762 @vindex nndoc-article-type
16763 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
16764 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
16765 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
16766 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
16767 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
16769 @item nndoc-post-type
16770 @vindex nndoc-post-type
16771 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
16772 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
16777 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
16781 @node Document Server Internals
16782 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
16784 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
16785 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
16786 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
16787 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
16789 First, here's an example document type definition:
16793 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
16794 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
16797 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
16798 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
16799 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
16800 types can be defined with very few settings:
16803 @item first-article
16804 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
16805 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
16808 @item article-begin
16809 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
16810 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
16812 @item head-begin-function
16813 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
16816 @item nndoc-head-begin
16817 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
16820 @item nndoc-head-end
16821 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
16822 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
16824 @item body-begin-function
16825 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
16829 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
16832 @item body-end-function
16833 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
16837 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
16840 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
16841 regexp will be totally ignored.
16845 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
16846 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
16847 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
16848 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
16849 something that's palatable for Gnus:
16852 @item prepare-body-function
16853 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
16854 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
16855 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
16857 @item article-transform-function
16858 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
16859 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
16860 body of the article.
16862 @item generate-head-function
16863 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
16864 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
16865 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
16866 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
16870 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
16875 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16876 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16877 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
16878 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
16879 (head-end . "^ ?$")
16880 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
16881 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
16882 (subtype digest guess))
16885 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
16886 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
16887 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
16888 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
16889 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
16891 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
16892 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first
16893 is the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says
16894 where in the document type definition alist to put this definition.
16895 The alist is traversed sequentially, and
16896 @code{nndoc-@var{type}-type-p} is called for a given type @var{type}.
16897 So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document is of
16898 @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
16899 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it
16900 is of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
16901 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number
16902 means low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
16910 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
16911 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
16912 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
16914 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
16915 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
16916 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
16919 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
16920 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
16921 that interested in doing things properly.
16923 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
16924 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
16927 First some terminology:
16932 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
16933 get news and/or mail from.
16936 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
16937 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
16940 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
16944 @item message packets
16945 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
16946 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
16947 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16949 @item response packets
16950 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
16951 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
16952 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16962 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
16963 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
16964 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
16965 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
16968 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
16971 You put the packet in your home directory.
16974 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
16975 the native or secondary server.
16978 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
16979 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
16982 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
16986 You transfer this packet to the server.
16989 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
16992 You then repeat until you die.
16996 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
16997 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
17000 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
17001 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
17002 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
17006 @node SOUP Commands
17007 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
17009 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
17013 @kindex G s b (Group)
17014 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
17015 Pack all unread articles in the current group
17016 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
17017 process/prefix convention.
17020 @kindex G s w (Group)
17021 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
17022 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
17025 @kindex G s s (Group)
17026 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
17027 Send all replies from the replies packet
17028 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
17031 @kindex G s p (Group)
17032 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
17033 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
17036 @kindex G s r (Group)
17037 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
17038 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
17041 @kindex O s (Summary)
17042 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
17043 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
17044 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
17045 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17050 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
17055 @item gnus-soup-directory
17056 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
17057 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
17058 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
17060 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
17061 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
17062 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
17063 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
17065 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
17066 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
17067 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
17068 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
17070 @item gnus-soup-packer
17071 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
17072 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
17073 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
17075 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
17076 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
17077 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
17078 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
17080 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
17081 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
17082 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
17084 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
17085 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
17086 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
17087 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
17093 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
17096 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
17097 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
17098 you can read them at leisure.
17100 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
17104 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
17105 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
17106 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
17107 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
17109 @item nnsoup-directory
17110 @vindex nnsoup-directory
17111 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
17112 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
17114 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
17115 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
17116 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
17117 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/}.
17119 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
17120 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
17121 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
17122 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
17123 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
17125 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
17126 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
17127 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
17128 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
17130 @item nnsoup-active-file
17131 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
17132 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
17133 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
17134 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
17135 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
17137 @item nnsoup-packer
17138 @vindex nnsoup-packer
17139 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
17140 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
17142 @item nnsoup-unpacker
17143 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
17144 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
17145 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
17147 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
17148 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
17149 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
17152 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
17153 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
17154 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
17157 @item nnsoup-always-save
17158 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
17159 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
17165 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
17167 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
17168 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
17169 more for that to happen.
17171 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
17172 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
17173 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
17176 In specific, this is what it does:
17179 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
17180 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
17183 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
17184 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
17185 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
17188 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
17189 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
17190 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
17193 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
17194 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
17195 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
17197 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
17203 @item nngateway-address
17204 @vindex nngateway-address
17205 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
17207 @item nngateway-header-transformation
17208 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
17209 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
17210 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
17211 transformation should be called, and defaults to
17212 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
17213 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
17216 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
17217 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
17218 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
17221 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
17224 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
17227 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
17230 The following pre-defined functions exist:
17232 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
17235 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
17236 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
17237 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
17239 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
17241 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
17242 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
17243 @code{nngateway-address}.
17251 (setq gnus-post-method
17253 "mail2news@@replay.com"
17254 (nngateway-header-transformation
17255 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
17258 So, to use this, simply say something like:
17261 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
17266 @node Combined Groups
17267 @section Combined Groups
17269 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
17273 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
17274 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
17278 @node Virtual Groups
17279 @subsection Virtual Groups
17281 @cindex virtual groups
17282 @cindex merging groups
17284 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
17287 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
17288 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
17289 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
17291 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
17292 regexp to match component groups.
17294 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
17295 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
17296 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
17297 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
17298 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
17299 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
17300 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
17301 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
17303 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
17304 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
17307 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
17310 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
17311 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
17313 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
17314 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
17315 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
17316 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
17319 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
17322 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
17323 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
17324 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
17326 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
17327 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
17328 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
17329 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
17330 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
17332 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
17333 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
17334 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
17336 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
17337 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
17338 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
17339 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
17340 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
17341 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
17342 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
17343 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
17344 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
17345 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
17346 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
17348 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
17349 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
17350 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
17351 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
17352 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
17353 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
17354 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
17356 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
17357 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
17359 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
17360 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
17364 @node Kibozed Groups
17365 @subsection Kibozed Groups
17369 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by the @acronym{OED} as ``grepping through
17370 (parts of) the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will
17371 do this for you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @acronym{NNTP} server
17372 down to a halt with useless requests! Oh happiness!
17374 @kindex G k (Group)
17375 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
17378 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
17379 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
17380 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between
17381 @code{nnkiboze} and @code{nnvirtual} end.
17383 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an
17384 @code{nnkiboze} group must have a score file to say what articles are
17385 to be included in the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
17387 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
17388 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
17389 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
17390 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time.
17391 Lots of time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the
17392 headers from all the articles in all the component groups and run them
17393 through the scoring process to determine if there are any articles in
17394 the groups that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
17396 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
17397 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
17398 @acronym{NNTP} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
17399 Stranger things have happened.
17401 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
17402 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
17404 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
17405 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
17406 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/kiboze/} by default.
17407 One contains the @acronym{NOV} header lines for all the articles in
17408 the group, and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store
17409 information on what groups have been searched through to find
17410 component articles.
17412 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
17413 their @acronym{NOV} lines removed from the @acronym{NOV} file.
17416 @node Gnus Unplugged
17417 @section Gnus Unplugged
17422 @cindex Gnus unplugged
17424 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
17425 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
17426 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
17427 read news. Believe it or not.
17429 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
17430 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
17431 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
17432 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
17433 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
17435 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
17436 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
17437 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
17438 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
17439 reading news on a machine.
17441 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
17442 fact, you don't even have to configure anything.
17444 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
17447 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
17448 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
17449 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
17450 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
17451 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
17452 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
17453 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
17454 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
17455 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
17456 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
17457 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
17458 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
17459 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
17464 @subsection Agent Basics
17466 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
17468 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
17469 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
17470 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
17471 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
17473 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
17474 connected to the net continuously.
17476 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
17477 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
17479 You know that Gnus gives you all the opportunity you'd ever want for
17480 shooting yourself in the foot. Some people call it flexibility. Gnus
17481 is also customizable to a great extent, which means that the user has a
17482 say on how Gnus behaves. Other newsreaders might unconditionally shoot
17483 you in your foot, but with Gnus, you have a choice!
17485 Gnus is never really in plugged or unplugged state. Rather, it applies
17486 that state to each server individually. This means that some servers
17487 can be plugged while others can be unplugged. Additionally, some
17488 servers can be ignored by the Agent altogether (which means that
17489 they're kinda like plugged always).
17491 So when you unplug the Agent and then wonder why is Gnus opening a
17492 connection to the Net, the next step to do is to look whether all
17493 servers are agentized. If there is an unagentized server, you found
17496 Another thing is the @dfn{offline} state. Sometimes, servers aren't
17497 reachable. When Gnus notices this, it asks you whether you want the
17498 server to be switched to offline state. If you say yes, then the
17499 server will behave somewhat as if it was unplugged, except that Gnus
17500 will ask you whether you want to switch it back online again.
17502 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
17507 @findex gnus-unplugged
17508 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
17509 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
17510 already fetched while in this mode.
17513 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
17514 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
17515 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
17516 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode (@pxref{Mail
17517 Source Specifiers}).
17520 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the
17521 news onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press
17522 @kbd{g} to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J s} to fetch
17523 all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus know which
17524 articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}).
17527 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
17528 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
17529 then you read the news offline.
17532 And then you go to step 2.
17535 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
17541 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
17542 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
17543 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
17544 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
17545 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
17546 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
17547 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} servers in @code{gnus-select-method} and
17548 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
17551 Decide on download policy. It's fairly simple once you decide whether
17552 you are going to use agent categories, topic parameters, and/or group
17553 parameters to implement your policy. If you're new to gnus, it
17554 is probably best to start with a category, @xref{Agent Categories}.
17556 Both topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) and agent categories
17557 (@pxref{Agent Categories}) provide for setting a policy that applies
17558 to multiple groups. Which you use is entirely up to you. Topic
17559 parameters do override categories so, if you mix the two, you'll have
17560 to take that into account. If you have a few groups that deviate from
17561 your policy, you can use group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to
17565 Uhm@dots{} that's it.
17569 @node Agent Categories
17570 @subsection Agent Categories
17572 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
17573 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
17574 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
17575 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
17576 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
17577 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
17578 you're interested in the articles anyway.
17580 One of the more effective methods for controlling what is to be
17581 downloaded is to create a @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all)
17582 groups to this category. Groups that do not belong in any other
17583 category belong to the @code{default} category. Gnus has its own
17584 buffer for creating and managing categories.
17586 If you prefer, you can also use group parameters (@pxref{Group
17587 Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) for an
17588 alternative approach to controlling the agent. The only real
17589 difference is that categories are specific to the agent (so there is
17590 less to learn) while group and topic parameters include the kitchen
17593 Since you can set agent parameters in several different places we have
17594 a rule to decide which source to believe. This rule specifies that
17595 the parameter sources are checked in the following order: group
17596 parameters, topic parameters, agent category, and finally customizable
17597 variables. So you can mix all of these sources to produce a wide range
17598 of behavior, just don't blame me if you don't remember where you put
17602 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
17603 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
17604 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
17608 @node Category Syntax
17609 @subsubsection Category Syntax
17611 A category consists of a name, the list of groups belonging to the
17612 category, and a number of optional parameters that override the
17613 customizable variables. The complete list of agent parameters are
17616 @cindex Agent Parameters
17618 @item agent-cat-name
17619 The name of the category.
17622 The list of groups that are in this category.
17624 @item agent-predicate
17625 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
17626 are eligible for downloading; and
17628 @item agent-score-file
17629 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
17630 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
17631 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
17633 @item agent-enable-expiration
17634 a boolean indicating whether the agent should expire old articles in
17635 this group. Most groups should be expired to conserve disk space. In
17636 fact, its probably safe to say that the gnus.* hierarchy contains the
17637 only groups that should not be expired.
17639 @item agent-days-until-old
17640 an integer indicating the number of days that the agent should wait
17641 before deciding that a read article is safe to expire.
17643 @item agent-low-score
17644 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-low-score}.
17646 @item agent-high-score
17647 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-high-score}.
17649 @item agent-length-when-short
17650 an integer that overrides the value of
17651 @code{gnus-agent-short-article}.
17653 @item agent-length-when-long
17654 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-long-article}.
17656 @item agent-enable-undownloaded-faces
17657 a symbol indicating whether the summary buffer should display
17658 undownloaded articles using the gnus-summary-*-undownloaded-face
17659 faces. Any symbol other than nil will enable the use of undownloaded
17663 The name of a category can not be changed once the category has been
17666 Each category maintains a list of groups that are exclusive members of
17667 that category. The exclusivity rule is automatically enforced, add a
17668 group to a new category and it is automatically removed from its old
17671 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
17672 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
17673 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
17674 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
17676 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
17677 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
17678 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
17680 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
17681 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
17682 operators sprinkled in between.
17684 Perhaps some examples are in order.
17686 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
17687 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
17693 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
17694 short (for some value of ``short'').
17696 Here's a more complex predicate:
17705 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
17706 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
17709 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
17710 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
17711 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
17713 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
17714 you want to do, you can write your own.
17716 When evaluating each of these predicates, the named constant will be
17717 bound to the value determined by calling
17718 @code{gnus-agent-find-parameter} on the appropriate parameter. For
17719 example, gnus-agent-short-article will be bound to
17720 @code{(gnus-agent-find-parameter group 'agent-short-article)}. This
17721 means that you can specify a predicate in your category then tune that
17722 predicate to individual groups.
17726 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
17727 lines; default 100.
17730 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
17731 lines; default 200.
17734 True iff the article has a download score less than
17735 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
17738 True iff the article has a download score greater than
17739 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
17742 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
17743 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
17744 checksum and sees whether articles match.
17753 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
17754 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
17755 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
17758 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
17759 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
17760 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
17761 something along the lines of the following:
17764 (defun my-article-old-p ()
17765 "Say whether an article is old."
17766 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
17767 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
17770 with the predicate then defined as:
17773 (not my-article-old-p)
17776 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
17777 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
17781 (require 'gnus-agent)
17782 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
17783 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
17784 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
17787 and simply specify your predicate as:
17793 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
17794 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
17795 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
17796 just don't give a damn.
17798 The above predicates apply to @emph{all} the groups which belong to the
17799 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
17800 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
17801 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in its group
17802 parameters like so:
17805 (agent-predicate . short)
17808 This is the group/topic parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
17809 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
17810 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
17812 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
17815 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
17818 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
17819 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
17820 predicate is assumed to be a list.
17823 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
17824 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
17825 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
17826 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
17827 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
17828 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
17830 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
17831 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
17832 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
17833 if it's to be specific to that group.
17835 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
17842 This has the same syntax as a normal Gnus score file except only a
17843 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
17849 Category specification
17853 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
17859 Group/Topic Parameter specification
17862 (agent-score ("from"
17863 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
17868 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
17874 These score files must @emph{only} contain the permitted scoring
17875 keywords stated above.
17881 Category specification
17884 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
17890 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
17894 Group Parameter specification
17897 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
17900 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
17905 Use @code{normal} score files
17907 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
17908 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
17909 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
17910 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
17912 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
17913 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
17914 files for a group, @emph{filtering out} those sections that do not
17915 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
17919 Category Specification
17926 Group Parameter specification
17929 (agent-score . file)
17934 @node Category Buffer
17935 @subsubsection Category Buffer
17937 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
17938 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
17939 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
17941 The following commands are available in this buffer:
17945 @kindex q (Category)
17946 @findex gnus-category-exit
17947 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
17950 @kindex e (Category)
17951 @findex gnus-category-customize-category
17952 Use a customization buffer to set all of the selected category's
17953 parameters at one time (@code{gnus-category-customize-category}).
17956 @kindex k (Category)
17957 @findex gnus-category-kill
17958 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
17961 @kindex c (Category)
17962 @findex gnus-category-copy
17963 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
17966 @kindex a (Category)
17967 @findex gnus-category-add
17968 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
17971 @kindex p (Category)
17972 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
17973 Edit the predicate of the current category
17974 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
17977 @kindex g (Category)
17978 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
17979 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
17980 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
17983 @kindex s (Category)
17984 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
17985 Edit the download score rule of the current category
17986 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
17989 @kindex l (Category)
17990 @findex gnus-category-list
17991 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
17995 @node Category Variables
17996 @subsubsection Category Variables
17999 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
18000 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
18001 Hook run in category buffers.
18003 @item gnus-category-line-format
18004 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
18005 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
18006 Variables}). Valid elements are:
18010 The name of the category.
18013 The number of groups in the category.
18016 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
18017 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
18018 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
18020 @item gnus-agent-short-article
18021 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
18022 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
18024 @item gnus-agent-long-article
18025 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
18026 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
18028 @item gnus-agent-low-score
18029 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
18030 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
18033 @item gnus-agent-high-score
18034 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
18035 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
18038 @item gnus-agent-expire-days
18039 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
18040 The number of days that a @samp{read} article must stay in the agent's
18041 local disk before becoming eligible for expiration (While the name is
18042 the same, this doesn't mean expiring the article on the server. It
18043 just means deleting the local copy of the article). What is also
18044 important to understand is that the counter starts with the time the
18045 article was written to the local disk and not the time the article was
18049 @item gnus-agent-enable-expiration
18050 @vindex gnus-agent-enable-expiration
18051 Determines whether articles in a group are, by default, expired or
18052 retained indefinitely. The default is @code{ENABLE} which means that
18053 you'll have to disable expiration when desired. On the other hand,
18054 you could set this to @code{DISABLE}. In that case, you would then
18055 have to enable expiration in selected groups.
18060 @node Agent Commands
18061 @subsection Agent Commands
18062 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-plugged
18063 @kindex J j (Agent)
18065 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
18066 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
18067 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
18071 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
18072 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
18073 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
18079 @node Group Agent Commands
18080 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
18084 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
18085 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
18086 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
18087 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
18090 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
18091 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
18092 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
18095 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
18096 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
18097 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
18098 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
18101 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
18102 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
18103 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
18104 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
18107 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
18108 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
18109 Add the current group to an Agent category
18110 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
18111 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
18114 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
18115 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
18116 Remove the current group from its category, if any
18117 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
18118 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
18121 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
18122 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
18123 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
18129 @node Summary Agent Commands
18130 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
18134 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
18135 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
18136 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
18139 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
18140 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
18141 Remove the downloading mark from the article
18142 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
18146 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
18147 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
18148 Toggle whether to download the article
18149 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The download mark is @samp{%} by
18153 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
18154 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
18155 Mark all articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}) that are neither cached, downloaded, nor downloadable.
18158 @kindex J S (Agent Summary)
18159 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
18160 Download all eligible (@pxref{Agent Categories}) articles in this group.
18161 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
18164 @kindex J s (Agent Summary)
18165 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-series
18166 Download all processable articles in this group.
18167 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-series}).
18170 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
18171 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
18172 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
18173 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
18178 @node Server Agent Commands
18179 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
18183 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
18184 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
18185 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
18186 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
18189 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
18190 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
18191 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
18192 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
18197 @node Agent Visuals
18198 @subsection Agent Visuals
18200 If you open a summary while unplugged and, Gnus knows from the group's
18201 active range that there are more articles than the headers currently
18202 stored in the Agent, you may see some articles whose subject looks
18203 something like @samp{[Undownloaded article #####]}. These are
18204 placeholders for the missing headers. Aside from setting a mark,
18205 there is not much that can be done with one of these placeholders.
18206 When Gnus finally gets a chance to fetch the group's headers, the
18207 placeholders will automatically be replaced by the actual headers.
18208 You can configure the summary buffer's maneuvering to skip over the
18209 placeholders if you care (See @code{gnus-auto-goto-ignores}).
18211 While it may be obvious to all, the only headers and articles
18212 available while unplugged are those headers and articles that were
18213 fetched into the Agent while previously plugged. To put it another
18214 way, "If you forget to fetch something while plugged, you might have a
18215 less than satisfying unplugged session". For this reason, the Agent
18216 adds two visual effects to your summary buffer. These effects display
18217 the download status of each article so that you always know which
18218 articles will be available when unplugged.
18220 The first visual effect is the @samp{%O} spec. If you customize
18221 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} to include this specifier, you will add
18222 a single character field that indicates an article's download status.
18223 Articles that have been fetched into either the Agent or the Cache,
18224 will display @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} (defaults to @samp{+}). All
18225 other articles will display @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} (defaults to
18226 @samp{-}). If you open a group that has not been agentized, a space
18227 (@samp{ }) will be displayed.
18229 The second visual effect are the undownloaded faces. The faces, there
18230 are three indicating the article's score (low, normal, high), seem to
18231 result in a love/hate response from many Gnus users. The problem is
18232 that the face selection is controlled by a list of condition tests and
18233 face names (See @code{gnus-summary-highlight}). Each condition is
18234 tested in the order in which it appears in the list so early
18235 conditions have precedence over later conditions. All of this means
18236 that, if you tick an undownloaded article, the article will continue
18237 to be displayed in the undownloaded face rather than the ticked face.
18239 If you use the Agent as a cache (to avoid downloading the same article
18240 each time you visit it or to minimize your connection time), the
18241 undownloaded face will probably seem like a good idea. The reason
18242 being that you do all of our work (marking, reading, deleting) with
18243 downloaded articles so the normal faces always appear. For those
18244 users using the agent to improve online performance by caching the NOV
18245 database (most users since 5.10.2), the undownloaded faces may appear
18246 to be an absolutely horrible idea. The issue being that, since none
18247 of their articles have been fetched into the Agent, all of the
18248 normal faces will be obscured by the undownloaded faces.
18250 If you would like to use the undownloaded faces, you must enable the
18251 undownloaded faces by setting the @code{agent-enable-undownloaded-faces}
18252 group parameter to t. This parameter, like all other agent
18253 parameters, may be set on an Agent Category (@pxref{Agent
18254 Categories}), a Group Topic (@pxref{Topic Parameters}), or an
18255 individual group (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
18257 @node Agent as Cache
18258 @subsection Agent as Cache
18260 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
18261 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
18262 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
18263 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
18264 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
18265 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
18266 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
18267 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
18268 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
18270 If you so desire, you can configure the agent (see @code{gnus-agent-cache}
18271 @pxref{Agent Variables}) to always download headers and articles while
18272 plugged. Gnus will almost certainly be slower, but it will be kept
18273 synchronized with the server. That last point probably won't make any
18274 sense if you are using a nntp or nnimap back end.
18277 @subsection Agent Expiry
18279 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
18280 @findex gnus-agent-expire
18281 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
18282 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire-group
18283 @findex gnus-agent-expire-group
18284 @cindex agent expiry
18285 @cindex Gnus agent expiry
18288 The Agent back end, @code{nnagent}, doesn't handle expiry. Well, at
18289 least it doesn't handle it like other back ends. Instead, there are
18290 special @code{gnus-agent-expire} and @code{gnus-agent-expire-group}
18291 commands that will expire all read articles that are older than
18292 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. They can be run whenever you feel
18293 that you're running out of space. Neither are particularly fast or
18294 efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to interrupt them (with
18295 @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started one of them.
18297 Note that other functions, e.g. @code{gnus-request-expire-articles},
18298 might run @code{gnus-agent-expire} for you to keep the agent
18299 synchronized with the group.
18301 The agent parameter @code{agent-enable-expiration} may be used to
18302 prevent expiration in selected groups.
18304 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
18305 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, the agent
18306 expiration commands will expire all articles---unread, read, ticked
18307 and dormant. If @code{nil} (which is the default), only read articles
18308 are eligible for expiry, and unread, ticked and dormant articles will
18309 be kept indefinitely.
18311 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
18312 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's are special
18313 commands, @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} and
18314 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group}, to fix possible problems.
18316 @node Agent Regeneration
18317 @subsection Agent Regeneration
18319 @cindex agent regeneration
18320 @cindex Gnus agent regeneration
18321 @cindex regeneration
18323 The local data structures used by @code{nnagent} may become corrupted
18324 due to certain exceptional conditions. When this happens,
18325 @code{nnagent} functionality may degrade or even fail. The solution
18326 to this problem is to repair the local data structures by removing all
18327 internal inconsistencies.
18329 For example, if your connection to your server is lost while
18330 downloaded articles into the agent, the local data structures will not
18331 know about articles successfully downloaded prior to the connection
18332 failure. Running @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} or
18333 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} will update the data structures
18334 such that you don't need to download these articles a second time.
18336 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
18337 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate
18338 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} will perform
18339 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} on every agentized group. While
18340 you can run @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} in any buffer, it is strongly
18341 recommended that you first close all summary buffers.
18343 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate-group
18344 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate-group
18345 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} uses the local copies
18346 of individual articles to repair the local @acronym{NOV}(header) database. It
18347 then updates the internal data structures that document which articles
18348 are stored locally. An optional argument will mark articles in the
18351 @node Agent and IMAP
18352 @subsection Agent and IMAP
18354 The Agent works with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
18355 since there are some conceptual differences between @acronym{NNTP} and
18356 @acronym{IMAP}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
18357 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @acronym{IMAP} Disconnected Mode client.
18359 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
18360 are kept on the @acronym{IMAP} server, rather than in @file{.newsrc} as is the
18361 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
18362 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
18364 Gnus keeps track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
18365 Agent. When you plug back in, Gnus will check if you have any changed
18366 any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the server.
18367 The behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
18369 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
18370 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
18371 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
18372 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
18373 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
18374 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
18376 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
18377 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
18378 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
18379 in the group buffer.
18381 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
18382 expect from a disconnected @acronym{IMAP} client, including:
18387 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
18390 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
18394 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by ``pushing''
18395 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
18396 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
18397 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on an article, quit the group and
18398 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
18399 removed from the server when you ``synchronize''. The queued flag
18400 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
18401 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
18404 @node Outgoing Messages
18405 @subsection Outgoing Messages
18407 By default, when Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail
18408 and news) are stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}).
18409 You can view them there after posting, and edit them at will.
18411 You can control the circumstances under which outgoing mail is queued
18412 (see @code{gnus-agent-queue-mail}, @pxref{Agent Variables}). Outgoing
18413 news is always queued when Gnus is unplugged, and never otherwise.
18415 You can send the messages either from the draft group with the special
18416 commands available there, or you can use the @kbd{J S} command in the
18417 group buffer to send all the sendable messages in the draft group.
18418 Posting news will only work when Gnus is plugged, but you can send
18421 If sending mail while unplugged does not work for you and you worry
18422 about hitting @kbd{J S} by accident when unplugged, you can have Gnus
18423 ask you to confirm your action (see
18424 @code{gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue}, @pxref{Agent Variables}).
18426 @node Agent Variables
18427 @subsection Agent Variables
18430 @item gnus-agent-directory
18431 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
18432 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
18433 @file{~/News/agent/}.
18435 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
18436 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
18437 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
18438 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
18439 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
18442 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
18443 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
18444 Hook run when connecting to the network.
18446 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
18447 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
18448 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
18450 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
18451 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
18452 Hook run when finished fetching articles.
18454 @item gnus-agent-cache
18455 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
18456 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @acronym{NOV} and
18457 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
18458 The default is non-@code{nil}, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
18460 @item gnus-agent-go-online
18461 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
18462 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
18463 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
18464 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
18465 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
18466 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
18469 @item gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
18470 @vindex gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
18471 If @code{gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded} is non-@code{nil},
18472 mark articles as unread after downloading. This is usually a safe
18473 thing to do as the newly downloaded article has obviously not been
18474 read. The default is t.
18476 @item gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
18477 @vindex gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
18478 If @code{gnus-agent-consider-all-articles} is non-@code{nil}, the
18479 agent will let the agent predicate decide whether articles need to be
18480 downloaded or not, for all articles. When @code{nil}, the default,
18481 the agent will only let the predicate decide whether unread articles
18482 are downloaded or not. If you enable this, you may also want to look
18483 into the agent expiry settings (@pxref{Category Variables}), so that
18484 the agent doesn't download articles which the agent will later expire,
18485 over and over again.
18487 @item gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
18488 @vindex gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
18489 The agent fetches articles into a temporary buffer prior to parsing
18490 them into individual files. To avoid exceeding the max. buffer size,
18491 the agent alternates between fetching and parsing until all articles
18492 have been fetched. @code{gnus-agent-max-fetch-size} provides a size
18493 limit to control how often the cycling occurs. A large value improves
18494 performance. A small value minimizes the time lost should the
18495 connection be lost while fetching (You may need to run
18496 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} to update the group's state.
18497 However, all articles parsed prior to loosing the connection will be
18498 available while unplugged). The default is 10M so it is unusual to
18501 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
18502 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
18503 Perhaps not an Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
18504 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
18505 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
18506 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
18507 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
18508 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
18509 is only valid if the Agent is used.
18511 @item gnus-auto-goto-ignores
18512 @vindex gnus-auto-goto-ignores
18513 Another variable that isn't an Agent variable, yet so closely related
18514 that most will look for it here, this variable tells the summary
18515 buffer how to maneuver around undownloaded (only headers stored in the
18516 agent) and unfetched (neither article nor headers stored) articles.
18518 The legal values are @code{nil} (maneuver to any article),
18519 @code{undownloaded} (maneuvering while unplugged ignores articles that
18520 have not been fetched), @code{always-undownloaded} (maneuvering always
18521 ignores articles that have not been fetched), @code{unfetched}
18522 (maneuvering ignores articles whose headers have not been fetched).
18524 @item gnus-agent-queue-mail
18525 @vindex gnus-agent-queue-mail
18526 When @code{gnus-agent-queue-mail} is @code{always}, Gnus will always
18527 queue mail rather than sending it straight away. When @code{t}, Gnus
18528 will queue mail when unplugged only. When @code{nil}, never queue
18529 mail. The default is @code{t}.
18531 @item gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue
18532 @vindex gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue
18533 When @code{gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue} is non-@code{nil} Gnus will
18534 prompt you to confirm that you really wish to proceed if you hit
18535 @kbd{J S} while unplugged. The default is @code{nil}.
18537 @item gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods
18538 @vindex gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods
18539 If you have never used the Agent before (or more technically, if
18540 @file{~/News/agent/lib/servers} does not exist), Gnus will
18541 automatically agentize a few servers for you. This variable control
18542 which backends should be auto-agentized. It is typically only useful
18543 to agentize remote backends. The auto-agentizing has the same effect
18544 as running @kbd{J a} on the servers (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}).
18545 If the file exist, you must manage the servers manually by adding or
18546 removing them, this variable is only applicable the first time you
18547 start Gnus. The default is @samp{(nntp nnimap)}.
18552 @node Example Setup
18553 @subsection Example Setup
18555 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
18556 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
18557 @file{~/.gnus.el} file to get started.
18560 ;;; @r{Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @acronym{NNTP}}
18561 ;;; @r{from your ISP's server.}
18562 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
18564 ;;; @r{Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from}
18565 ;;; @r{your ISP's @acronym{POP} server.}
18566 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
18568 ;;; @r{Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.}
18569 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
18571 ;;; @r{Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.}
18572 ;;; (gnus-agentize) ; @r{The obsolete setting.}
18573 ;;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; @r{Now the default.}
18576 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
18577 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
18580 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
18581 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
18582 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
18583 @acronym{NNTP} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
18584 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
18587 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
18588 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
18589 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
18590 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
18591 back all the killed groups.)
18593 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
18594 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
18595 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
18598 @node Batching Agents
18599 @subsection Batching Agents
18600 @findex gnus-agent-batch
18602 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
18603 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
18604 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
18606 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
18607 following incantation:
18611 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f -l ~/.gnus.el gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
18615 @node Agent Caveats
18616 @subsection Agent Caveats
18618 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
18619 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
18623 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
18625 @strong{No}. If you want this behaviour, add
18626 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
18627 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
18629 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in
18630 the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
18632 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is @code{nil}.
18636 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
18637 articles; when it's plugged, it talks to your ISP and may also use the
18638 locally stored articles.
18645 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
18646 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
18647 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
18650 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
18651 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
18652 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
18653 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
18654 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
18656 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
18657 before generating the summary buffer.
18659 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
18660 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
18661 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
18663 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
18664 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
18665 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
18666 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
18669 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
18670 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
18671 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
18672 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
18673 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
18674 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
18675 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
18676 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
18677 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
18678 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
18679 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
18680 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
18681 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
18682 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
18683 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
18684 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
18685 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
18689 @node Summary Score Commands
18690 @section Summary Score Commands
18691 @cindex score commands
18693 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
18694 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
18695 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
18696 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
18697 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
18699 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
18700 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
18701 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
18702 score file the current one.
18704 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
18709 @kindex V s (Summary)
18710 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
18711 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
18714 @kindex V S (Summary)
18715 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
18716 Display the score of the current article
18717 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
18720 @kindex V t (Summary)
18721 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
18722 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
18723 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}). In the @code{*Score Trace*} buffer, you
18724 may type @kbd{e} to edit score file corresponding to the score rule on
18725 current line and @kbd{f} to format (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) the
18726 score file and edit it.
18729 @kindex V w (Summary)
18730 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
18731 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
18734 @kindex V R (Summary)
18735 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
18736 Run the current summary through the scoring process
18737 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
18738 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
18739 effect you're having.
18742 @kindex V c (Summary)
18743 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
18744 Make a different score file the current
18745 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
18748 @kindex V e (Summary)
18749 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
18750 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
18751 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
18755 @kindex V f (Summary)
18756 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
18757 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
18758 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
18761 @kindex V F (Summary)
18762 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
18763 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
18764 after editing score files.
18767 @kindex V C (Summary)
18768 @findex gnus-score-customize
18769 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
18770 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
18774 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
18779 @kindex V m (Summary)
18780 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
18781 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
18782 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
18785 @kindex V x (Summary)
18786 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
18787 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
18788 expunge all articles below this score
18789 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
18792 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
18793 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
18796 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
18797 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
18801 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
18802 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
18804 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
18805 keys are available:
18809 Score on the author name.
18812 Score on the subject line.
18815 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
18818 Score on the @code{References} line.
18824 Score on the number of lines.
18827 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
18830 Score on an ``extra'' header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
18831 if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
18834 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
18835 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
18836 @file{ADAPT} files.)
18845 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
18851 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
18852 what headers you are scoring on.
18864 Substring matching.
18867 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
18896 Greater than number.
18901 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
18902 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
18903 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
18908 Temporary score entry.
18911 Permanent score entry.
18914 Immediately scoring.
18918 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
18919 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
18920 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
18924 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
18925 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
18926 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
18927 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
18929 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
18930 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
18931 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
18932 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
18933 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
18935 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
18936 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
18937 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
18938 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
18939 current score file.
18941 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
18942 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
18943 pretend they are keymaps or not.
18946 @node Group Score Commands
18947 @section Group Score Commands
18948 @cindex group score commands
18950 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
18955 @kindex W e (Group)
18956 @findex gnus-score-edit-all-score
18957 Edit the apply-to-all-groups all.SCORE file. You will be popped into
18958 a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score File Editing}).
18961 @kindex W f (Group)
18962 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
18963 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
18964 all the time. This command will flush the cache
18965 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
18969 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
18971 @findex gnus-batch-score
18972 @cindex batch scoring
18974 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
18978 @node Score Variables
18979 @section Score Variables
18980 @cindex score variables
18984 @item gnus-use-scoring
18985 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
18986 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
18987 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
18989 @item gnus-kill-killed
18990 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
18991 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
18992 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
18993 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
18994 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
18995 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
18996 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
18998 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
18999 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
19000 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
19001 initialized from the @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
19002 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
19004 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
19005 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
19006 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
19007 (@file{SCORE} by default.)
19009 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
19010 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
19011 @cindex score cache
19012 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
19013 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
19014 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely
19015 to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
19016 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
19017 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
19018 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
19021 @item gnus-save-score
19022 @vindex gnus-save-score
19023 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
19024 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
19025 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
19027 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
19028 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
19029 across group visits.
19031 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
19032 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
19033 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
19034 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
19035 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
19036 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
19037 manually entered data.
19039 @item gnus-summary-default-score
19040 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
19041 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
19043 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
19044 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
19045 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
19046 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
19047 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
19048 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
19050 @item gnus-score-over-mark
19051 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
19052 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
19053 default. Default is @samp{+}.
19055 @item gnus-score-below-mark
19056 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
19057 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
19058 default. Default is @samp{-}.
19060 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
19061 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
19062 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
19063 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
19065 Predefined functions available are:
19068 @item gnus-score-find-single
19069 @findex gnus-score-find-single
19070 Only apply the group's own score file.
19072 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
19073 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
19074 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
19075 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
19076 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
19077 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
19078 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
19079 then a regexp match is done.
19081 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
19082 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
19084 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
19085 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
19086 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
19087 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
19089 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
19090 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
19091 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
19092 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
19093 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
19097 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
19098 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
19099 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
19100 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
19101 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
19102 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
19103 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
19106 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
19107 overall score file, you could use the value
19109 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
19110 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
19113 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
19114 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
19115 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
19116 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
19117 are expired. It's 7 by default.
19119 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
19120 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
19121 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
19122 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
19123 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
19124 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
19125 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
19126 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
19128 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
19129 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
19130 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
19132 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
19133 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
19134 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be
19135 simplified for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
19136 threading---according to the current value of
19137 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions}. If the scoring entry uses
19138 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
19139 simplified in this manner.
19144 @node Score File Format
19145 @section Score File Format
19146 @cindex score file format
19148 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
19149 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
19150 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
19152 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
19156 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
19158 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
19160 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
19162 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
19167 (mark-and-expunge -10)
19171 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
19172 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
19173 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
19174 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
19178 This example demonstrates most score file elements. @xref{Advanced
19179 Scoring}, for a different approach.
19181 Even though this looks much like Lisp code, nothing here is actually
19182 @code{eval}ed. The Lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
19183 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
19185 Six keys are supported by this alist:
19190 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
19191 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
19192 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
19193 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
19194 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
19195 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
19196 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
19197 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
19198 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
19199 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
19200 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
19201 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
19202 to articles that matches these score entries.
19204 Following this key is an arbitrary number of score entries, where each
19205 score entry has one to four elements.
19209 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
19210 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
19214 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
19215 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
19216 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
19217 is successful. If this element is not present, the
19218 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
19219 instead. This is 1000 by default.
19222 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
19223 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
19224 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
19225 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
19226 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
19229 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
19230 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
19231 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
19232 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
19235 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
19236 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
19237 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
19238 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
19239 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
19240 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
19241 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
19242 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
19243 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
19244 instead, if you feel like.
19247 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
19248 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
19249 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
19250 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
19251 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin
19252 host, if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks @samp{NNTP-Posting-Host} in
19256 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s
19257 "NNTP-Posting-Host")
19261 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
19262 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
19264 These predicates are true if
19267 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
19270 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
19271 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
19278 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
19279 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
19280 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
19281 it's not. I think.)
19283 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
19284 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
19285 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
19286 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
19289 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
19290 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
19291 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
19292 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
19293 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
19294 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
19295 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
19299 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
19300 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
19301 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
19302 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
19303 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
19304 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
19305 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
19306 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
19309 @item Head, Body, All
19310 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
19314 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
19315 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
19316 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
19317 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
19318 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
19319 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
19320 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
19324 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
19325 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
19326 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
19327 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
19328 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
19329 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
19330 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
19331 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
19332 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
19333 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
19334 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
19338 @cindex score file atoms
19340 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
19341 lower than this number will be marked as read.
19344 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
19345 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
19347 @item mark-and-expunge
19348 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
19349 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
19352 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
19353 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
19354 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
19355 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
19356 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
19359 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
19360 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
19363 @item exclude-files
19364 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
19365 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
19369 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
19370 ignored when handling global score files.
19373 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
19374 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
19375 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
19376 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
19379 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
19380 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
19381 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
19382 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
19384 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
19388 (mark-and-expunge -100)
19391 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
19392 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
19393 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
19394 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
19395 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
19397 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
19398 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
19399 scoring rules exist.
19402 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
19403 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
19404 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
19405 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
19406 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
19407 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
19408 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
19409 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
19410 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
19411 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
19412 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
19416 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
19417 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
19418 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
19419 file for a number of groups.
19422 @cindex local variables
19423 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(@var{var}
19424 @var{value})} pairs. Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the
19425 current summary buffer, and set to the value specified. This is a
19426 convenient, if somewhat strange, way of setting variables in some
19427 groups if you don't like hooks much. Note that the @var{value} won't
19432 @node Score File Editing
19433 @section Score File Editing
19435 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
19436 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
19437 with a mode for that.
19439 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
19440 additional commands:
19445 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
19446 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
19447 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
19448 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
19451 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
19452 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
19453 Insert the current date in numerical format
19454 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
19455 you were wondering.
19458 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
19459 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
19460 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
19461 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
19462 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
19467 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
19469 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
19470 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
19472 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f}, @kbd{V e} and
19473 @kbd{V t} to begin editing score files.
19476 @node Adaptive Scoring
19477 @section Adaptive Scoring
19478 @cindex adaptive scoring
19480 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
19481 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
19482 stupidity, to be precise.
19484 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
19485 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
19486 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
19487 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
19488 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
19489 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
19490 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
19491 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
19492 variable to @code{(word line)}.
19494 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
19495 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
19496 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
19497 might look something like this:
19500 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
19501 '((gnus-unread-mark)
19502 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
19503 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
19504 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
19505 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
19506 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
19507 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
19508 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
19509 (gnus-ancient-mark)
19510 (gnus-low-score-mark)
19511 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
19514 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
19515 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
19516 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
19517 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
19518 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
19519 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
19522 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
19523 will be applied to each article.
19525 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
19526 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{e}) will have a
19527 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
19528 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
19530 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
19531 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
19532 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
19533 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
19535 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
19536 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
19537 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
19538 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
19540 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
19541 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
19542 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
19543 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
19544 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
19545 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
19547 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
19548 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
19549 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
19551 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
19552 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
19553 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
19555 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
19556 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
19557 let you use different rules in different groups.
19559 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
19560 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
19561 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
19564 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
19565 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
19566 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
19567 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
19568 the length of the match is less than
19569 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
19570 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
19573 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
19574 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
19575 headers. If you adapt on words, the
19576 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
19577 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
19580 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
19581 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
19582 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
19583 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
19584 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
19587 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
19588 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
19589 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
19590 score with 30 points.
19592 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
19593 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
19594 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
19595 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
19596 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
19598 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
19599 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
19600 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
19601 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
19602 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
19604 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
19605 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
19606 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
19607 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
19609 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
19610 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
19611 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
19612 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
19614 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
19615 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
19616 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
19617 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
19618 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
19620 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
19621 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
19622 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
19624 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
19625 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
19626 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
19627 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
19630 @node Home Score File
19631 @section Home Score File
19633 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
19634 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
19635 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
19636 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
19638 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
19639 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
19640 could perhaps use the same home score file.
19642 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
19643 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
19648 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
19652 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
19653 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
19657 A list. The elements in this list can be:
19661 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
19662 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
19665 A function. If the function returns non-@code{nil}, the result will
19666 be used as the home score file.
19669 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
19672 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
19677 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
19680 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19681 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
19684 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
19685 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
19687 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
19689 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19690 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
19693 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
19694 Other functions include
19697 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
19698 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
19699 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
19700 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
19704 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
19705 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
19706 their own home score files:
19709 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19710 ;; @r{All groups that match the regexp @code{"\\.emacs"}}
19711 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
19712 ;; @r{All the comp groups in one score file}
19713 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
19716 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
19717 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
19718 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
19719 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
19720 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
19722 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
19723 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
19724 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
19725 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
19726 precedence over this variable.
19729 @node Followups To Yourself
19730 @section Followups To Yourself
19732 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
19733 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
19734 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
19735 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
19736 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
19737 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
19741 @item gnus-score-followup-article
19742 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
19743 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
19746 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
19747 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
19748 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
19752 @vindex message-sent-hook
19753 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
19754 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
19756 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
19760 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
19761 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
19765 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
19766 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
19769 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
19770 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
19775 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
19779 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
19780 is system-dependent.
19783 @node Scoring On Other Headers
19784 @section Scoring On Other Headers
19785 @cindex scoring on other headers
19787 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
19788 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
19789 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
19790 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
19791 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
19793 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
19794 mail groups, you have greater control. In @ref{To From Newsgroups},
19795 it's explained in greater detail what this mechanism does, but here's
19796 a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on how to allow scoring on the
19797 @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
19799 Put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
19802 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
19803 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
19806 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
19807 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
19808 time if you have much mail.
19810 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
19811 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
19817 @section Scoring Tips
19818 @cindex scoring tips
19824 @cindex scoring crossposts
19825 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
19826 the @code{Xref} header.
19828 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
19831 @item Multiple crossposts
19832 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
19833 more than, say, 3 groups:
19836 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
19840 @item Matching on the body
19841 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
19842 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
19843 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
19844 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
19845 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
19846 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
19847 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
19850 @item Marking as read
19851 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
19852 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
19853 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
19857 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
19859 @item Negated character classes
19860 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
19861 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
19862 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
19866 @node Reverse Scoring
19867 @section Reverse Scoring
19868 @cindex reverse scoring
19870 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
19871 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
19872 like this in your score file:
19876 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
19881 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
19882 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
19885 @node Global Score Files
19886 @section Global Score Files
19887 @cindex global score files
19889 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
19890 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
19891 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
19893 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
19894 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
19895 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
19897 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
19898 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
19899 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
19900 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
19901 files are applicable to which group.
19903 To use the score file
19904 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
19905 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
19909 (setq gnus-global-score-files
19910 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
19911 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
19914 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
19916 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
19917 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
19918 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
19919 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
19921 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
19922 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
19924 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
19925 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
19926 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
19927 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
19928 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
19929 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
19931 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
19937 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
19939 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
19941 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
19943 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
19944 lowered out of existence.
19946 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
19947 articles completely.
19950 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
19951 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
19952 old articles for a long time.
19955 @dots{} I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
19956 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
19957 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
19958 holding our breath yet?
19962 @section Kill Files
19965 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
19966 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
19967 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
19969 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
19970 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
19971 files into score files.
19973 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
19974 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
19975 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
19976 that isn't a very good idea.
19978 Normal kill files look like this:
19981 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19982 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
19986 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
19987 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
19989 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
19990 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
19993 Two summary functions for editing a @sc{gnus} kill file:
19998 @kindex M-k (Summary)
19999 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
20000 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
20003 @kindex M-K (Summary)
20004 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
20005 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
20008 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
20013 @kindex M-k (Group)
20014 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
20015 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
20018 @kindex M-K (Group)
20019 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
20020 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
20023 Kill file variables:
20026 @item gnus-kill-file-name
20027 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
20028 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
20029 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
20030 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
20031 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
20032 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
20034 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
20035 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
20036 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
20037 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
20040 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
20041 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
20042 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
20043 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
20044 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
20045 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
20046 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
20047 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
20048 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
20050 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
20051 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
20052 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
20057 @node Converting Kill Files
20058 @section Converting Kill Files
20060 @cindex converting kill files
20062 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
20063 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
20064 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
20067 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
20068 You can fetch it from
20069 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
20071 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
20072 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
20073 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
20081 @sc{Note:} Unfortunately the GroupLens system seems to have shut down,
20082 so this section is mostly of historical interest.
20084 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/, GroupLens} is a
20085 collaborative filtering system that helps you work together with other
20086 people to find the quality news articles out of the huge volume of
20087 news articles generated every day.
20089 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
20090 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
20091 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
20092 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
20093 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
20094 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
20095 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
20096 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
20100 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
20101 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
20102 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
20103 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
20107 @node Using GroupLens
20108 @subsection Using GroupLens
20110 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local
20111 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html, Better Bit
20112 Bureau (BBB)} is the only better bit in town at the moment.
20114 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
20118 @item gnus-use-grouplens
20119 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
20120 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
20121 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
20123 @item grouplens-pseudonym
20124 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
20125 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
20126 with the Better Bit Bureau.
20128 @item grouplens-newsgroups
20129 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
20130 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
20134 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
20135 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
20136 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
20137 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
20138 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
20139 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
20142 @node Rating Articles
20143 @subsection Rating Articles
20145 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
20146 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
20147 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
20148 yourself is, ``on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
20151 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
20156 @kindex r (GroupLens)
20157 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
20158 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
20161 @kindex k (GroupLens)
20162 @findex grouplens-score-thread
20163 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
20164 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
20165 threads in rec.humor.
20169 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
20170 the score of the article you're reading.
20175 @kindex n (GroupLens)
20176 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
20177 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
20180 @kindex , (GroupLens)
20181 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
20182 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
20186 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
20187 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
20190 @node Displaying Predictions
20191 @subsection Displaying Predictions
20193 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
20194 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
20195 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
20196 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
20197 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
20199 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
20200 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
20201 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
20202 regular Gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
20203 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
20204 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
20205 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
20206 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
20207 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
20208 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
20209 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
20210 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
20211 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
20213 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
20214 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
20215 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
20216 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
20218 The following are valid values for that variable.
20221 @item prediction-spot
20222 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
20225 @item confidence-interval
20226 A numeric confidence interval.
20228 @item prediction-bar
20229 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
20231 @item confidence-bar
20232 Numerical confidence.
20234 @item confidence-spot
20235 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
20237 @item prediction-num
20238 Plain-old numeric value.
20240 @item confidence-plus-minus
20241 Prediction +/- confidence.
20246 @node GroupLens Variables
20247 @subsection GroupLens Variables
20251 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
20252 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
20253 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
20254 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%)
20257 @item grouplens-bbb-host
20258 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
20261 @item grouplens-bbb-port
20262 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
20264 @item grouplens-score-offset
20265 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
20266 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
20269 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
20270 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
20271 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
20276 @node Advanced Scoring
20277 @section Advanced Scoring
20279 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
20280 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
20281 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
20282 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
20283 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
20285 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
20289 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
20290 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
20291 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
20295 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
20296 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
20298 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
20299 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
20300 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
20301 non-@code{nil} value.
20303 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
20304 operator, and various match operators.
20311 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
20312 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
20313 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
20318 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
20319 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
20320 then this operator will return @code{false}.
20325 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
20326 logical negation of the value of its argument.
20330 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
20331 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
20332 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
20333 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
20334 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
20335 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
20336 the ancestry you want to go.
20338 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
20339 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
20340 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
20341 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
20342 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
20345 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
20346 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
20348 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
20349 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
20352 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
20353 when he's talking about Gnus:
20358 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20359 ("subject" "Gnus"))
20366 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
20370 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20377 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
20378 really don't want to read what he's written:
20382 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20383 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
20387 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
20388 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
20389 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
20396 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
20397 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
20398 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
20399 ("body" "white.*socks"))
20403 The possibilities are endless.
20406 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
20407 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
20409 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
20410 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
20411 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
20412 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
20413 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
20414 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
20415 @samp{subject}) first.
20417 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
20418 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
20429 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
20430 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
20436 ("subject" "Gnus")))
20443 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
20444 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
20449 @section Score Decays
20450 @cindex score decays
20453 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
20454 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
20455 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
20456 use them in any sensible way.
20458 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
20459 @findex gnus-decay-score
20460 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
20461 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
20462 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
20463 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
20464 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
20465 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
20466 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
20467 definition of that function:
20470 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
20471 "Decay SCORE according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
20472 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
20474 (* (if (< score 0) -1 1)
20476 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
20478 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
20479 (if (and (featurep 'xemacs)
20480 ;; XEmacs' floor can handle only the floating point
20481 ;; number below the half of the maximum integer.
20482 (> (abs n) (lsh -1 -2)))
20484 (car (split-string (number-to-string n) "\\.")))
20488 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
20489 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
20490 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
20491 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
20495 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
20498 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
20501 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
20505 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
20506 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
20507 the new score, which should be an integer.
20509 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
20510 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
20515 @include message.texi
20516 @chapter Emacs MIME
20517 @include emacs-mime.texi
20519 @include sieve.texi
20521 @c @include pgg.texi
20523 @c @include sasl.texi
20531 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
20532 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
20533 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
20534 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
20535 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
20536 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
20537 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
20538 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
20539 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
20540 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
20541 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
20542 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
20543 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
20544 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
20545 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
20546 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
20547 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
20548 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
20549 * Other modes:: Interaction with other modes.
20550 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
20554 @node Process/Prefix
20555 @section Process/Prefix
20556 @cindex process/prefix convention
20558 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
20559 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
20561 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
20562 command to be performed on.
20566 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
20567 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
20568 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
20569 with the current one.
20571 @vindex transient-mark-mode
20572 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
20573 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
20575 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
20576 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
20579 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
20580 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
20582 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
20585 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
20586 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
20587 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
20588 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
20590 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
20591 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
20592 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
20593 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
20594 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
20595 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
20596 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
20597 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
20599 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
20600 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
20601 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
20602 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
20603 expirable, you could say @kbd{M P b M-& E}.
20607 @section Interactive
20608 @cindex interaction
20612 @item gnus-novice-user
20613 @vindex gnus-novice-user
20614 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
20615 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
20616 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
20617 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
20620 @item gnus-expert-user
20621 @vindex gnus-expert-user
20622 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
20623 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
20624 matter how strange.
20626 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
20627 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
20628 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
20629 is @code{t} by default.
20631 @item gnus-interactive-exit
20632 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
20633 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
20638 @node Symbolic Prefixes
20639 @section Symbolic Prefixes
20640 @cindex symbolic prefixes
20642 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
20643 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
20644 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
20645 rule of 900 to the current article.
20647 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
20648 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
20649 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
20650 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
20651 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
20652 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
20653 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
20655 @kindex M-i (Summary)
20656 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
20657 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
20658 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
20659 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
20660 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
20661 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
20662 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
20663 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
20665 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
20666 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
20667 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
20669 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
20673 @node Formatting Variables
20674 @section Formatting Variables
20675 @cindex formatting variables
20677 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
20678 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
20679 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
20680 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
20681 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
20684 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
20685 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
20686 lots of percentages everywhere.
20689 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
20690 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
20691 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
20692 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
20693 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
20694 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
20695 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
20696 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
20699 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
20700 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
20701 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
20702 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
20703 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
20704 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
20705 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
20706 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
20708 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
20709 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
20711 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
20712 @findex gnus-update-format
20713 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
20714 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
20715 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
20716 examine the resulting Lisp code to be run to generate the line.
20720 @node Formatting Basics
20721 @subsection Formatting Basics
20723 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
20724 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
20725 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
20727 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
20728 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
20729 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
20730 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
20731 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
20734 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
20735 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
20736 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
20737 less than 4 characters wide.
20739 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
20740 @samp{%&user-date;}.
20743 @node Mode Line Formatting
20744 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
20746 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
20747 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
20748 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
20749 with the following two differences:
20754 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
20757 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
20758 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
20759 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
20760 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
20761 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
20762 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
20763 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
20768 @node Advanced Formatting
20769 @subsection Advanced Formatting
20771 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
20772 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
20773 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
20774 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
20776 These are the valid modifiers:
20781 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
20785 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
20790 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
20793 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
20798 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
20801 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
20804 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
20807 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
20813 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
20818 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
20819 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
20820 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
20821 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
20822 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
20823 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
20824 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
20826 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
20827 last operation, padding.
20829 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
20830 If @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} is set to @code{nil} (@code{t} by
20831 default) with your strong personality, and use a lots of these advanced
20832 thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets quite slow. This can be helped
20833 enormously by running @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with
20834 the look of your lines.
20835 @xref{Compilation}.
20838 @node User-Defined Specs
20839 @subsection User-Defined Specs
20841 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
20842 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
20843 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
20844 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
20845 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
20846 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
20847 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
20848 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
20849 should protect against that.
20851 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
20852 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
20854 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
20855 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
20856 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
20857 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
20861 @node Formatting Fonts
20862 @subsection Formatting Fonts
20864 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
20865 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
20866 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
20867 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
20870 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
20871 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
20872 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
20873 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
20874 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
20875 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
20877 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
20878 special @code{balloon-help} property set to
20879 @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get
20880 @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*}
20881 variables should be either strings or symbols naming functions that
20882 return a string. When the mouse passes over text with this property
20883 set, a balloon window will appear and display the string. Please
20884 refer to @ref{Tooltips, ,Tooltips, emacs, The Emacs Manual},
20885 (in GNU Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in
20886 XEmacs) for more information on this. (For technical reasons, the
20887 guillemets have been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this
20890 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
20893 ;; @r{Create three face types.}
20894 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
20895 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
20897 ;; @r{We want the article count to be in}
20898 ;; @r{a bold and green face. So we create}
20899 ;; @r{a new face called @code{my-green-bold}.}
20900 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
20901 ;; @r{Set the color.}
20902 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
20903 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
20905 ;; @r{Set the new & fancy format.}
20906 (setq gnus-group-line-format
20907 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
20910 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
20911 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
20913 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
20914 mode-line variables.
20916 @node Positioning Point
20917 @subsection Positioning Point
20919 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
20920 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
20921 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
20923 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
20925 @findex gnus-goto-colon
20926 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
20927 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
20929 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
20930 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
20931 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
20936 @subsection Tabulation
20938 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
20939 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
20940 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
20941 about lining up the following text afterwards.
20943 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs---@samp{%=}. There are two
20944 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
20946 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
20947 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
20948 This is the soft tabulator.
20950 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
20951 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
20952 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
20955 @node Wide Characters
20956 @subsection Wide Characters
20958 Fixed width fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
20959 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
20960 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
20962 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
20963 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
20964 these countries, that's not true.
20966 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
20967 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
20968 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
20969 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
20973 @node Window Layout
20974 @section Window Layout
20975 @cindex window layout
20977 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
20979 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
20980 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
20981 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
20982 @code{t} by default.
20984 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
20985 glitches. Use at your own peril.
20987 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
20988 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
20989 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
20992 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
20993 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
20994 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
20998 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
20999 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
21000 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
21001 possible names is listed below.
21003 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
21004 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
21007 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
21011 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
21012 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
21013 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
21014 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
21015 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
21016 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
21017 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
21018 size spec per split.
21020 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
21021 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
21022 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
21023 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
21024 present) gets focus.
21026 Here's a more complicated example:
21029 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
21030 (summary 0.25 point)
21031 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
21035 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
21036 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
21037 occupy, not a percentage.
21039 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
21040 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
21041 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
21042 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
21043 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
21046 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
21049 (article (horizontal 1.0
21054 (summary 0.25 point)
21059 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
21060 @code{horizontal} thingie?
21062 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
21063 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
21064 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
21065 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
21066 the screen is to be given to this strip.
21068 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
21069 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
21070 lines from the splits.
21072 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
21077 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
21078 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
21079 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
21080 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
21081 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
21082 size = number | frame-params
21083 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
21087 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
21088 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
21089 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
21090 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
21092 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
21093 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
21094 @cindex window height
21095 @cindex window width
21096 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
21097 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
21098 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
21099 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
21100 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
21101 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
21103 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
21104 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
21105 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
21106 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
21108 @findex gnus-configure-frame
21109 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
21110 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
21111 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
21112 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
21113 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
21114 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
21115 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
21116 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
21117 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
21118 configuration list.
21121 (gnus-configure-frame
21125 (article 0.3 point))
21133 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
21134 @code{frame} split:
21137 (gnus-configure-frame
21140 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
21142 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
21143 (user-position . t)
21144 (left . -1) (top . 1))
21149 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
21150 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
21151 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
21152 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
21153 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
21154 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
21155 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
21156 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
21158 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
21159 be found in its default value.
21161 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
21162 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
21163 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
21167 (message (horizontal 1.0
21168 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
21170 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
21175 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
21176 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
21177 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
21182 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
21183 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
21184 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
21185 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
21186 (name . "Message"))
21187 (message 1.0 point))))
21190 @findex gnus-add-configuration
21191 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
21192 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
21193 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
21194 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
21197 (gnus-add-configuration
21198 '(article (vertical 1.0
21200 (summary .25 point)
21204 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
21205 @file{~/.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
21206 Gnus has been loaded.
21208 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
21209 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
21210 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
21211 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
21212 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
21214 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
21215 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
21216 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
21219 @subsection Example Window Configurations
21223 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
21224 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
21239 (gnus-add-configuration
21242 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
21244 (summary 0.16 point)
21247 (gnus-add-configuration
21250 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
21251 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
21257 @node Faces and Fonts
21258 @section Faces and Fonts
21263 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
21264 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
21265 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
21270 @section Compilation
21271 @cindex compilation
21272 @cindex byte-compilation
21274 @findex gnus-compile
21276 Remember all those line format specification variables?
21277 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
21278 on. By default, T-gnus will use the byte-compiled codes of these
21279 variables and we can keep a slow-down to a minimum. However, if you set
21280 @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} to @code{nil} (@code{t} by default),
21281 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
21282 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
21283 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
21286 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
21287 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
21288 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
21289 you'll get top speed again. Note that T-gnus will not save these
21290 compiled specs in the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
21293 @item gnus-compile-user-specs
21294 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
21295 If it is non-nil, the user-defined format specs will be byte-compiled
21296 automatically. The default value of this variable is @code{t}. It has
21297 an effect on the values of @code{gnus-*-line-format-spec}.
21302 @section Mode Lines
21305 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
21306 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
21307 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
21308 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
21309 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
21310 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
21311 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
21314 @cindex display-time
21316 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
21317 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
21318 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
21319 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
21320 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
21321 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
21322 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
21323 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
21326 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
21328 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
21329 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
21331 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
21332 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
21333 (length display-time-string)))))
21336 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
21337 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
21338 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
21339 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
21340 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
21343 @node Highlighting and Menus
21344 @section Highlighting and Menus
21346 @cindex highlighting
21349 @vindex gnus-visual
21350 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
21351 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
21352 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
21355 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
21356 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
21359 @item group-highlight
21360 Do highlights in the group buffer.
21361 @item summary-highlight
21362 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
21363 @item article-highlight
21364 Do highlights in the article buffer.
21366 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
21368 Create menus in the group buffer.
21370 Create menus in the summary buffers.
21372 Create menus in the article buffer.
21374 Create menus in the browse buffer.
21376 Create menus in the server buffer.
21378 Create menus in the score buffers.
21380 Create menus in all buffers.
21383 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
21384 buffers, you could say something like:
21387 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
21390 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
21393 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
21396 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
21397 in all Gnus buffers.
21399 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
21402 @item gnus-mouse-face
21403 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
21404 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
21405 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
21409 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
21413 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
21414 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
21415 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
21417 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
21418 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
21419 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
21421 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
21422 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
21423 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
21425 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
21426 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
21427 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
21429 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
21430 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
21431 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
21433 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
21434 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
21435 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
21446 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
21447 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
21448 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
21449 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
21450 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
21454 @vindex gnus-carpal
21455 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
21456 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
21457 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
21462 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
21463 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
21464 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
21466 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
21467 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
21468 Face used on buttons.
21470 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
21471 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
21472 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
21474 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
21475 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
21476 Buttons in the group buffer.
21478 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
21479 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
21480 Buttons in the summary buffer.
21482 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
21483 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
21484 Buttons in the server buffer.
21486 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
21487 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
21488 Buttons in the browse buffer.
21491 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
21492 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
21493 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
21501 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
21502 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
21503 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
21504 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
21505 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
21507 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
21508 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
21509 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
21511 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
21512 been idle for thirty minutes:
21515 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
21518 Here's a handler that scans for @acronym{PGP} headers every hour when
21522 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
21525 This @var{time} parameter and that @var{idle} parameter work together
21526 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
21527 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
21529 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
21530 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
21531 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
21532 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
21534 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
21535 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
21536 @var{idle} minutes.
21538 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
21539 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
21542 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
21543 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
21544 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
21546 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
21547 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
21548 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
21549 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
21551 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
21552 your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21554 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
21556 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
21559 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
21560 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
21561 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
21562 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
21563 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
21564 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
21565 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
21566 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
21567 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
21568 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
21569 @file{~/.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
21571 @findex gnus-demon-init
21572 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
21573 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
21574 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
21575 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
21576 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
21578 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
21579 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
21580 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
21589 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
21590 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
21592 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
21593 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
21594 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
21595 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
21598 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
21599 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
21600 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
21601 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
21603 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
21604 this will make spam disappear.
21606 There are some variables to customize, of course:
21609 @item gnus-use-nocem
21610 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
21611 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
21614 @item gnus-nocem-groups
21615 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
21616 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
21619 ("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
21620 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")
21623 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
21624 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
21625 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
21626 people you want to listen to. The default is
21628 ("Automoose-1" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
21629 "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo" "hweede@@snafu.de")
21631 fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
21633 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at@*
21634 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
21636 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
21637 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
21638 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
21639 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
21640 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
21641 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
21642 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
21643 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
21644 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
21645 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
21647 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
21648 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
21651 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
21654 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
21655 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
21658 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
21661 The specs are applied left-to-right.
21664 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
21665 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
21667 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
21668 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
21669 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
21670 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
21672 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
21673 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
21676 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
21678 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
21686 This might be dangerous, though.
21688 @item gnus-nocem-directory
21689 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
21690 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is@*
21691 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
21693 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
21694 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
21695 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
21696 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
21697 might then see old spam.
21699 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
21700 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
21701 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
21702 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
21703 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
21706 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
21707 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
21708 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
21709 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
21713 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
21714 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
21715 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
21716 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
21723 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
21724 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
21725 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
21727 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
21728 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
21729 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
21730 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
21731 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
21732 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
21733 @code{undo} function.
21735 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
21736 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
21737 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
21738 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
21739 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
21740 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
21741 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
21742 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
21743 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
21744 never be totally undoable.
21746 @findex gnus-undo-mode
21747 @vindex gnus-use-undo
21749 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
21750 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
21751 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
21752 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
21756 @node Predicate Specifiers
21757 @section Predicate Specifiers
21758 @cindex predicate specifiers
21760 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
21761 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
21762 to type all that much.
21764 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
21769 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
21770 gnus-article-unread-p)
21773 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
21774 functions all take one parameter.
21776 @findex gnus-make-predicate
21777 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
21778 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
21779 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
21784 @section Moderation
21787 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
21788 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
21789 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
21792 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
21796 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
21799 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
21801 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
21806 You split your incoming mail by matching on
21807 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
21808 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
21811 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
21812 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
21815 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
21816 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
21820 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
21823 (setq gnus-moderated-list
21824 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
21828 @node Image Enhancements
21829 @section Image Enhancements
21831 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21@footnote{Emacs 21 on MS Windows doesn't
21832 support images yet.}, is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has
21833 taken advantage of that.
21836 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
21837 * Face:: Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
21838 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
21839 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
21840 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
21848 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
21849 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
21850 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
21854 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
21855 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
21856 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
21864 Decoding an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
21865 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
21866 have @samp{compface} installed on your system. If either is true,
21867 Gnus will default to displaying @code{X-Face} headers.
21869 The variable that controls this is the
21870 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
21871 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
21872 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
21873 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
21874 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
21876 The default action under Emacs 20 is to fork off the @code{display}
21877 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For
21878 the @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
21879 like @code{compface} or @code{faces-xface} on a GNU/Linux system.} to
21882 Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image support, the default
21883 action is to display the face before the @code{From} header. (It's
21884 nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support---that
21885 will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native @code{X-Face}
21886 support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
21887 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
21888 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
21889 like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.})
21891 (Note: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
21894 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
21895 easier insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages.
21897 @findex gnus-random-x-face
21898 @vindex gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command
21899 @vindex gnus-x-face-directory
21900 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
21901 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
21902 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
21903 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
21904 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
21905 header data as a string.
21907 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
21908 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
21909 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
21910 randomly generated data.
21912 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
21913 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command
21914 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
21915 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
21916 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
21918 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
21919 like the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21922 (setq message-required-news-headers
21923 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21924 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
21927 Using the last function would be something like this:
21930 (setq message-required-news-headers
21931 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21932 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
21933 (gnus-x-face-from-file
21934 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
21942 @c #### FIXME: faces and x-faces'implementations should really be harmonized.
21944 @code{Face} headers are essentially a funkier version of @code{X-Face}
21945 ones. They describe a 48x48 pixel colored image that's supposed to
21946 represent the author of the message.
21949 @findex gnus-article-display-face
21950 The contents of a @code{Face} header must be a base64 encoded PNG image.
21951 See @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/circus/face/} for the precise
21954 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
21955 easier insertion of Face headers in outgoing messages.
21957 @findex gnus-convert-png-to-face
21958 @code{gnus-convert-png-to-face} takes a 48x48 PNG image, no longer than
21959 726 bytes long, and converts it to a face.
21961 @findex gnus-face-from-file
21962 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-face-command
21963 @code{gnus-face-from-file} takes a JPEG file as the parameter, and then
21964 converts the file to Face format by using the
21965 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-face-command} shell command.
21967 Here's how you would typically use this function. Put something like the
21968 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21971 (setq message-required-news-headers
21972 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21973 (list '(Face . (lambda ()
21974 (gnus-face-from-file "~/face.jpg"))))))
21979 @subsection Smileys
21984 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
21989 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
21990 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
21992 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
21993 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21996 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
21999 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{8-)}, @samp{:-(} and
22000 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
22001 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
22002 text and maps that to file names.
22004 @vindex smiley-regexp-alist
22005 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist}
22006 variable. The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched;
22007 the second element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by
22008 the picture; and the third element is the name of the file to be
22011 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
22016 @item smiley-data-directory
22017 @vindex smiley-data-directory
22018 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
22020 @item gnus-smiley-file-types
22021 @vindex gnus-smiley-file-types
22022 List of suffixes on smiley file names to try.
22036 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
22037 good way to do so. It's also a great way to impress people staring
22038 over your shoulder as you read news.
22040 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
22049 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
22050 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
22051 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
22052 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
22053 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
22054 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
22055 @code{GIF} formats.
22058 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
22059 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases,
22060 point your Web browser at
22061 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
22063 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
22064 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
22066 To enable displaying picons, simply make sure that
22067 @code{gnus-picon-databases} points to the directory containing the
22070 The following variables offer control over where things are located.
22074 @item gnus-picon-databases
22075 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
22076 The location of the picons database. This is a list of directories
22077 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
22078 subdirectories. Defaults to @code{("/usr/lib/picon"
22079 "/usr/local/faces")}.
22081 @item gnus-picon-news-directories
22082 @vindex gnus-picon-news-directories
22083 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
22084 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
22086 @item gnus-picon-user-directories
22087 @vindex gnus-picon-user-directories
22088 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for user
22089 faces. @code{("users" "usenix" "local" "misc")} is the default.
22091 @item gnus-picon-domain-directories
22092 @vindex gnus-picon-domain-directories
22093 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
22094 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
22095 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
22097 @item gnus-picon-file-types
22098 @vindex gnus-picon-file-types
22099 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
22100 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not built-in your Emacs.
22106 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
22109 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
22110 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
22111 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
22112 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
22113 unusual directory structure.
22115 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
22116 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
22117 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
22118 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
22120 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
22121 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
22122 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
22123 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
22124 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
22125 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
22127 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
22128 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
22129 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
22134 @subsubsection Toolbar
22138 @item gnus-use-toolbar
22139 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
22140 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
22141 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
22142 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
22144 @item gnus-group-toolbar
22145 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
22146 The toolbar in the group buffer.
22148 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
22149 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
22150 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
22152 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
22153 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
22154 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
22165 @node Fuzzy Matching
22166 @section Fuzzy Matching
22167 @cindex fuzzy matching
22169 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
22170 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
22172 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
22173 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
22174 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
22176 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
22177 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
22178 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
22179 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
22180 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
22183 @node Thwarting Email Spam
22184 @section Thwarting Email Spam
22188 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
22190 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
22191 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
22192 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
22193 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
22194 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
22195 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
22196 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
22197 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
22200 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
22201 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
22202 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
22203 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
22204 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
22205 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
22207 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
22210 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
22211 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
22212 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
22213 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
22214 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
22215 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
22218 @node The problem of spam
22219 @subsection The problem of spam
22221 @cindex spam filtering approaches
22222 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
22224 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
22226 First, some background on spam.
22228 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
22229 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it
22230 exists because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail,
22231 so only a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to
22232 make it worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most
22233 common spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for
22234 further spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers},
22235 but terms like @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, @emph{sociopaths}, and
22236 @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
22238 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
22239 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
22240 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
22241 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
22242 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
22243 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
22244 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
22245 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
22246 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
22249 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering, at the mail
22250 server or when you sort through incoming mail. If you get 200 spam
22251 messages per day from @samp{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you block
22252 @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about @samp{VIAGRA}, you
22253 discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the message. If you get
22254 lots of spam from Bulgaria, for example, you try to filter all mail
22255 from Bulgarian IPs.
22257 This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate e-mail. The
22258 risks of blocking a whole country (Bulgaria, Norway, Nigeria, China,
22259 etc.) or even a continent (Asia, Africa, Europe, etc.) from contacting
22260 you should be obvious, so don't do it if you have the choice.
22262 In another instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest has
22263 been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it @strong{contained}
22264 words that were common in spam messages. Nevertheless, in isolated
22265 cases, with great care, direct filtering of mail can be useful.
22267 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
22268 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
22269 @var{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @var{X} in
22270 Ghana, Estonia, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
22271 @var{N} systems enter @var{X} or the spam e-mail from @var{X} into a
22272 database. The criteria for spam detection vary---it may be the number
22273 of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When a user
22274 of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a message is
22275 spam, he consults one of those @var{N} systems.
22277 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
22278 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
22279 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
22280 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
22281 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
22282 sending spam, and their web sites and mailing lists have been shut
22283 down for some time because of the incident.
22285 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
22286 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
22287 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
22288 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
22289 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
22290 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
22291 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
22292 to store the database of spam analyses. Statistical analysis on the
22293 server is gaining popularity. This has the advantage of letting the
22294 user Just Read Mail, but has the disadvantage that it's harder to tell
22295 the server that it has misclassified mail.
22297 Fighting spam is not easy, no matter what anyone says. There is no
22298 magic switch that will distinguish Viagra ads from Mom's e-mails.
22299 Even people are having a hard time telling spam apart from non-spam,
22300 because spammers are actively looking to fool us into thinking they
22301 are Mom, essentially. Spamming is irritating, irresponsible, and
22302 idiotic behavior from a bunch of people who think the world owes them
22303 a favor. We hope the following sections will help you in fighting the
22306 @node Anti-Spam Basics
22307 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
22311 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
22313 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
22314 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
22316 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
22317 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
22318 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
22319 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
22320 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
22321 part of the mail address.)
22324 (setq message-default-news-headers
22325 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
22328 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
22329 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
22333 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
22334 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
22335 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
22340 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
22341 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
22342 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
22343 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
22345 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @acronym{SMTP} server
22346 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
22347 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
22348 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
22349 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
22350 your fancy split rule in this way:
22355 (to "larsi" "misc")
22359 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
22360 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
22361 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
22362 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
22363 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
22365 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
22366 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
22367 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
22368 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
22370 Be careful with this approach. Spammers are wise to it.
22374 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
22375 @cindex SpamAssassin
22376 @cindex Vipul's Razor
22379 The days where the hints in the previous section were sufficient in
22380 avoiding spam are coming to an end. There are many tools out there
22381 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
22382 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
22383 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
22384 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
22385 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
22387 Note that this section does not involve the @code{spam.el} package,
22388 which is discussed in the next section. If you don't care for all
22389 the features of @code{spam.el}, you can make do with these simple
22392 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
22393 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
22394 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
22395 Specifiers}) follow.
22399 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
22403 "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
22406 Once you manage to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
22407 the mail contain e.g.@: a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
22408 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
22411 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
22415 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
22418 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
22419 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
22423 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
22424 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
22425 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
22426 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
22429 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
22431 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
22435 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
22436 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
22440 Note that with the nnimap backend, message bodies will not be
22441 downloaded by default. You need to set
22442 @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to @code{t} to do that
22443 (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}).
22445 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
22446 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
22447 spam. And here is the nifty function:
22450 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
22451 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
22453 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
22454 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
22455 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
22459 @subsection Hashcash
22462 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
22463 costly for each message they send. This has the obvious drawback that
22464 you cannot rely on everyone in the world using this technique,
22465 since it is not part of the Internet standards, but it may be useful
22466 in smaller communities.
22468 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
22469 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
22470 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
22471 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
22472 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
22473 instead prefers that everyone you contact through e-mail supports the
22474 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
22475 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
22476 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
22477 one of them separately.
22480 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
22481 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
22482 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:}
22483 header. For more details, and for the external application
22484 @code{hashcash} you need to install to use this feature, see
22485 @uref{http://www.cypherspace.org/~adam/hashcash/}. Even more
22486 information can be found at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
22488 If you wish to call hashcash for each message you send, say something
22492 (require 'hashcash)
22493 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'mail-add-payment)
22496 The @file{hashcash.el} library can be found in the Gnus development
22497 contrib directory or at
22498 @uref{http://users.actrix.gen.nz/mycroft/hashcash.el}.
22500 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
22504 @item hashcash-default-payment
22505 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
22506 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
22507 should consist of. By default this is 0, meaning nothing will be
22508 done. Suggested useful values include 17 to 29.
22510 @item hashcash-payment-alist
22511 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
22512 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
22513 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(@var{addr}
22514 @var{amount})} cells, where @var{addr} is the receiver (email address
22515 or newsgroup) and @var{amount} is the number of bits in the collision
22516 that is needed. It can also contain @samp{(@var{addr} @var{string}
22517 @var{amount})} cells, where the @var{string} is the string to use
22518 (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
22522 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed.
22526 Currently there is no built in functionality in Gnus to verify
22527 hashcash cookies, it is expected that this is performed by your hand
22528 customized mail filtering scripts. Improvements in this area would be
22529 a useful contribution, however.
22531 @node Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
22532 @subsection Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
22533 @cindex spam filtering
22536 The idea behind @file{spam.el} is to have a control center for spam detection
22537 and filtering in Gnus. To that end, @file{spam.el} does two things: it
22538 filters new mail, and it analyzes mail known to be spam or ham.
22539 @dfn{Ham} is the name used throughout @file{spam.el} to indicate
22542 First of all, you @strong{must} run the function
22543 @code{spam-initialize} to autoload @code{spam.el} and to install the
22544 @code{spam.el} hooks. There is one exception: if you use the
22545 @code{spam-use-stat} (@pxref{spam-stat spam filtering}) setting, you
22546 should turn it on before @code{spam-initialize}:
22549 (setq spam-use-stat t) ;; if needed
22553 So, what happens when you load @file{spam.el}?
22555 First, some hooks will get installed by @code{spam-initialize}. There
22556 are some hooks for @code{spam-stat} so it can save its databases, and
22557 there are hooks so interesting things will happen when you enter and
22558 leave a group. More on the sequence of events later (@pxref{Spam
22559 ELisp Package Sequence of Events}).
22561 You get the following keyboard commands:
22571 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
22572 @code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}.
22574 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{$} mark.
22575 Whenever you see a spam article, make sure to mark its summary line
22576 with @kbd{M-d} before leaving the group. This is done automatically
22577 for unread articles in @emph{spam} groups.
22583 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
22584 @code{spam-bogofilter-score}.
22586 You must have Bogofilter installed for that command to work properly.
22592 Also, when you load @file{spam.el}, you will be able to customize its
22593 variables. Try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{spam} variable
22597 * Spam ELisp Package Sequence of Events::
22598 * Spam ELisp Package Filtering of Incoming Mail::
22599 * Spam ELisp Package Global Variables::
22600 * Spam ELisp Package Configuration Examples::
22601 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
22602 * BBDB Whitelists::
22603 * Gmane Spam Reporting::
22604 * Anti-spam Hashcash Payments::
22606 * Regular Expressions Header Matching::
22608 * ifile spam filtering::
22609 * spam-stat spam filtering::
22611 * Extending the Spam ELisp package::
22614 @node Spam ELisp Package Sequence of Events
22615 @subsubsection Spam ELisp Package Sequence of Events
22616 @cindex spam filtering
22617 @cindex spam filtering sequence of events
22620 You must read this section to understand how @code{spam.el} works.
22621 Do not skip, speed-read, or glance through this section.
22623 There are two @emph{contact points}, if you will, between
22624 @code{spam.el} and the rest of Gnus: checking new mail for spam, and
22627 Getting new mail is done in one of two ways. You can either split
22628 your incoming mail or you can classify new articles as ham or spam
22629 when you enter the group.
22631 Splitting incoming mail is better suited to mail backends such as
22632 @code{nnml} or @code{nnimap} where new mail appears in a single file
22633 called a @dfn{Spool File}. See @xref{Spam ELisp Package Filtering of
22636 For backends such as @code{nntp} there is no incoming mail spool, so
22637 an alternate mechanism must be used. This may also happen for
22638 backends where the server is in charge of splitting incoming mail, and
22639 Gnus does not do further splitting. The @code{spam-autodetect} and
22640 @code{spam-autodetect-methods} group parameters (accessible with
22641 @kbd{G c} and @kbd{G p} as usual), and the corresponding variables
22642 @code{gnus-spam-autodetect} and
22643 @code{gnus-spam-autodetect-methods} (accessible with @kbd{M-x
22644 customize-variable} as usual).
22646 When @code{spam-autodetect} is used, it hooks into the process of
22647 entering a group. Thus, entering a group with unseen or unread
22648 articles becomes the substitute for checking incoming mail. Whether
22649 only unseen articles or all unread articles will be processed is
22650 determined by the @code{spam-autodetect-recheck-messages}. When set
22651 to @code{t}, unread messages will be rechecked.
22653 @code{spam-autodetect} grants the user at once more and less control
22654 of spam filtering. The user will have more control over each group's
22655 spam methods, so for instance the @samp{ding} group may have
22656 @code{spam-use-BBDB} as the autodetection method, while the
22657 @samp{suspect} group may have the @code{spam-use-blacklist} and
22658 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} methods enabled. Every article detected to
22659 be spam will be marked with the spam mark @samp{$} and processed on
22660 exit from the group as normal spam. The user has less control over
22661 the @emph{sequence} of checks, as he might with @code{spam-split}.
22663 When the newly split mail goes into groups, or messages are
22664 autodetected to be ham or spam, those groups must be exited (after
22665 entering, if needed) for further spam processing to happen. It
22666 matters whether the group is considered a ham group, a spam group, or
22667 is unclassified, based on its @code{spam-content} parameter
22668 (@pxref{Spam ELisp Package Global Variables}). Spam groups have the
22669 additional characteristic that, when entered, any unseen or unread
22670 articles (depending on the @code{spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam}
22671 variable) will be marked as spam. Thus, mail split into a spam group
22672 gets automatically marked as spam when you enter the group.
22674 So, when you exit a group, the @code{spam-processors} are applied, if
22675 any are set, and the processed mail is moved to the
22676 @code{ham-process-destination} or the @code{spam-process-destination}
22677 depending on the article's classification. If the
22678 @code{ham-process-destination} or the @code{spam-process-destination},
22679 whichever is appropriate, are @code{nil}, the article is left in the
22682 If a spam is found in any group (this can be changed to only non-spam
22683 groups with @code{spam-move-spam-nonspam-groups-only}), it is
22684 processed by the active @code{spam-processors} (@pxref{Spam ELisp
22685 Package Global Variables}) when the group is exited. Furthermore, the
22686 spam is moved to the @code{spam-process-destination} (@pxref{Spam
22687 ELisp Package Global Variables}) for further training or deletion.
22688 You have to load the @code{gnus-registry.el} package and enable the
22689 @code{spam-log-to-registry} variable if you want spam to be processed
22690 no more than once. Thus, spam is detected and processed everywhere,
22691 which is what most people want. If the
22692 @code{spam-process-destination} is @code{nil}, the spam is marked as
22693 expired, which is usually the right thing to do.
22695 If spam can not be moved---because of a read-only backend such as
22696 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
22698 If a ham mail is found in a ham group, as determined by the
22699 @code{ham-marks} parameter, it is processed as ham by the active ham
22700 @code{spam-processor} when the group is exited. With the variables
22701 @code{spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups} and
22702 @code{spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups} the behavior can be further
22703 altered so ham found anywhere can be processed. You have to load the
22704 @code{gnus-registry.el} package and enable the
22705 @code{spam-log-to-registry} variable if you want ham to be processed
22706 no more than once. Thus, ham is detected and processed only when
22707 necessary, which is what most people want. More on this in
22708 @xref{Spam ELisp Package Configuration Examples}.
22710 If ham can not be moved---because of a read-only backend such as
22711 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
22713 If all this seems confusing, don't worry. Soon it will be as natural
22714 as typing Lisp one-liners on a neural interface@dots{} err, sorry, that's
22715 50 years in the future yet. Just trust us, it's not so bad.
22717 @node Spam ELisp Package Filtering of Incoming Mail
22718 @subsubsection Spam ELisp Package Filtering of Incoming Mail
22719 @cindex spam filtering
22720 @cindex spam filtering incoming mail
22723 To use the @file{spam.el} facilities for incoming mail filtering, you
22724 must add the following to your fancy split list
22725 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}:
22731 Note that the fancy split may be called @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
22732 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on whether you use the nnmail or
22733 nnimap back ends to retrieve your mail.
22735 The @code{spam-split} function will process incoming mail and send the
22736 mail considered to be spam into the group name given by the variable
22737 @code{spam-split-group}. By default that group name is @samp{spam},
22738 but you can customize @code{spam-split-group}. Make sure the contents
22739 of @code{spam-split-group} are an @emph{unqualified} group name, for
22740 instance in an @code{nnimap} server @samp{your-server} the value
22741 @samp{spam} will turn out to be @samp{nnimap+your-server:spam}. The
22742 value @samp{nnimap+server:spam}, therefore, is wrong and will
22743 actually give you the group
22744 @samp{nnimap+your-server:nnimap+server:spam} which may or may not
22745 work depending on your server's tolerance for strange group names.
22747 You can also give @code{spam-split} a parameter,
22748 e.g. @code{spam-use-regex-headers} or @code{"maybe-spam"}. Why is
22751 Take these split rules (with @code{spam-use-regex-headers} and
22752 @code{spam-use-blackholes} set):
22755 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
22756 (any "ding" "ding")
22758 ;; @r{default mailbox}
22762 Now, the problem is that you want all ding messages to make it to the
22763 ding folder. But that will let obvious spam (for example, spam
22764 detected by SpamAssassin, and @code{spam-use-regex-headers}) through,
22765 when it's sent to the ding list. On the other hand, some messages to
22766 the ding list are from a mail server in the blackhole list, so the
22767 invocation of @code{spam-split} can't be before the ding rule.
22769 You can let SpamAssassin headers supersede ding rules, but all other
22770 @code{spam-split} rules (including a second invocation of the
22771 regex-headers check) will be after the ding rule:
22776 ;; @r{all spam detected by @code{spam-use-regex-headers} goes to @samp{regex-spam}}
22777 (: spam-split "regex-spam" 'spam-use-regex-headers)
22778 (any "ding" "ding")
22779 ;; @r{all other spam detected by spam-split goes to @code{spam-split-group}}
22781 ;; @r{default mailbox}
22785 This lets you invoke specific @code{spam-split} checks depending on
22786 your particular needs, and to target the results of those checks to a
22787 particular spam group. You don't have to throw all mail into all the
22788 spam tests. Another reason why this is nice is that messages to
22789 mailing lists you have rules for don't have to have resource-intensive
22790 blackhole checks performed on them. You could also specify different
22791 spam checks for your nnmail split vs. your nnimap split. Go crazy.
22793 You should still have specific checks such as
22794 @code{spam-use-regex-headers} set to @code{t}, even if you
22795 specifically invoke @code{spam-split} with the check. The reason is
22796 that when loading @file{spam.el}, some conditional loading is done
22797 depending on what @code{spam-use-xyz} variables you have set. This
22798 is usually not critical, though.
22800 @emph{Note for IMAP users}
22802 The boolean variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body} needs to be
22803 set, if you want to split based on the whole message instead of just
22804 the headers. By default, the nnimap back end will only retrieve the
22805 message headers. If you use @code{spam-check-bogofilter},
22806 @code{spam-check-ifile}, or @code{spam-check-stat} (the splitters that
22807 can benefit from the full message body), you should set this variable.
22808 It is not set by default because it will slow @acronym{IMAP} down, and
22809 that is not an appropriate decision to make on behalf of the user.
22811 @xref{Splitting in IMAP}.
22813 @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
22814 statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
22817 @node Spam ELisp Package Global Variables
22818 @subsubsection Spam ELisp Package Global Variables
22819 @cindex spam filtering
22820 @cindex spam filtering variables
22821 @cindex spam variables
22824 @vindex gnus-spam-process-newsgroups
22825 The concepts of ham processors and spam processors are very important.
22826 Ham processors and spam processors for a group can be set with the
22827 @code{spam-process} group parameter, or the
22828 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. Ham processors take
22829 mail known to be non-spam (@emph{ham}) and process it in some way so
22830 that later similar mail will also be considered non-spam. Spam
22831 processors take mail known to be spam and process it so similar spam
22832 will be detected later.
22834 The format of the spam or ham processor entry used to be a symbol,
22835 but now it is a @sc{cons} cell. See the individual spam processor entries
22836 for more information.
22838 @vindex gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
22839 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
22840 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
22841 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
22842 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
22843 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
22844 by customizing the corresponding variable
22845 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
22846 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
22847 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
22848 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
22849 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
22850 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
22851 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
22854 @vindex gnus-spam-mark
22856 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
22857 they get the @samp{$} mark (@code{gnus-spam-mark}) when you enter the
22858 group. If you have seen a message, had it marked as spam, then
22859 unmarked it, it won't be marked as spam when you enter the group
22860 thereafter. You can disable that behavior, so all unread messages
22861 will get the @samp{$} mark, if you set the
22862 @code{spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam} parameter to @code{nil}. You
22863 should remove the @samp{$} mark when you are in the group summary
22864 buffer for every message that is not spam after all. To remove the
22865 @samp{$} mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to ``unread'' the article, or
22866 @kbd{d} for declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a
22867 group, all spam-marked (@samp{$}) articles are sent to a spam
22868 processor which will study them as spam samples.
22870 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
22871 @code{ham-marks} group parameter gets overridden below, marks @samp{R}
22872 and @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
22873 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
22874 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
22875 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
22876 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
22877 should then adjust the @code{ham-marks} group parameter.
22880 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
22881 marks you want to consider ham. By default, the list contains the
22882 deleted, read, killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks (the idea is
22883 that these articles have been read, but are not spam). It can be
22884 useful to also include the tick mark in the ham marks. It is not
22885 recommended to make the unread mark a ham mark, because it normally
22886 indicates a lack of classification. But you can do it, and we'll be
22891 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
22892 marks you want to consider spam. By default, the list contains only
22893 the spam mark. It is not recommended to change that, but you can if
22894 you really want to.
22897 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
22898 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
22899 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
22900 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
22901 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
22902 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{$},
22905 @vindex gnus-ham-process-destinations
22906 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
22907 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
22908 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
22909 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
22910 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
22911 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
22912 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
22913 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with @kbd{M-x
22914 customize-variable @key{RET} gnus-ham-process-destinations}). Each
22915 newsgroup specification has the format @code{(@var{regexp}
22916 @var{processor})} in a standard Lisp list, if you prefer to customize
22917 the variable manually. The ultimate location is a group name or
22918 names. If the @code{ham-process-destination} parameter is not set,
22919 ham articles are left in place. If the
22920 @code{spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group} parameter is
22921 set, the ham articles are marked as unread before being moved.
22923 If ham can not be moved---because of a read-only backend such as
22924 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
22926 Note that you can use multiples destinations per group or regular
22927 expression! This enables you to send your ham to a regular mail
22928 group and to a @emph{ham training} group.
22930 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
22931 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
22933 @vindex spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups
22934 By default the variable @code{spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups} is
22935 @code{nil}. Set it to @code{t} if you want ham found in spam groups
22936 to be processed. Normally this is not done, you are expected instead
22937 to send your ham to a ham group and process it there.
22939 @vindex spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups
22940 By default the variable @code{spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups} is
22941 @code{nil}. Set it to @code{t} if you want ham found in non-ham (spam
22942 or unclassified) groups to be processed. Normally this is not done,
22943 you are expected instead to send your ham to a ham group and process
22946 @vindex gnus-spam-process-destinations
22947 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
22948 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
22949 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
22950 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
22951 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
22952 customize this variable with @kbd{M-x customize-variable @key{RET}
22953 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). Each newsgroup specification has
22954 the repeated format @code{(@var{regexp} @var{group})} and they are all
22955 in a standard Lisp list, if you prefer to customize the variable
22956 manually. The ultimate location is a group name or names. If the
22957 @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set, the spam
22958 articles are only expired. The group name is fully qualified, meaning
22959 that if you see @samp{nntp:servername} before the group name in the
22960 group buffer then you need it here as well.
22962 If spam can not be moved---because of a read-only backend such as
22963 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
22965 Note that you can use multiples destinations per group or regular
22966 expression! This enables you to send your spam to multiple @emph{spam
22969 @vindex spam-log-to-registry
22970 The problem with processing ham and spam is that Gnus doesn't track
22971 this processing by default. Enable the @code{spam-log-to-registry}
22972 variable so @code{spam.el} will use @code{gnus-registry.el} to track
22973 what articles have been processed, and avoid processing articles
22974 multiple times. Keep in mind that if you limit the number of registry
22975 entries, this won't work as well as it does without a limit.
22977 @vindex spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam
22978 Set this variable if you want only unseen articles in spam groups to
22979 be marked as spam. By default, it is set. If you set it to
22980 @code{nil}, unread articles will also be marked as spam.
22982 @vindex spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group
22983 Set this variable if you want ham to be unmarked before it is moved
22984 out of the spam group. This is very useful when you use something
22985 like the tick mark @samp{!} to mark ham---the article will be placed
22986 in your @code{ham-process-destination}, unmarked as if it came fresh
22987 from the mail server.
22989 @vindex spam-autodetect-recheck-messages
22990 When autodetecting spam, this variable tells @code{spam.el} whether
22991 only unseen articles or all unread articles should be checked for
22992 spam. It is recommended that you leave it off.
22994 @node Spam ELisp Package Configuration Examples
22995 @subsubsection Spam ELisp Package Configuration Examples
22996 @cindex spam filtering
22997 @cindex spam filtering configuration examples
22998 @cindex spam configuration examples
23001 @subsubheading Ted's setup
23003 From Ted Zlatanov <tzz@@lifelogs.com>.
23005 ;; @r{for @code{gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent} and spam autodetection}
23006 ;; @r{see @file{gnus-registry.el} for more information}
23007 (gnus-registry-initialize)
23010 ;; @r{I like @kbd{C-s} for marking spam}
23011 (define-key gnus-summary-mode-map "\C-s" 'gnus-summary-mark-as-spam)
23014 spam-log-to-registry t ; @r{for spam autodetection}
23016 spam-use-regex-headers t ; @r{catch X-Spam-Flag (SpamAssassin)}
23017 ;; @r{all groups with @samp{spam} in the name contain spam}
23018 gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
23019 '(("spam" gnus-group-spam-classification-spam))
23020 ;; @r{see documentation for these}
23021 spam-move-spam-nonspam-groups-only nil
23022 spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam t
23023 spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group t
23024 nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
23025 ;; @r{understand what this does before you copy it to your own setup!}
23026 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
23027 ;; @r{trace references to parents and put in their group}
23028 (: gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent)
23029 ;; @r{this will catch server-side SpamAssassin tags}
23030 (: spam-split 'spam-use-regex-headers)
23031 (any "ding" "ding")
23032 ;; @r{note that spam by default will go to @samp{spam}}
23034 ;; @r{default mailbox}
23037 ;; @r{my parameters, set with @kbd{G p}}
23039 ;; @r{all nnml groups, and all nnimap groups except}
23040 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train} and}
23041 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:spam}: any spam goes to nnimap training,}
23042 ;; @r{because it must have been detected manually}
23044 ((spam-process-destination . "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train"))
23046 ;; @r{all @acronym{NNTP} groups}
23047 ;; @r{autodetect spam with the blacklist and ham with the BBDB}
23048 ((spam-autodetect-methods spam-use-blacklist spam-use-BBDB)
23049 ;; @r{send all spam to the training group}
23050 (spam-process-destination . "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train"))
23052 ;; @r{only some @acronym{NNTP} groups, where I want to autodetect spam}
23053 ((spam-autodetect . t))
23055 ;; @r{my nnimap @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:spam} group}
23057 ;; @r{this is a spam group}
23058 ((spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-spam)
23060 ;; @r{any spam (which happens when I enter for all unseen messages,}
23061 ;; @r{because of the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} setting above), goes to}
23062 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train} unless I mark it as ham}
23064 (spam-process-destination "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train")
23066 ;; @r{any ham goes to my @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:mail} folder, but}
23067 ;; @r{also to my @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:trainham} folder for training}
23069 (ham-process-destination "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:mail"
23070 "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:trainham")
23071 ;; @r{in this group, only @samp{!} marks are ham}
23073 (gnus-ticked-mark))
23074 ;; @r{remembers senders in the blacklist on the way out---this is}
23075 ;; @r{definitely not needed, it just makes me feel better}
23076 (spam-process (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist)))
23078 ;; @r{Later, on the @acronym{IMAP} server I use the @samp{train} group for training}
23079 ;; @r{SpamAssassin to recognize spam, and the @samp{trainham} group fora}
23080 ;; @r{recognizing ham---but Gnus has nothing to do with it.}
23084 @subsubheading Using @file{spam.el} on an IMAP server with a statistical filter on the server
23085 From Reiner Steib <reiner.steib@@gmx.de>.
23087 My provider has set up bogofilter (in combination with @acronym{DCC}) on
23088 the mail server (@acronym{IMAP}). Recognized spam goes to
23089 @samp{spam.detected}, the rest goes through the normal filter rules,
23090 i.e. to @samp{some.folder} or to @samp{INBOX}. Training on false
23091 positives or negatives is done by copying or moving the article to
23092 @samp{training.ham} or @samp{training.spam} respectively. A cron job on
23093 the server feeds those to bogofilter with the suitable ham or spam
23094 options and deletes them from the @samp{training.ham} and
23095 @samp{training.spam} folders.
23097 With the following entries in @code{gnus-parameters}, @code{spam.el}
23098 does most of the job for me:
23101 ("nnimap:spam\\.detected"
23102 (gnus-article-sort-functions '(gnus-article-sort-by-chars))
23103 (ham-process-destination "nnimap:INBOX" "nnimap:training.ham")
23104 (spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-spam))
23105 ("nnimap:\\(INBOX\\|other-folders\\)"
23106 (spam-process-destination . "nnimap:training.spam")
23107 (spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-ham))
23112 @item @b{The Spam folder:}
23114 In the folder @samp{spam.detected}, I have to check for false positives
23115 (i.e. legitimate mails, that were wrongly judged as spam by
23116 bogofilter or DCC).
23118 Because of the @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam} entry, all
23119 messages are marked as spam (with @code{$}). When I find a false
23120 positive, I mark the message with some other ham mark (@code{ham-marks},
23121 @ref{Spam ELisp Package Global Variables}). On group exit, those
23122 messages are copied to both groups, @samp{INBOX} (where I want to have
23123 the article) and @samp{training.ham} (for training bogofilter) and
23124 deleted from the @samp{spam.detected} folder.
23126 The @code{gnus-article-sort-by-chars} entry simplifies detection of
23127 false positives for me. I receive lots of worms (sweN, @dots{}), that all
23128 have a similar size. Grouping them by size (i.e. chars) makes finding
23129 other false positives easier. (Of course worms aren't @i{spam}
23130 (@acronym{UCE}, @acronym{UBE}) strictly speaking. Anyhow, bogofilter is
23131 an excellent tool for filtering those unwanted mails for me.)
23133 @item @b{Ham folders:}
23135 In my ham folders, I just hit @kbd{S x}
23136 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}) whenever I see an unrecognized spam
23137 mail (false negative). On group exit, those messages are moved to
23138 @samp{training.ham}.
23141 @subsubheading Reporting spam articles in Gmane groups with @code{spam-report.el}
23143 From Reiner Steib <reiner.steib@@gmx.de>.
23145 With following entry in @code{gnus-parameters}, @kbd{S x}
23146 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}) marks articles in @code{gmane.*}
23147 groups as spam and reports the to Gmane at group exit:
23151 (spam-process (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane)))
23154 Additionally, I use @code{(setq spam-report-gmane-use-article-number nil)}
23155 because I don't read the groups directly from news.gmane.org, but
23156 through my local news server (leafnode). I.e. the article numbers are
23157 not the same as on news.gmane.org, thus @code{spam-report.el} has to check
23158 the @code{X-Report-Spam} header to find the correct number.
23160 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
23161 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
23162 @cindex spam filtering
23163 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
23164 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
23167 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
23169 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use blacklists when
23170 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist
23171 will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit
23172 filter, meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to
23177 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
23179 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists when
23180 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the
23181 whitelist will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
23182 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the whitelist, their
23183 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
23187 @defvar spam-use-whitelist-exclusive
23189 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists as an
23190 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
23191 unless the sender is in the whitelist. Use with care.
23195 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
23197 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23198 customizing the group parameters or the
23199 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
23200 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
23201 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
23205 Instead of the obsolete
23206 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist}, it is recommended
23207 that you use @code{'(spam spam-use-blacklist)}. Everything will work
23208 the same way, we promise.
23212 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
23214 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23215 customizing the group parameters or the
23216 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
23217 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
23218 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
23219 whitelist. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
23220 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
23224 Instead of the obsolete
23225 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist}, it is recommended
23226 that you use @code{'(ham spam-use-whitelist)}. Everything will work
23227 the same way, we promise.
23231 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
23232 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
23233 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
23234 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
23235 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
23237 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
23238 legitimate. All messages from whitelisted addresses are considered
23239 non-spam. Also see @ref{BBDB Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the
23240 Emacs regular expression syntax.
23242 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
23243 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
23244 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
23245 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
23246 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
23247 @file{blacklist} respectively.
23249 @node BBDB Whitelists
23250 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
23251 @cindex spam filtering
23252 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
23253 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
23256 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
23258 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
23259 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted
23260 addresses, without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded
23261 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Messages whose senders are
23262 not in the BBDB will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
23263 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the BBDB, their
23264 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
23268 @defvar spam-use-BBDB-exclusive
23270 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use the BBDB as an
23271 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
23272 unless the sender is in the BBDB. Use with care. Only sender
23273 addresses in the BBDB will be allowed through; all others will be
23274 classified as spammers.
23278 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
23280 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23281 customizing the group parameters or the
23282 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
23283 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
23284 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
23285 BBDB. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
23286 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
23290 Instead of the obsolete
23291 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB}, it is recommended
23292 that you use @code{'(ham spam-use-BBDB)}. Everything will work
23293 the same way, we promise.
23297 @node Gmane Spam Reporting
23298 @subsubsection Gmane Spam Reporting
23299 @cindex spam reporting
23300 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
23301 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
23304 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane
23306 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23307 customizing the group parameters or the
23308 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
23309 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
23310 articles groups will be reported to the Gmane administrators via a
23313 Gmane can be found at @uref{http://gmane.org}.
23317 Instead of the obsolete
23318 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane}, it is recommended
23319 that you use @code{'(spam spam-use-gmane)}. Everything will work the
23320 same way, we promise.
23324 @defvar spam-report-gmane-use-article-number
23326 This variable is @code{t} by default. Set it to @code{nil} if you are
23327 running your own news server, for instance, and the local article
23328 numbers don't correspond to the Gmane article numbers. When
23329 @code{spam-report-gmane-use-article-number} is @code{nil},
23330 @code{spam-report.el} will use the @code{X-Report-Spam} header that
23335 @node Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
23336 @subsubsection Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
23337 @cindex spam filtering
23338 @cindex hashcash, spam filtering
23341 @defvar spam-use-hashcash
23343 Similar to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
23344 Whitelists}), but uses hashcash tokens for whitelisting messages
23345 instead of the sender address. You must have the @code{hashcash.el}
23346 package loaded for @code{spam-use-hashcash} to work properly.
23347 Messages without a hashcash payment token will be sent to the next
23348 spam-split rule. This is an explicit filter, meaning that unless a
23349 hashcash token is found, the messages are not assumed to be spam or
23355 @subsubsection Blackholes
23356 @cindex spam filtering
23357 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
23360 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
23362 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
23363 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
23364 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
23365 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
23366 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
23367 contains outdated servers.
23369 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
23370 @file{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
23371 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil}. It is not recommended at
23372 this time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil} despite the
23373 possible performance improvements, because some users may be unable to
23374 use it, but you can try it and see if it works for you.
23378 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
23380 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
23384 @defvar spam-blackhole-good-server-regex
23386 A regular expression for IPs that should not be checked against the
23387 blackhole server list. When set to @code{nil}, it has no effect.
23391 @defvar spam-use-dig
23393 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
23394 The default setting of @code{t} is recommended.
23398 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
23399 ham processor for blackholes.
23401 @node Regular Expressions Header Matching
23402 @subsubsection Regular Expressions Header Matching
23403 @cindex spam filtering
23404 @cindex regular expressions header matching, spam filtering
23407 @defvar spam-use-regex-headers
23409 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus check the
23410 message headers against lists of regular expressions when you set this
23411 option. The variables @code{spam-regex-headers-spam} and
23412 @code{spam-regex-headers-ham} hold the list of regular expressions.
23413 Gnus will check against the message headers to determine if the
23414 message is spam or ham, respectively.
23418 @defvar spam-regex-headers-spam
23420 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
23421 the message, positively identify it as spam.
23425 @defvar spam-regex-headers-ham
23427 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
23428 the message, positively identify it as ham.
23432 Regular expression header checks are done only on incoming mail.
23433 There is no specific spam or ham processor for regular expressions.
23436 @subsubsection Bogofilter
23437 @cindex spam filtering
23438 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
23441 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
23443 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
23446 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{$} mark for spam
23447 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
23448 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
23449 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
23450 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
23451 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
23453 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on a specific
23454 threshold. That threshold can be customized, consult the Bogofilter
23457 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
23458 processing will be turned off.
23460 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
23464 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
23466 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
23467 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
23468 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
23469 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
23470 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
23471 installation documents for details.
23473 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
23477 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
23478 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23479 customizing the group parameters or the
23480 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
23481 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
23482 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
23486 Instead of the obsolete
23487 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter}, it is recommended
23488 that you use @code{'(spam spam-use-bogofilter)}. Everything will work
23489 the same way, we promise.
23492 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
23493 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23494 customizing the group parameters or the
23495 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
23496 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
23497 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
23498 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
23499 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
23503 Instead of the obsolete
23504 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter}, it is recommended
23505 that you use @code{'(ham spam-use-bogofilter)}. Everything will work
23506 the same way, we promise.
23509 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
23511 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
23512 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
23513 database directory.
23517 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to @command{ifile} in intent and
23518 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
23519 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
23520 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
23521 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
23522 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
23524 @node ifile spam filtering
23525 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
23526 @cindex spam filtering
23527 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
23530 @defvar spam-use-ifile
23532 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use @command{ifile}, a
23533 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
23537 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
23539 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
23540 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
23541 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
23545 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
23547 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
23548 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
23549 the default value of @samp{spam}.
23552 @defvar spam-ifile-database-path
23554 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
23555 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
23559 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
23560 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
23561 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
23562 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
23565 @node spam-stat spam filtering
23566 @subsubsection spam-stat spam filtering
23567 @cindex spam filtering
23568 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
23572 @xref{Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat}.
23574 @defvar spam-use-stat
23576 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use
23577 spam-stat.el, an Emacs Lisp statistical analyzer.
23581 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
23582 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23583 customizing the group parameters or the
23584 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
23585 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
23586 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
23590 Instead of the obsolete
23591 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat}, it is recommended
23592 that you use @code{'(spam spam-use-stat)}. Everything will work
23593 the same way, we promise.
23596 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
23597 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23598 customizing the group parameters or the
23599 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
23600 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
23601 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
23602 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
23603 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
23607 Instead of the obsolete
23608 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat}, it is recommended
23609 that you use @code{'(ham spam-use-stat)}. Everything will work
23610 the same way, we promise.
23613 This enables @file{spam.el} to cooperate with @file{spam-stat.el}.
23614 @file{spam-stat.el} provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database,
23615 which unlike ifile or Bogofilter does not require external programs.
23616 A spam and a ham processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for
23617 @code{spam-split} are provided.
23620 @subsubsection Using SpamOracle with Gnus
23621 @cindex spam filtering
23625 An easy way to filter out spam is to use SpamOracle. SpamOracle is an
23626 statistical mail filtering tool written by Xavier Leroy and needs to be
23627 installed separately.
23629 There are several ways to use SpamOracle with Gnus. In all cases, your
23630 mail is piped through SpamOracle in its @emph{mark} mode. SpamOracle will
23631 then enter an @samp{X-Spam} header indicating whether it regards the
23632 mail as a spam mail or not.
23634 One possibility is to run SpamOracle as a @code{:prescript} from the
23635 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}, (@pxref{SpamAssassin}). This method has
23636 the advantage that the user can see the @emph{X-Spam} headers.
23638 The easiest method is to make @file{spam.el} (@pxref{Filtering Spam
23639 Using The Spam ELisp Package}) call SpamOracle.
23641 @vindex spam-use-spamoracle
23642 To enable SpamOracle usage by @file{spam.el}, set the variable
23643 @code{spam-use-spamoracle} to @code{t} and configure the
23644 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy} as described in
23645 the section @xref{Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package}. In
23646 this example the @samp{INBOX} of an nnimap server is filtered using
23647 SpamOracle. Mails recognized as spam mails will be moved to
23648 @code{spam-split-group}, @samp{Junk} in this case. Ham messages stay
23652 (setq spam-use-spamoracle t
23653 spam-split-group "Junk"
23654 nnimap-split-inbox '("INBOX")
23655 nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
23656 nnimap-split-fancy '(| (: spam-split) "INBOX"))
23659 @defvar spam-use-spamoracle
23660 Set to @code{t} if you want Gnus to enable spam filtering using
23664 @defvar spam-spamoracle-binary
23665 Gnus uses the SpamOracle binary called @file{spamoracle} found in the
23666 user's PATH. Using the variable @code{spam-spamoracle-binary}, this
23670 @defvar spam-spamoracle-database
23671 By default, SpamOracle uses the file @file{~/.spamoracle.db} as a database to
23672 store its analyses. This is controlled by the variable
23673 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} which defaults to @code{nil}. That means
23674 the default SpamOracle database will be used. In case you want your
23675 database to live somewhere special, set
23676 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} to this path.
23679 SpamOracle employs a statistical algorithm to determine whether a
23680 message is spam or ham. In order to get good results, meaning few
23681 false hits or misses, SpamOracle needs training. SpamOracle learns the
23682 characteristics of your spam mails. Using the @emph{add} mode
23683 (training mode) one has to feed good (ham) and spam mails to
23684 SpamOracle. This can be done by pressing @kbd{|} in the Summary buffer
23685 and pipe the mail to a SpamOracle process or using @file{spam.el}'s
23686 spam- and ham-processors, which is much more convenient. For a
23687 detailed description of spam- and ham-processors, @xref{Filtering Spam
23688 Using The Spam ELisp Package}.
23690 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle
23691 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23692 customizing the group parameter or the
23693 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
23694 to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles will be
23695 sent to SpamOracle as spam samples.
23699 Instead of the obsolete
23700 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle}, it is recommended
23701 that you use @code{'(spam spam-use-spamoracle)}. Everything will work
23702 the same way, we promise.
23705 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-spamoracle
23706 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23707 customizing the group parameter or the
23708 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
23709 to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked articles in
23710 @emph{ham} groups will be sent to the SpamOracle as samples of ham
23711 messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam} or
23712 @emph{unclassified} groups.
23716 Instead of the obsolete
23717 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-spamoracle}, it is recommended
23718 that you use @code{'(ham spam-use-spamoracle)}. Everything will work
23719 the same way, we promise.
23722 @emph{Example:} These are the Group Parameters of a group that has been
23723 classified as a ham group, meaning that it should only contain ham
23726 ((spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-ham)
23727 (spam-process ((ham spam-use-spamoracle)
23728 (spam spam-use-spamoracle))))
23730 For this group the @code{spam-use-spamoracle} is installed for both
23731 ham and spam processing. If the group contains spam message
23732 (e.g. because SpamOracle has not had enough sample messages yet) and
23733 the user marks some messages as spam messages, these messages will be
23734 processed by SpamOracle. The processor sends the messages to
23735 SpamOracle as new samples for spam.
23737 @node Extending the Spam ELisp package
23738 @subsubsection Extending the Spam ELisp package
23739 @cindex spam filtering
23740 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
23741 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
23743 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
23744 incoming mail, provide the following:
23752 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
23753 "True if blackbox should be used.")
23758 (spam-use-blackbox . spam-check-blackbox)
23760 to @code{spam-list-of-checks}.
23764 (gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox ham spam-use-blackbox)
23765 (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox spam spam-use-blackbox)
23768 to @code{spam-list-of-processors}.
23772 (spam-use-blackbox spam-blackbox-register-routine
23774 spam-blackbox-unregister-routine
23778 to @code{spam-registration-functions}. Write the register/unregister
23779 routines using the bogofilter register/unregister routines as a
23780 start, or other restister/unregister routines more appropriate to
23786 Write the @code{spam-check-blackbox} function. It should return
23787 @samp{nil} or @code{spam-split-group}, observing the other
23788 conventions. See the existing @code{spam-check-*} functions for
23789 examples of what you can do, and stick to the template unless you
23790 fully understand the reasons why you aren't.
23792 Make sure to add @code{spam-use-blackbox} to
23793 @code{spam-list-of-statistical-checks} if Blackbox is a statistical
23794 mail analyzer that needs the full message body to operate.
23798 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
23805 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
23806 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
23808 Also, ham and spam processors are being phased out as single
23809 variables. Instead the form @code{'(spam spam-use-blackbox)} or
23810 @code{'(ham spam-use-blackbox)} is favored. For now, spam/ham
23811 processor variables are still around but they won't be for long.
23814 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox-spam"
23815 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
23816 Only applicable to spam groups.")
23818 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox-ham"
23819 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
23820 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
23829 (const :tag "Spam: Blackbox" (spam spam-use-blackbox))
23830 (const :tag "Ham: Blackbox" (ham spam-use-blackbox))
23832 to the @code{spam-process} group parameter in @code{gnus.el}. Make
23833 sure you do it twice, once for the parameter and once for the
23834 variable customization.
23838 (variable-item spam-use-blackbox)
23840 to the @code{spam-autodetect-methods} group parameter in
23846 @node Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
23847 @subsection Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
23848 @cindex Paul Graham
23849 @cindex Graham, Paul
23850 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
23851 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
23852 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
23854 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
23855 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
23856 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
23857 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
23858 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
23859 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
23860 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
23861 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
23862 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
23865 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
23866 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
23867 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
23868 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
23869 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
23870 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
23871 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
23872 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
23874 Gnus supports this kind of filtering. But it needs some setting up.
23875 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
23876 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
23877 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
23878 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
23881 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
23882 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
23883 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
23886 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
23887 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
23889 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
23890 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
23891 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
23892 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
23893 need several hundred emails in both collections.
23895 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
23896 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
23897 per mail. Use the following:
23899 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
23900 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
23901 is treated as one spam mail.
23904 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
23905 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
23906 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
23909 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
23910 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds
23911 the the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
23912 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
23913 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds the the group
23914 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
23916 When you are using @acronym{IMAP}, you won't have the mails available
23917 locally, so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent
23918 to cache the articles. Then you can use directories such as
23919 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
23920 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
23923 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics---the
23924 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
23925 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
23926 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
23929 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
23930 reset the dictionary.
23932 @defun spam-stat-reset
23933 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
23936 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
23937 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
23938 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
23939 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
23940 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
23941 only non-spam mails.
23943 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
23944 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
23945 to update the dictionary incrementally.
23948 @defun spam-stat-save
23949 Save the dictionary.
23952 @defvar spam-stat-file
23953 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
23954 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
23957 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
23958 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
23960 In order to use @code{spam-stat} to split your mail, you need to add the
23961 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23964 (require 'spam-stat)
23968 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
23971 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
23972 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
23973 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
23974 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
23976 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
23977 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
23978 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
23979 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
23982 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
23983 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
23987 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
23988 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
23991 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
23992 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
23993 expression are considered potential spam.
23996 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
23997 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
23998 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
24002 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
24003 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
24004 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
24005 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
24006 mails, when creating the dictionary!
24009 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
24010 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
24011 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
24015 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
24016 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
24017 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
24018 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
24019 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
24023 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
24024 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
24025 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
24026 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
24031 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
24032 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
24034 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
24036 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
24037 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
24038 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
24041 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
24042 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
24043 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
24046 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
24047 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
24048 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
24049 already been processed as non-spam.
24052 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
24053 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
24054 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
24055 been processed as spam.
24058 @defun spam-stat-save
24059 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
24060 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
24063 @defun spam-stat-load
24064 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
24065 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
24068 @defun spam-stat-score-word
24069 Return the spam score for a word.
24072 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
24073 Return the spam score for a buffer.
24076 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
24077 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
24078 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
24081 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
24082 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
24085 (require 'spam-stat)
24089 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
24092 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
24093 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
24094 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
24095 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
24096 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
24097 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
24098 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
24099 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
24100 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
24101 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
24102 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
24103 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
24104 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
24105 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
24108 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
24111 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
24112 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
24113 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
24114 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
24115 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
24116 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
24120 @section Interaction with other modes
24125 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} provided some useful functions for dired
24126 buffers. It is enabled with
24128 (add-hook 'dired-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-dired-mode)
24133 @findex gnus-dired-attach
24134 Send dired's marked files as an attachment (@code{gnus-dired-attach}).
24135 You will be prompted for a message buffer.
24138 @findex gnus-dired-find-file-mailcap
24139 Visit a file according to the appropriate mailcap entry
24140 (@code{gnus-dired-find-file-mailcap}). With prefix, open file in a new
24144 @findex gnus-dired-print
24145 Print file according to the mailcap entry (@code{gnus-dired-print}). If
24146 there is no print command, print in a PostScript image.
24149 @node Various Various
24150 @section Various Various
24156 @item gnus-home-directory
24157 @vindex gnus-home-directory
24158 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
24159 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
24161 @item gnus-directory
24162 @vindex gnus-directory
24163 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
24164 this variable, which defaults to the @env{SAVEDIR} environment
24165 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
24167 Note that gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
24168 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
24169 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
24170 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
24172 @item gnus-default-directory
24173 @vindex gnus-default-directory
24174 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
24175 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
24176 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
24177 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
24178 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
24179 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
24182 @vindex gnus-verbose
24183 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
24184 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
24185 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
24186 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
24187 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
24189 @item gnus-verbose-backends
24190 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
24191 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
24192 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
24194 @item nnheader-max-head-length
24195 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
24196 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
24197 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
24198 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
24199 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
24200 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
24201 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
24202 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
24203 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
24205 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
24206 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
24207 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
24208 read when doing the operation described above.
24210 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
24211 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
24213 @cindex invalid characters in file names
24214 @cindex characters in file names
24215 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
24216 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
24217 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
24221 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
24226 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
24227 Windows (phooey) systems.
24229 @item gnus-hidden-properties
24230 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
24231 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
24232 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
24233 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
24235 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
24236 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
24237 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
24238 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
24239 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
24241 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
24242 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
24243 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
24245 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
24246 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
24248 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
24249 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
24250 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
24251 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
24254 @acronym{IMAP} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
24262 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
24263 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
24265 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
24267 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
24273 Not because of victories @*
24276 but for the common sunshine,@*
24278 the largess of the spring.
24282 but for the day's work done@*
24283 as well as I was able;@*
24284 not for a seat upon the dais@*
24285 but at the common table.@*
24290 @chapter Appendices
24293 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
24294 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
24295 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
24296 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
24297 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
24298 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
24299 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
24300 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
24301 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
24308 @cindex installing under XEmacs
24310 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
24311 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
24312 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{mail-lib}, @samp{xemacs-base},
24313 @samp{eterm}, @samp{sh-script}, @samp{net-utils}, @samp{os-utils},
24314 @samp{dired}, @samp{mh-e}, @samp{sieve}, @samp{ps-print}, @samp{w3},
24315 @samp{pgg}, @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{ecrypto}, and @samp{sasl}.
24322 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
24323 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
24325 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
24326 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
24327 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
24328 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
24329 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
24331 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
24332 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
24333 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
24334 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
24335 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
24336 appropriate name, don't you think?)
24338 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
24339 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
24340 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
24341 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
24344 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
24345 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
24346 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
24347 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
24348 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
24349 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
24350 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
24351 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
24352 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
24356 @node Gnus Versions
24357 @subsection Gnus Versions
24359 @cindex September Gnus
24361 @cindex Quassia Gnus
24362 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
24365 @cindex Gnus versions
24367 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
24368 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
24369 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
24371 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
24372 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
24374 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
24375 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
24377 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
24378 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
24380 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
24381 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
24384 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
24386 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
24387 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
24388 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
24389 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
24390 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
24391 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
24394 @node Other Gnus Versions
24395 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
24398 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
24399 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
24400 Japan. It's based on a library called @acronym{SEMI}, which provides
24401 @acronym{MIME} capabilities.
24403 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
24404 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
24405 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
24406 @acronym{MIME} and multilingualization things, especially important for
24413 What's the point of Gnus?
24415 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
24416 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
24417 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
24418 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
24419 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
24420 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
24421 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
24422 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
24423 keep track of millions of people who post?
24425 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
24426 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
24427 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
24428 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
24429 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
24430 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
24431 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
24432 every one of you to explore and invent.
24434 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
24435 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
24438 @node Compatibility
24439 @subsection Compatibility
24441 @cindex compatibility
24442 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
24443 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
24444 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
24449 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
24453 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
24456 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
24459 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
24460 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
24461 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
24462 important variables have their values copied into their global
24463 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
24464 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
24466 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
24467 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
24468 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
24469 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
24470 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
24474 @cindex highlighting
24475 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
24476 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
24477 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
24478 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
24479 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
24480 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
24483 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
24484 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
24485 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
24486 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
24488 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
24489 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
24490 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
24491 to stop doing it the old way.
24493 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
24495 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
24497 @cindex reporting bugs
24499 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
24500 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
24501 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
24503 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
24504 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
24505 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
24506 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
24511 @subsection Conformity
24513 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
24514 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
24522 There are no known breaches of this standard.
24526 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
24528 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
24529 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
24530 We do have some breaches to this one.
24536 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
24537 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
24538 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
24539 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
24540 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
24545 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
24546 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
24547 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
24548 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
24550 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
24551 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
24552 All the various @acronym{MIME} RFCs are supported.
24554 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
24555 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
24557 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
24560 RFC 1991 is the original @acronym{PGP} message specification,
24561 published as an informational RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now
24562 called Open PGP, and put on the Standards Track. Both document a
24563 non-@acronym{MIME} aware @acronym{PGP} format. Gnus supports both
24564 encoding (signing and encryption) and decoding (verification and
24567 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
24568 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
24569 1991) describes the @acronym{MIME}-wrapping around the RF 1991/2440 format.
24570 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
24572 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
24573 RFC 2633 describes the @acronym{S/MIME} format.
24575 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
24576 RFC 1730 is @acronym{IMAP} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060
24577 (@acronym{IMAP} 4 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5
24578 authentication for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2086 describes access control
24579 lists (ACLs) for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2359 describes a @acronym{IMAP}
24580 protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper @acronym{TLS}
24581 integration (STARTTLS) with @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 1731 describes the
24582 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @acronym{IMAP}.
24586 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
24587 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
24592 @subsection Emacsen
24598 Gnus should work on:
24606 XEmacs 21.4 and up.
24610 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
24611 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
24612 Emacs versions. However, T-gnus does support ``Mule 2.3 based on Emacs
24613 19.34'' and possibly the versions of XEmacs prior to 21.1.1, e.g. 20.4.
24614 See the file ``README'' in the T-gnus distribution for more details.
24616 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
24617 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
24618 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
24622 @node Gnus Development
24623 @subsection Gnus Development
24625 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
24626 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
24627 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
24628 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
24629 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
24630 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
24631 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
24632 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
24634 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
24635 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
24636 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
24637 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
24638 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
24641 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
24642 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
24643 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
24644 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
24645 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
24647 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
24648 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
24649 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
24650 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
24651 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
24652 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
24653 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
24654 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
24655 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
24656 can't be assumed to do so.
24661 @subsection Contributors
24662 @cindex contributors
24664 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
24665 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
24666 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
24667 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
24668 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
24669 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
24670 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
24671 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
24672 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
24673 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
24675 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for@dots{} oops,
24681 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
24684 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
24685 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @acronym{MIME} and
24686 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
24687 functionality and stuff.
24690 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
24691 well as numerous other things).
24694 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
24697 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
24700 Justin Sheehy---the @acronym{FAQ} maintainer.
24703 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
24706 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
24707 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
24710 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
24713 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
24714 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
24717 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
24720 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
24723 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
24726 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
24729 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
24730 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
24733 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
24736 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
24739 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
24742 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
24746 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
24749 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
24752 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
24755 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
24756 well as autoconf support.
24760 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
24761 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
24763 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
24778 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
24780 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka
24784 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
24794 Alexei V. Barantsev,
24809 Massimo Campostrini,
24814 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
24815 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
24819 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
24822 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
24828 Michael Welsh Duggan,
24833 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
24837 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
24845 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
24847 Michelangelo Grigni,
24851 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
24853 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c Hayashi
24855 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
24862 François Felix Ingrand,
24863 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c Ichikawa
24864 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
24866 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
24876 Peter Skov Knudsen,
24877 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
24879 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
24880 Thor Kristoffersen,
24883 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
24901 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
24902 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
24909 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
24914 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
24918 John McClary Prevost,
24924 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
24929 Christian von Roques,
24932 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
24939 Philippe Schnoebelen,
24941 Randal L. Schwartz,
24955 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
24960 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
24980 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
24981 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
24982 (550kB and counting).
24984 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
24987 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
24988 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
24992 @subsection New Features
24993 @cindex new features
24996 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
24997 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
24998 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
24999 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
25000 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
25001 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10.
25002 * No Gnus:: Lars, FIXME!
25005 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
25006 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
25007 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
25010 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
25012 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
25017 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
25018 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
25021 Local spool and several @acronym{NNTP} servers can be used at once
25022 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
25025 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
25028 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
25029 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
25030 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
25033 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
25034 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
25035 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
25036 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
25039 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
25040 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
25043 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
25044 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
25045 (@pxref{The Active File}).
25048 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
25049 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
25052 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
25053 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
25054 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
25057 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
25058 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
25059 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
25062 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{~/.gnus.el}) to avoid
25063 cluttering up the @file{.emacs} file.
25066 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
25067 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
25070 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
25071 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
25074 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
25075 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
25078 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
25079 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
25082 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
25083 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
25086 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
25089 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
25090 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
25093 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
25094 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
25097 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
25098 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
25101 Gnus can fetch @acronym{FAQ}s and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
25104 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
25105 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
25108 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
25112 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
25116 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
25117 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
25120 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
25126 @node September Gnus
25127 @subsubsection September Gnus
25131 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
25135 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
25140 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
25141 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
25145 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
25146 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
25150 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
25154 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
25155 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
25158 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
25162 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
25165 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
25168 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
25171 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
25175 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
25176 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
25179 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
25183 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
25187 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
25191 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
25195 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
25198 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
25199 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
25202 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
25206 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
25207 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
25210 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
25213 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
25214 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
25215 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
25218 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
25222 The Gnus cache is much faster.
25225 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
25229 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
25230 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
25233 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
25234 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
25237 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
25238 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
25241 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
25242 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
25243 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
25246 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
25247 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
25250 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
25253 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
25256 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
25259 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
25262 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
25263 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
25266 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
25270 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
25273 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
25278 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
25281 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
25285 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
25288 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
25292 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
25295 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
25298 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
25299 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
25302 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
25303 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
25307 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
25308 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
25311 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
25315 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
25316 buffer to allow easier treatment.
25319 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
25322 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
25326 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
25330 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
25331 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
25334 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
25338 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
25339 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
25342 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
25343 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
25346 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
25350 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
25353 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
25356 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
25362 @subsubsection Red Gnus
25364 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
25368 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
25375 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
25378 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
25379 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
25382 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
25383 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
25387 Article washing status can be displayed in the
25388 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
25391 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
25394 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
25395 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
25398 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
25402 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
25403 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
25407 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
25408 Server Internals}).
25411 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
25415 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
25418 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
25419 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
25422 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
25423 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
25424 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
25427 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
25428 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
25431 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
25432 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
25435 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
25439 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
25440 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
25443 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
25444 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
25447 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
25451 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
25454 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
25458 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
25459 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
25462 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
25463 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
25466 A new command for reading collections of documents
25467 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
25468 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
25471 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
25475 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @acronym{NNTP}
25476 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
25479 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
25480 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
25481 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
25484 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
25485 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
25489 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
25493 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
25497 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
25502 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
25506 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
25510 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
25511 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
25514 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
25520 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
25522 New features in Gnus 5.6:
25527 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
25528 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added.
25529 @xref{Gnus Unplugged}, for the full story.
25532 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
25533 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
25534 group, which is created automatically.
25537 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
25541 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
25544 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
25545 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
25548 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
25552 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
25555 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
25556 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
25559 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
25562 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. @xref{Symbolic Prefixes}, for
25566 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
25567 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the @file{all.SCORE} file.
25570 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
25571 control over simplification.
25574 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
25577 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
25581 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
25584 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
25587 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
25588 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
25589 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
25592 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
25593 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
25596 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
25600 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
25601 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
25604 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
25605 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @acronym{NNTP} servers.
25608 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
25612 A history of where mails have been split is available.
25615 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
25618 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
25619 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
25622 A new function for citing in Message has been
25623 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
25626 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
25629 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
25633 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
25634 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
25637 The ``lapsed date'' article header can be kept continually
25638 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
25641 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
25644 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
25648 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
25649 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
25651 New features in Gnus 5.8:
25656 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
25657 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
25659 If you used procmail like in
25662 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
25663 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
25664 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
25665 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
25668 this now has changed to
25672 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
25676 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}.
25679 Gnus is now a @acronym{MIME}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
25680 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
25683 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
25684 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
25687 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
25688 called to position point.
25691 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
25692 summary buffers and @acronym{NOV} files.
25695 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
25696 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
25699 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
25700 subtly different manner.
25703 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
25704 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
25705 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
25708 Gnus can now read @acronym{IMAP} mail via @code{nnimap}.
25713 @subsubsection Oort Gnus
25716 New features in Gnus 5.10:
25721 @code{gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group} can be called interactively,
25725 In draft groups, @kbd{e} is now bound to @code{gnus-draft-edit-message}.
25726 Use @kbd{B w} for @code{gnus-summary-edit-article} instead.
25729 The revised Gnus @acronym{FAQ} is included in the manual,
25730 @xref{Frequently Asked Questions}.
25733 Upgrading from previous (stable) version if you have used Oort.
25735 If you have tried Oort (the unstable Gnus branch leading to this
25736 release) but went back to a stable version, be careful when upgrading to
25737 this version. In particular, you will probably want to remove all
25738 @file{.marks} (nnml) and @file{.mrk} (nnfolder) files, so that flags are
25739 read from your @file{.newsrc.eld} instead of from the
25740 @file{.marks}/@file{.mrk} file where this release store flags. See a
25741 later entry for more information about marks. Note that downgrading
25742 isn't save in general.
25747 More buttons for URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man
25748 pages and Emacs or Gnus related references. @xref{Article Buttons}. The
25749 variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} can be used to control the
25750 appearance of all article buttons. @xref{Article Button Levels}.
25755 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} (see @ref{Other modes}) installs key
25756 bindings in dired buffers to send a file as an attachment, open a file
25757 using the appropriate mailcap entry, and print a file using the mailcap
25761 Gnus can display RSS newsfeeds as a newsgroup. @xref{RSS}.
25764 Single-part yenc encoded attachments can be decoded.
25769 The picons code has been reimplemented to work in GNU Emacs---some of
25770 the previous options have been removed or renamed.
25772 Picons are small ``personal icons'' representing users, domain and
25773 newsgroups, which can be displayed in the Article buffer.
25777 If the new option @code{gnus-treat-body-boundary} is non-@code{nil}, a
25778 boundary line is drawn at the end of the headers.
25781 Retrieval of charters and control messages
25783 There are new commands for fetching newsgroup charters (@kbd{H c}) and
25784 control messages (@kbd{H C}).
25789 You can delay the sending of a message with @kbd{C-c C-j} in the Message
25790 buffer. The messages are delivered at specified time. This is useful
25791 for sending yourself reminders. @xref{Delayed Articles}.
25794 If @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled, attachments are automatically
25795 decompressed when activated.
25798 If the new option @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is non-@code{nil},
25799 the nnml back end allows compressed message files.
25802 Signed article headers (X-PGP-Sig) can be verified with @kbd{W p}.
25805 The Summary Buffer uses an arrow in the fringe to indicate the current
25806 article. Use @code{(setq gnus-summary-display-arrow nil)} to disable it.
25809 Warn about email replies to news
25811 Do you often find yourself replying to news by email by mistake? Then
25812 the new option @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} is just the thing for
25816 If the new option @code{gnus-summary-display-while-building} is
25817 non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer is shown and updated as it's being
25821 The new @code{recent} mark @samp{.} indicates newly arrived messages (as
25822 opposed to old but unread messages).
25825 The new option @code{gnus-gcc-mark-as-read} automatically marks
25826 Gcc articles as read.
25829 The nndoc back end now supports mailman digests and exim bounces.
25832 Gnus supports RFC 2369 mailing list headers, and adds a number of
25833 related commands in mailing list groups. @xref{Mailing List}.
25836 The Date header can be displayed in a format that can be read aloud
25837 in English. @xref{Article Date}.
25840 The envelope sender address can be customized when using Sendmail.
25841 @xref{Mail Variables, Mail Variables,, message, Message Manual}.
25844 diffs are automatically highlighted in groups matching
25845 @code{mm-uu-diff-groups-regexp}
25848 @acronym{TLS} wrapper shipped with Gnus
25850 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is now supported in @acronym{IMAP} and
25851 @acronym{NNTP} via @file{tls.el} and GNUTLS. The old
25852 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} support via (external third party)
25853 @file{ssl.el} and OpenSSL still works.
25856 New @file{make.bat} for compiling and installing Gnus under MS Windows
25858 Use @file{make.bat} if you want to install Gnus under MS Windows, the
25859 first argument to the batch-program should be the directory where
25860 @file{xemacs.exe} respectively @file{emacs.exe} is located, iff you want
25861 to install Gnus after compiling it, give @file{make.bat} @code{/copy} as
25862 the second parameter.
25864 @file{make.bat} has been rewritten from scratch, it now features
25865 automatic recognition of XEmacs and GNU Emacs, generates
25866 @file{gnus-load.el}, checks if errors occur while compilation and
25867 generation of info files and reports them at the end of the build
25868 process. It now uses @code{makeinfo} if it is available and falls
25869 back to @file{infohack.el} otherwise. @file{make.bat} should now
25870 install all files which are necessary to run Gnus and be generally a
25871 complete replacement for the @code{configure; make; make install}
25872 cycle used under Unix systems.
25874 The new @file{make.bat} makes @file{make-x.bat} superfluous, so it has
25878 Support for non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names
25880 Message supports non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To: and
25881 Cc: and will query you whether to perform encoding when you try to
25882 send a message. The variable @code{message-use-idna} controls this.
25883 Gnus will also decode non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To:
25884 and Cc: when you view a message. The variable @code{gnus-use-idna}
25888 Better handling of Microsoft citation styles
25890 Gnus now tries to recognize the mangled header block that some Microsoft
25891 mailers use to indicate that the rest of the message is a citation, even
25892 though it is not quoted in any way. The variable
25893 @code{gnus-cite-unsightly-citation-regexp} matches the start of these
25897 @code{gnus-article-skip-boring}
25899 If you set @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} to @code{t}, then Gnus will
25900 not scroll down to show you a page that contains only boring text,
25901 which by default means cited text and signature. You can customize
25902 what is skippable using @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}.
25904 This feature is especially useful if you read many articles that
25905 consist of a little new content at the top with a long, untrimmed
25906 message cited below.
25909 The format spec @code{%C} for positioning point has changed to @code{%*}.
25912 The new variable @code{gnus-parameters} can be used to set group parameters.
25914 Earlier this was done only via @kbd{G p} (or @kbd{G c}), which stored
25915 the parameters in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, but via this variable you can
25916 enjoy the powers of customize, and simplified backups since you set the
25917 variable in @file{~/.emacs} instead of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. The
25918 variable maps regular expressions matching group names to group
25921 (setq gnus-parameters
25923 (gnus-show-threads nil)
25924 (gnus-use-scoring nil))
25925 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
25926 (to-group . "\\1"))))
25930 Smileys (@samp{:-)}, @samp{;-)} etc) are now iconized for Emacs too.
25932 Put @code{(setq gnus-treat-display-smileys nil)} in @file{~/.emacs} to
25936 Gnus no longer generate the Sender: header automatically.
25938 Earlier it was generated iff the user configurable email address was
25939 different from the Gnus guessed default user address. As the guessing
25940 algorithm is rarely correct these days, and (more controversially) the
25941 only use of the Sender: header was to check if you are entitled to
25942 cancel/supersede news (which is now solved by Cancel Locks instead,
25943 see another entry), generation of the header has been disabled by
25944 default. See the variables @code{message-required-headers},
25945 @code{message-required-news-headers}, and
25946 @code{message-required-mail-headers}.
25949 Features from third party @file{message-utils.el} added to @file{message.el}.
25951 Message now asks if you wish to remove @samp{(was: <old subject>)} from
25952 subject lines (see @code{message-subject-trailing-was-query}). @kbd{C-c
25953 M-m} and @kbd{C-c M-f} inserts markers indicating included text.
25954 @kbd{C-c C-f a} adds a X-No-Archive: header. @kbd{C-c C-f x} inserts
25955 appropriate headers and a note in the body for cross-postings and
25956 followups (see the variables @code{message-cross-post-@var{*}}).
25959 References and X-Draft-Headers are no longer generated when you start
25960 composing messages and @code{message-generate-headers-first} is
25964 Improved anti-spam features.
25966 Gnus is now able to take out spam from your mail and news streams
25967 using a wide variety of programs and filter rules. Among the supported
25968 methods are RBL blocklists, bogofilter and white/blacklists. Hooks
25969 for easy use of external packages such as SpamAssassin and Hashcash
25970 are also new. @xref{Thwarting Email Spam}.
25973 Easy inclusion of X-Faces headers.
25976 Face headers handling.
25979 In the summary buffer, the new command @kbd{/ N} inserts new messages
25980 and @kbd{/ o} inserts old messages.
25983 Gnus decodes morse encoded messages if you press @kbd{W m}.
25986 Unread count correct in nnimap groups.
25988 The estimated number of unread articles in the group buffer should now
25989 be correct for nnimap groups. This is achieved by calling
25990 @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} from the
25991 @code{gnus-setup-news-hook} (called on startup) and
25992 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook}. (called after getting new
25993 mail). If you have modified those variables from the default, you may
25994 want to add @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} again. If
25995 you were happy with the estimate and want to save some (minimal) time
25996 when getting new mail, remove the function.
25999 Group Carbon Copy (GCC) quoting
26001 To support groups that contains SPC and other weird characters, groups
26002 are quoted before they are placed in the Gcc: header. This means
26003 variables such as @code{gnus-message-archive-group} should no longer
26004 contain quote characters to make groups containing SPC work. Also, if
26005 you are using the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar} (indicating Gcc
26006 into two groups) you must change it to return the list
26007 @code{("nnml:foo" "nnml:bar")}, otherwise the Gcc: line will be quoted
26008 incorrectly. Note that returning the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar}
26009 was incorrect earlier, it just didn't generate any problems since it
26010 was inserted directly.
26013 @file{~/News/overview/} not used.
26015 As a result of the following change, the @file{~/News/overview/}
26016 directory is not used any more. You can safely delete the entire
26022 The Gnus Agent has seen a major updated and is now enabled by default,
26023 and all nntp and nnimap servers from @code{gnus-select-method} and
26024 @code{gnus-secondary-select-method} are agentized by default. Earlier
26025 only the server in @code{gnus-select-method} was agentized by the
26026 default, and the agent was disabled by default. When the agent is
26027 enabled, headers are now also retrieved from the Agent cache instead
26028 of the back ends when possible. Earlier this only happened in the
26029 unplugged state. You can enroll or remove servers with @kbd{J a} and
26030 @kbd{J r} in the server buffer. Gnus will not download articles into
26031 the Agent cache, unless you instruct it to do so, though, by using
26032 @kbd{J u} or @kbd{J s} from the Group buffer. You revert to the old
26033 behaviour of having the Agent disabled with @code{(setq gnus-agent
26034 nil)}. Note that putting @code{(gnus-agentize)} in @file{~/.gnus.el}
26035 is not needed any more.
26038 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}
26040 The default value changed to @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%)
26041 %s\n}. Moreover @code{gnus-extra-headers},
26042 @code{nnmail-extra-headers} and @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses}
26043 changed their default so that the users name will be replaced by the
26044 recipient's name or the group name posting to for @acronym{NNTP}
26048 @file{deuglify.el} (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article})
26050 A new file from Raymond Scholz @email{rscholz@@zonix.de} for deuglifying
26051 broken Outlook (Express) articles.
26054 @code{(require 'gnus-load)}
26056 If you use a stand-alone Gnus distribution, you'd better add
26057 @code{(require 'gnus-load)} into your @file{~/.emacs} after adding the Gnus
26058 lisp directory into load-path.
26060 File @file{gnus-load.el} contains autoload commands, functions and variables,
26061 some of which may not be included in distributions of Emacsen.
26064 @code{gnus-slave-unplugged}
26066 A new command which starts Gnus offline in slave mode.
26069 @code{message-insinuate-rmail}
26071 Adding @code{(message-insinuate-rmail)} and @code{(setq
26072 mail-user-agent 'gnus-user-agent)} in @file{.emacs} convinces Rmail to
26073 compose, reply and forward messages in message-mode, where you can
26074 enjoy the power of @acronym{MML}.
26077 @code{message-minibuffer-local-map}
26079 The line below enables BBDB in resending a message:
26081 (define-key message-minibuffer-local-map [(tab)]
26082 'bbdb-complete-name)
26086 Externalizing and deleting of attachments.
26088 If @code{gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments} or
26089 @code{message-fcc-externalize-attachments} is non-@code{nil}, attach
26090 local files as external parts.
26092 The command @code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip} (bound to @kbd{C-o}
26093 on @acronym{MIME} buttons) saves a part and replaces the part with an
26094 external one. @code{gnus-mime-delete-part} (bound to @kbd{d} on
26095 @acronym{MIME} buttons) removes a part. It works only on back ends
26096 that support editing.
26099 @code{gnus-default-charset}
26101 The default value is determined from the
26102 @code{current-language-environment} variable, instead of
26103 @code{iso-8859-1}. Also the @samp{.*} item in
26104 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} is removed.
26107 @code{gnus-posting-styles}
26109 Add a new format of match like
26111 ((header "to" "larsi.*org")
26112 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
26114 The old format like the lines below is obsolete, but still accepted.
26116 (header "to" "larsi.*org"
26117 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
26121 @code{message-ignored-news-headers} and @code{message-ignored-mail-headers}
26123 @samp{X-Draft-From} and @samp{X-Gnus-Agent-Meta-Information} have been
26124 added into these two variables. If you customized those, perhaps you
26125 need add those two headers too.
26128 Gnus reads the @acronym{NOV} and articles in the Agent if plugged.
26130 If one reads an article while plugged, and the article already exists
26131 in the Agent, it won't get downloaded once more. @code{(setq
26132 gnus-agent-cache nil)} reverts to the old behavior.
26135 Gnus supports the ``format=flowed'' (RFC 2646) parameter. On
26136 composing messages, it is enabled by @code{use-hard-newlines}.
26137 Decoding format=flowed was present but not documented in earlier
26141 Gnus supports the generation of RFC 2298 Disposition Notification requests.
26143 This is invoked with the @kbd{C-c M-n} key binding from message mode.
26146 Gnus supports Maildir groups.
26148 Gnus includes a new back end @file{nnmaildir.el}. @xref{Maildir}.
26151 Printing capabilities are enhanced.
26153 Gnus supports Muttprint natively with @kbd{O P} from the Summary and
26154 Article buffers. Also, each individual @acronym{MIME} part can be
26155 printed using @kbd{p} on the @acronym{MIME} button.
26158 Message supports the Importance: (RFC 2156) header.
26160 In the message buffer, @kbd{C-c C-f C-i} or @kbd{C-c C-u} cycles through
26164 Gnus supports Cancel Locks in News.
26166 This means a header @samp{Cancel-Lock} is inserted in news posting. It is
26167 used to determine if you wrote an article or not (for canceling and
26168 superseding). Gnus generates a random password string the first time
26169 you post a message, and saves it in your @file{~/.emacs} using the Custom
26170 system. While the variable is called @code{canlock-password}, it is not
26171 security sensitive data. Publishing your canlock string on the web
26172 will not allow anyone to be able to anything she could not already do.
26173 The behaviour can be changed by customizing @code{message-insert-canlock}.
26176 Gnus supports server-side mail filtering using Sieve.
26178 Sieve rules can be added as Group Parameters for groups, and the
26179 complete Sieve script is generated using @kbd{D g} from the Group
26180 buffer, and then uploaded to the server using @kbd{C-c C-l} in the
26181 generated Sieve buffer. @xref{Sieve Commands}, and the new Sieve
26182 manual @ref{Top, , Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
26185 Extended format specs.
26187 Format spec @samp{%&user-date;} is added into
26188 @code{gnus-summary-line-format-alist}. Also, user defined extended
26189 format specs are supported. The extended format specs look like
26190 @samp{%u&foo;}, which invokes function
26191 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{foo}}. Because @samp{&} is used as the
26192 escape character, old user defined format @samp{%u&} is no longer supported.
26195 @kbd{/ *} (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}) is rewritten.
26197 It was aliased to @kbd{Y c}
26198 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}). The new function filters
26199 out other articles.
26201 @item Some limiting commands accept a @kbd{C-u} prefix to negate the match.
26203 If @kbd{C-u} is used on subject, author or extra headers, i.e., @kbd{/
26204 s}, @kbd{/ a}, and @kbd{/ x}
26205 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-@{subject,author,extra@}}) respectively, the
26206 result will be to display all articles that do not match the expression.
26209 Group names are treated as UTF-8 by default.
26211 This is supposedly what USEFOR wanted to migrate to. See
26212 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist} and
26213 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist} for customization.
26216 The nnml and nnfolder back ends store marks for each groups.
26218 This makes it possible to take backup of nnml/nnfolder servers/groups
26219 separately of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, while preserving marks. It also
26220 makes it possible to share articles and marks between users (without
26221 sharing the @file{~/.newsrc.eld} file) within e.g. a department. It
26222 works by storing the marks stored in @file{~/.newsrc.eld} in a per-group
26223 file @file{.marks} (for nnml) and @file{@var{groupname}.mrk} (for
26224 nnfolder, named @var{groupname}). If the nnml/nnfolder is moved to
26225 another machine, Gnus will automatically use the @file{.marks} or
26226 @file{.mrk} file instead of the information in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
26227 The new server variables @code{nnml-marks-is-evil} and
26228 @code{nnfolder-marks-is-evil} can be used to disable this feature.
26231 The menu bar item (in Group and Summary buffer) named ``Misc'' has
26232 been renamed to ``Gnus''.
26235 The menu bar item (in Message mode) named ``@acronym{MML}'' has been
26236 renamed to ``Attachments''. Note that this menu also contains security
26237 related stuff, like signing and encryption (@pxref{Security, Security,,
26238 message, Message Manual}).
26241 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} and
26242 @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
26244 The regexps in these variables are compared with full group names
26245 instead of real group names in 5.8. Users who customize these
26246 variables should change those regexps accordingly. For example:
26248 ("^han\\>" euc-kr) -> ("\\(^\\|:\\)han\\>" euc-kr)
26252 Gnus supports @acronym{PGP} (RFC 1991/2440), @acronym{PGP/MIME} (RFC
26253 2015/3156) and @acronym{S/MIME} (RFC 2630-2633).
26255 It needs an external @acronym{S/MIME} and OpenPGP implementation, but no
26256 additional Lisp libraries. This add several menu items to the
26257 Attachments menu, and @kbd{C-c RET} key bindings, when composing
26258 messages. This also obsoletes @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook}.
26261 Gnus inlines external parts (message/external).
26264 @acronym{MML} (Mime compose) prefix changed from @kbd{M-m} to @kbd{C-c
26267 This change was made to avoid conflict with the standard binding of
26268 @code{back-to-indentation}, which is also useful in message mode.
26271 The default for @code{message-forward-show-mml} changed to symbol @code{best}.
26273 The behaviour for the @code{best} value is to show @acronym{MML} (i.e.,
26274 convert to @acronym{MIME}) when appropriate. @acronym{MML} will not be
26275 used when forwarding signed or encrypted messages, as the conversion
26276 invalidate the digital signature.
26280 @subsubsection No Gnus
26283 New features in No Gnus:
26284 @c FIXME: Gnus 5.12?
26286 @include gnus-news.texi
26292 @section The Manual
26296 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
26297 either @code{texi2dvi}
26299 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
26300 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
26302 to get what you hold in your hands now.
26304 The following conventions have been used:
26309 This is a @samp{string}
26312 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
26315 This is a @file{file}
26318 This is a @code{symbol}
26322 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
26326 (setq flargnoze "yes")
26329 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
26332 (setq flumphel 'yes)
26335 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
26336 ever get them confused.
26340 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
26341 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
26342 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
26343 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
26344 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
26345 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
26346 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
26352 @node On Writing Manuals
26353 @section On Writing Manuals
26355 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
26356 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
26357 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
26358 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
26359 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
26360 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
26363 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
26364 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
26365 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
26368 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
26369 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
26374 @section Terminology
26376 @cindex terminology
26381 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
26382 News is generally fetched from a nearby @acronym{NNTP} server, and is
26383 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
26384 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
26385 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
26389 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
26390 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
26391 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
26392 not posting, and replying is not following up.
26396 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
26400 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
26405 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
26406 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
26407 commonly fetched via the protocol @acronym{NNTP}, whereas mail
26408 messages could be read from a file on the local disk. The internal
26409 architecture of Gnus thus comprises a ``front end'' and a number of
26410 ``back ends''. Internally, when you enter a group (by hitting
26411 @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke a function in the front end in
26412 Gnus. The front end then ``talks'' to a back end and says things like
26413 ``Give me the list of articles in the foo group'' or ``Show me article
26416 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back
26417 end accesses news via @acronym{NNTP}, the @code{nnimap} back end
26418 accesses mail via @acronym{IMAP}) or a file format and directory
26419 layout (the @code{nnspool} back end accesses news via the common
26420 ``spool directory'' format, the @code{nnml} back end access mail via a
26421 file format and directory layout that's quite similar).
26423 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
26424 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
26425 access the articles.
26427 However, sometimes the term ``back end'' is also used where ``server''
26428 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term ``select
26429 method'' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
26434 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
26435 default, way of getting news.
26439 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
26440 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
26445 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
26446 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
26450 A message that has been posted as news.
26453 @cindex mail message
26454 A message that has been mailed.
26458 A mail message or news article
26462 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
26467 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
26472 A line from the head of an article.
26476 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
26477 collection of @acronym{NOV} lines.
26479 @item @acronym{NOV}
26480 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
26481 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
26482 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
26483 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
26484 normal @sc{head} format.
26488 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
26489 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
26490 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
26491 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
26492 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
26493 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
26495 @item killed groups
26496 @cindex killed groups
26497 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
26498 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
26500 @item zombie groups
26501 @cindex zombie groups
26502 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
26505 @cindex active file
26506 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
26507 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
26508 is rather large, as you might surmise.
26511 @cindex bogus groups
26512 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
26513 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
26514 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
26517 @cindex activating groups
26518 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
26519 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
26520 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
26524 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
26526 @item select method
26527 @cindex select method
26528 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
26531 @item virtual server
26532 @cindex virtual server
26533 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
26534 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
26535 whole is a virtual server.
26539 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
26540 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
26543 @item ephemeral groups
26544 @cindex ephemeral groups
26545 @cindex temporary groups
26546 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
26547 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
26548 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
26551 @cindex solid groups
26552 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
26553 group buffer are solid groups.
26555 @item sparse articles
26556 @cindex sparse articles
26557 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
26558 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
26562 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
26563 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
26567 @cindex thread root
26568 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
26569 articles in the thread.
26573 An article that has responses.
26577 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
26581 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
26582 specified by RFC 1153.
26585 @cindex splitting, terminolgy
26586 @cindex mail sorting
26587 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
26588 The action of sorting your emails according to certain rules. Sometimes
26589 incorrectly called mail filtering.
26595 @node Customization
26596 @section Customization
26597 @cindex general customization
26599 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
26600 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
26601 for some quite common situations.
26604 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
26605 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
26606 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
26607 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
26611 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
26612 @subsection Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
26614 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
26615 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
26616 Gnus has to get from the @acronym{NNTP} server.
26620 @item gnus-read-active-file
26621 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
26622 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
26623 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
26624 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
26625 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
26627 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
26628 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
26629 the @acronym{NNTP} server will not be very fast. Not all @acronym{NNTP} servers
26630 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
26634 @node Slow Terminal Connection
26635 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
26637 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
26638 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
26639 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
26643 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
26644 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
26645 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
26646 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
26647 horizontal and vertical recentering.
26649 @item gnus-visible-headers
26650 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
26651 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
26652 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
26653 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
26655 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
26657 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
26658 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
26659 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
26662 @item gnus-use-full-window
26663 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
26664 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
26665 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
26666 want to read them anyway.
26668 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
26669 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
26673 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
26674 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
26675 lines, which might save some time.
26679 @node Little Disk Space
26680 @subsection Little Disk Space
26683 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
26684 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
26688 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
26689 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
26690 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
26691 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
26694 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
26695 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
26696 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
26697 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
26700 @item gnus-save-killed-list
26701 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
26702 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
26703 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
26704 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
26710 @subsection Slow Machine
26711 @cindex slow machine
26713 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
26714 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
26716 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
26717 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
26719 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
26720 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
26721 summary buffer faster.
26725 @node Troubleshooting
26726 @section Troubleshooting
26727 @cindex troubleshooting
26729 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
26737 Make sure your computer is switched on.
26740 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
26741 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
26745 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
26746 like @samp{T-gnus 6.17.* (based on Gnus v5.10.*; for SEMI 1.1*, FLIM
26747 1.1*)} you have the right files loaded. Otherwise you have some old
26748 @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
26751 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a
26752 @acronym{FAQ} and a how-to.
26755 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
26756 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
26757 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
26758 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
26759 something like that.
26762 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
26765 @cindex reporting bugs
26767 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
26769 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
26770 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
26771 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
26772 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
26774 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
26775 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
26776 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
26777 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
26780 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
26781 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
26782 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
26783 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
26784 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
26785 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
26787 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
26788 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
26789 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
26793 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
26794 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
26797 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
26798 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
26799 edebug. Debugging Lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
26800 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
26801 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
26802 you discover some weird behaviour when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
26803 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
26804 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
26805 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
26806 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
26807 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
26808 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
26809 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
26810 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
26815 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate an elisp error but
26816 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
26817 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press @kbd{C-g} when things are
26818 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
26819 helps isolating the real problem areas).
26821 A fancier approach is to use the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is
26822 (or should be) fully documented elsewhere, but to get you started
26823 there are a few steps that need to be followed. First, instrument the
26824 part of Gnus you are interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x
26825 elp-instrument-package RET gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package
26826 RET message}. Then perform the operation that is slow and press
26827 @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will then see which operations that takes
26828 time, and can debug them further. If the entire operation takes much
26829 longer than the time spent in the slowest function in the profiler
26830 output, you probably profiled the wrong part of Gnus. To reset
26831 profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x
26832 elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove profiling, but given the
26833 complexities and dynamic code generation in Gnus, it might not always
26836 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
26837 @cindex ding mailing list
26838 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
26839 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful. You can also ask on
26840 @email{ding@@gnus.org, the ding mailing list}. Write to
26841 @email{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
26845 @node Gnus Reference Guide
26846 @section Gnus Reference Guide
26848 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
26849 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
26850 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
26851 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
26854 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
26855 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
26856 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
26857 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
26858 and general methods of operation.
26861 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
26862 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
26863 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
26864 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
26865 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
26866 * Group Info:: The group info format.
26867 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
26868 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
26869 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
26873 @node Gnus Utility Functions
26874 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
26875 @cindex Gnus utility functions
26876 @cindex utility functions
26878 @cindex internal variables
26880 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
26881 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
26882 Below is a list of the most common ones.
26886 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
26887 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
26888 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
26890 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
26891 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
26892 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
26894 @item gnus-group-real-name
26895 @findex gnus-group-real-name
26896 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
26899 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
26900 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
26901 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
26902 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
26904 @item gnus-get-info
26905 @findex gnus-get-info
26906 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
26908 @item gnus-group-unread
26909 @findex gnus-group-unread
26910 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
26914 @findex gnus-active
26915 The active entry for @var{group}.
26917 @item gnus-set-active
26918 @findex gnus-set-active
26919 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
26921 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
26922 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
26923 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
26926 @item gnus-continuum-version
26927 @findex gnus-continuum-version
26928 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
26929 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
26932 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
26933 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
26934 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
26936 @item gnus-news-group-p
26937 @findex gnus-news-group-p
26938 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
26940 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
26941 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
26942 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
26944 @item gnus-server-to-method
26945 @findex gnus-server-to-method
26946 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
26948 @item gnus-server-equal
26949 @findex gnus-server-equal
26950 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
26952 @item gnus-group-native-p
26953 @findex gnus-group-native-p
26954 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
26956 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
26957 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
26958 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
26960 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
26961 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
26962 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
26964 @item gnus-group-find-parameter
26965 @findex gnus-group-find-parameter
26966 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
26967 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
26969 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
26970 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
26971 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
26973 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
26974 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
26975 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
26977 @item gnus-check-backend-function
26978 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
26979 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
26980 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
26983 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
26987 @item gnus-read-method
26988 @findex gnus-read-method
26989 Prompts the user for a select method.
26994 @node Back End Interface
26995 @subsection Back End Interface
26997 Gnus doesn't know anything about @acronym{NNTP}, spools, mail or virtual
26998 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
26999 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
27000 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
27001 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
27002 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
27004 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
27005 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
27006 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
27007 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
27008 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
27009 been opened, the function should fail.
27011 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
27012 name. Take this example:
27016 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
27017 (nntp-port-number 4324))
27020 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
27021 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
27023 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
27024 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
27025 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
27027 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
27028 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
27029 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
27031 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
27032 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
27033 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
27034 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
27035 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
27036 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
27039 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
27040 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
27041 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
27042 ---they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
27045 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
27046 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
27047 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
27048 possible for later articles to ``re-use'' older article numbers without
27049 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
27050 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
27051 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
27052 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
27053 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
27054 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
27056 The previous paragraph already mentions all the ``hard'' restrictions that
27057 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
27058 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
27059 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
27060 the ``no-reuse'' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
27061 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
27062 of numbers as long as possible.
27064 Note that by convention, back ends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
27065 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
27066 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
27068 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
27071 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
27074 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
27075 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
27076 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
27077 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
27078 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
27079 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
27083 @node Required Back End Functions
27084 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
27088 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
27090 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
27091 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
27092 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
27093 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
27095 The result data should either be HEADs or @acronym{NOV} lines, and the result
27096 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
27097 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
27098 of HEADs and @acronym{NOV} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
27100 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching ``extra
27101 headers'', in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
27102 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
27103 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
27104 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
27105 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
27106 number, do maximum fetches.
27108 Here's an example HEAD:
27111 221 1056 Article retrieved.
27112 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
27113 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
27114 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
27115 Subject: Re: Something very droll
27116 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
27117 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
27119 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
27120 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
27121 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
27125 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
27126 these in the data buffer.
27128 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
27132 head = error / valid-head
27133 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
27134 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
27135 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
27136 header = <text> eol
27140 (The version of BNF used here is the one used in RFC822.)
27142 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
27143 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
27147 nov-buffer = *nov-line
27148 nov-line = field 7*8[ <TAB> field ] eol
27149 field = <text except TAB>
27152 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
27156 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
27158 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
27159 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
27161 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
27162 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
27163 server. In fact, it should do so.
27165 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
27166 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
27169 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
27171 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
27172 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
27175 There should be no data returned.
27178 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
27180 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
27181 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
27182 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
27183 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
27185 There should be no data returned.
27188 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
27190 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
27191 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
27192 non-@code{nil} value. This function should under no circumstances
27193 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
27195 There should be no data returned.
27198 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
27200 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
27202 There should be no data returned.
27205 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
27207 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
27208 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
27209 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
27210 it would be nice if that were possible.
27212 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
27213 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
27214 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
27215 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
27216 into its article buffer.
27218 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
27219 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
27220 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
27221 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
27222 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
27223 on successful article retrieval.
27226 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
27228 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
27229 making @var{group} the current group.
27231 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
27234 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
27237 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
27240 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
27241 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
27242 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
27243 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
27244 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
27245 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
27246 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
27247 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
27248 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
27252 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
27253 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
27254 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
27258 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
27260 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
27261 a no-op on most back ends.
27263 There should be no data returned.
27266 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
27268 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
27271 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
27274 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
27275 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
27278 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
27279 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
27280 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
27281 and the highest as 0.
27284 active-file = *active-line
27285 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
27287 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
27290 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
27291 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
27292 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
27295 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
27297 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
27298 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
27299 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
27300 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
27301 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
27302 clear if the posting could not be completed.
27304 There should be no result data from this function.
27309 @node Optional Back End Functions
27310 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
27314 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
27316 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
27317 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
27318 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
27320 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
27321 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
27322 former is in the same format as the data from
27323 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
27324 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
27327 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
27331 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
27333 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
27334 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all
27335 the information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
27336 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
27337 should return a non-@code{nil} value.
27339 There should be no result data from this function.
27342 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
27344 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
27345 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
27346 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
27347 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
27348 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
27349 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
27350 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
27351 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
27353 There should be no result data from this function.
27356 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
27358 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
27359 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
27360 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @acronym{IMAP}) however carry
27361 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
27362 propagate the mark information to the server.
27364 @var{action} is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
27367 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
27370 @var{range} is a range of articles you wish to update marks on.
27371 @var{action} is @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove
27372 marks (preserving all marks not mentioned). @var{mark} is a list of
27373 marks; where each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are
27374 @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
27375 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
27376 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
27377 possible, not limit itself to these.
27379 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
27380 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
27381 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
27382 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
27384 An example action list:
27387 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
27388 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
27389 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
27392 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
27393 mark on (currently not used for anything).
27395 There should be no result data from this function.
27397 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
27399 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
27400 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
27401 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
27402 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
27403 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
27405 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
27406 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
27407 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
27410 There should be no result data from this function.
27413 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
27415 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
27416 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
27417 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query
27418 the @acronym{POP} server when this function is invoked. The
27419 @var{group} doesn't have to be heeded---if the back end decides that
27420 it is too much work just scanning for a single group, it may do a
27421 total scan of all groups. It would be nice, however, to keep things
27422 local if that's practical.
27424 There should be no result data from this function.
27427 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
27429 The result data from this function should be a description of
27433 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
27435 description = <text>
27438 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
27440 The result data from this function should be the description of all
27441 groups available on the server.
27444 description-buffer = *description-line
27448 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
27450 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
27451 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
27452 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
27453 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
27454 in the active buffer format.
27456 It is okay for this function to return ``too many'' groups; some back ends
27457 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
27458 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
27459 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
27460 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
27461 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
27462 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
27465 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
27467 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
27469 There should be no return data.
27472 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
27474 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
27475 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
27476 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
27477 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
27478 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
27481 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
27484 There should be no result data returned.
27487 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM &optional LAST)
27489 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
27490 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
27492 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
27493 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
27494 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
27495 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
27496 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
27497 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
27499 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
27500 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
27503 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
27504 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
27506 The group should exist before the back end is asked to accept the
27507 article for that group.
27509 There should be no data returned.
27512 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
27514 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
27515 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
27516 this function in short order.
27518 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
27519 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
27521 There should be no data returned.
27524 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
27526 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
27527 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
27529 There should be no data returned.
27532 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
27534 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
27535 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
27536 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
27538 There should be no data returned.
27541 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
27543 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
27544 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
27546 There should be no data returned.
27551 @node Error Messaging
27552 @subsubsection Error Messaging
27554 @findex nnheader-report
27555 @findex nnheader-get-report
27556 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
27557 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
27558 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
27559 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
27560 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
27561 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
27564 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
27566 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
27569 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
27570 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
27571 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
27572 takes one argument---the server symbol.
27574 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
27575 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
27576 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
27579 @node Writing New Back Ends
27580 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
27582 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
27583 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
27584 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
27585 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
27586 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
27589 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
27590 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
27591 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
27593 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
27594 package called @code{nnoo}.
27596 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
27597 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
27603 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
27604 parameters. For instance:
27607 (nnoo-declare nndir
27611 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
27612 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
27615 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
27616 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
27617 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
27619 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
27620 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
27621 a function in those back ends.
27624 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
27625 "Where nndir will look for groups."
27626 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
27629 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
27630 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
27631 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
27633 @item nnoo-define-basics
27634 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
27638 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
27642 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
27643 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
27644 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
27646 @item nnoo-map-functions
27647 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
27648 functions from the parent back ends.
27651 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
27652 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
27653 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
27656 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
27657 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
27658 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
27659 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
27662 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
27663 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
27664 haven't already been defined.
27670 nnmh-request-newgroups)
27674 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
27675 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
27676 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
27681 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
27684 ;;; @r{nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus}
27685 ;; @r{Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.}
27689 (require 'nnheader)
27693 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
27695 (nnoo-declare nndir
27698 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
27699 "Where nndir will look for groups."
27700 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
27702 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
27703 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
27706 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
27708 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
27709 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
27710 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
27712 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
27713 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
27715 ;;; @r{Interface functions.}
27717 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
27719 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
27720 (setq nndir-directory
27721 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
27723 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
27724 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
27725 (push `(nndir-current-group
27726 ,(file-name-nondirectory
27727 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
27729 (push `(nndir-top-directory
27730 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
27732 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
27734 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
27735 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
27736 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
27737 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
27738 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
27742 nnmh-status-message
27744 nnmh-request-newgroups))
27750 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
27751 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
27753 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
27754 @findex gnus-declare-backend
27755 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
27756 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
27757 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
27759 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
27760 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
27765 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
27768 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
27770 The abilities can be:
27774 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
27776 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
27778 This back end supports both mail and news.
27780 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
27783 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
27784 articles and groups.
27786 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
27787 true for almost all back ends.
27788 @item prompt-address
27789 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
27790 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
27791 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
27795 @node Mail-like Back Ends
27796 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
27798 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
27799 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
27800 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
27801 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
27804 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
27805 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
27806 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
27809 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
27810 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
27813 This function takes four parameters.
27817 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
27820 @item exit-function
27821 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
27823 @item temp-directory
27824 Where the temporary files should be stored.
27827 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
27828 performed for one group only.
27831 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
27832 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
27833 find the article number assigned to this article.
27835 The function also uses the following variables:
27836 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
27837 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
27838 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
27839 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
27843 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
27844 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
27848 @node Score File Syntax
27849 @subsection Score File Syntax
27851 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
27852 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
27853 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
27855 Here's a typical score file:
27859 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
27866 BNF definition of a score file:
27869 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
27870 element = rule / atom
27871 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
27872 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
27873 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
27874 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
27876 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
27877 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
27878 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
27879 date-header = "date"
27880 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
27881 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
27882 score = "nil" / <integer>
27883 date = "nil" / <natural number>
27884 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
27885 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
27886 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
27887 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
27888 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
27889 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
27890 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
27891 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
27892 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
27893 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
27894 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
27895 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
27896 exclude-files / read-only / touched
27897 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
27898 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
27899 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
27900 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
27901 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
27902 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
27903 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
27904 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
27905 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
27906 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
27907 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
27908 eval = "eval" space <form>
27909 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
27912 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
27915 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
27916 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
27917 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
27918 one looong line, then that's ok.
27920 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
27921 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
27925 @subsection Headers
27927 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
27928 corresponds to the @acronym{NOV} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
27929 almost suspect that the author looked at the @acronym{NOV} specification and
27930 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
27932 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
27933 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
27934 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
27935 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
27936 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
27937 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
27938 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
27940 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
27941 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
27942 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
27943 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
27944 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
27946 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
27947 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
27953 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
27954 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
27956 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
27957 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
27958 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
27959 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
27961 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
27965 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
27968 is transformed into
27971 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
27974 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
27975 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
27978 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
27981 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
27982 is slightly tricky:
27985 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
27991 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
27994 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
28000 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
28007 and is equal to the previous range.
28009 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
28010 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
28011 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
28015 range = simple-range / normal-range
28016 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
28017 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
28018 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
28019 number *[ " " contents ]
28022 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
28023 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
28024 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
28025 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
28026 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
28031 @subsection Group Info
28033 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
28034 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
28035 describes the group.
28037 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
28038 second is a more complex one:
28041 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
28043 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
28044 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
28046 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
28049 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
28050 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
28051 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
28052 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
28053 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
28054 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
28055 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
28056 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
28057 this section is about.
28059 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
28060 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
28061 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
28063 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
28066 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
28067 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
28068 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
28069 group = quote <string> quote
28070 ralevel = rank / level
28071 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
28072 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
28073 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
28075 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
28076 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
28077 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
28078 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
28081 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
28082 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
28085 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
28086 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
28089 @item gnus-info-group
28090 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
28091 @findex gnus-info-group
28092 @findex gnus-info-set-group
28093 Get/set the group name.
28095 @item gnus-info-rank
28096 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
28097 @findex gnus-info-rank
28098 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
28099 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
28101 @item gnus-info-level
28102 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
28103 @findex gnus-info-level
28104 @findex gnus-info-set-level
28105 Get/set the group level.
28107 @item gnus-info-score
28108 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
28109 @findex gnus-info-score
28110 @findex gnus-info-set-score
28111 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
28113 @item gnus-info-read
28114 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
28115 @findex gnus-info-read
28116 @findex gnus-info-set-read
28117 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
28119 @item gnus-info-marks
28120 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
28121 @findex gnus-info-marks
28122 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
28123 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
28125 @item gnus-info-method
28126 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
28127 @findex gnus-info-method
28128 @findex gnus-info-set-method
28129 Get/set the group select method.
28131 @item gnus-info-params
28132 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
28133 @findex gnus-info-params
28134 @findex gnus-info-set-params
28135 Get/set the group parameters.
28138 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
28139 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
28141 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
28142 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
28143 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
28144 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
28147 @node Extended Interactive
28148 @subsection Extended Interactive
28149 @cindex interactive
28150 @findex gnus-interactive
28152 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
28153 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
28154 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
28157 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
28158 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
28163 The best thing to do would have been to implement
28164 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
28165 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
28166 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
28167 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
28168 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
28169 @code{interactive}.
28171 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
28176 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
28177 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
28181 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
28182 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
28183 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
28186 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
28190 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
28194 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
28200 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
28201 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
28205 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
28206 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
28207 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
28209 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
28210 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
28211 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
28212 Gnus, that's very useful.
28214 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
28215 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
28216 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
28217 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
28218 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
28219 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
28220 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
28221 following function:
28224 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
28228 (,function ,@@args))
28232 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
28233 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
28234 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
28237 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
28238 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
28239 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
28241 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
28242 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
28243 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
28246 @node Various File Formats
28247 @subsection Various File Formats
28250 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
28251 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
28255 @node Active File Format
28256 @subsubsection Active File Format
28258 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
28259 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
28262 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
28265 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
28266 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
28267 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
28268 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
28269 no.general 1000 900 y
28272 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
28275 active = *group-line
28276 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
28277 group = <non-white-space string>
28279 high-number = <non-negative integer>
28280 low-number = <positive integer>
28281 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
28284 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
28285 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
28288 @node Newsgroups File Format
28289 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
28291 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
28292 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
28293 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
28296 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
28297 Here's the definition:
28301 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
28302 group = <non-white-space string>
28304 description = <string>
28309 @node Emacs for Heathens
28310 @section Emacs for Heathens
28312 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
28313 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
28314 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
28315 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
28316 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
28317 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
28318 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
28322 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
28323 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
28328 @subsection Keystrokes
28332 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
28335 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
28338 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
28339 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
28340 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
28341 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
28342 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
28343 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
28345 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
28346 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
28347 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
28348 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
28349 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
28350 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
28351 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
28353 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
28354 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
28355 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
28356 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
28357 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
28358 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
28359 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
28361 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
28362 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
28363 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
28364 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
28365 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
28371 @subsection Emacs Lisp
28373 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
28374 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
28375 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
28376 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
28378 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
28379 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
28380 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
28381 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
28382 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
28383 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
28384 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
28387 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
28388 write the following:
28391 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
28394 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
28395 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
28396 you can go and fill your @file{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
28399 If you have put that thing in your @file{.emacs} file, it will be read
28400 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
28401 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
28402 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
28403 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
28405 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
28406 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
28407 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
28411 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
28415 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
28418 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
28419 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
28422 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
28425 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
28426 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
28429 @include gnus-faq.texi
28449 @c Local Variables:
28451 @c coding: iso-8859-1