4 @settitle T-gnus 6.15 Manual
10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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284 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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293 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
295 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
298 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
299 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
300 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
301 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
302 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
303 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
304 License'' in the Emacs manual.
306 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
307 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
308 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
310 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
311 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
312 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
313 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
321 This file documents gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
323 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
324 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
326 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
327 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
328 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
329 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
330 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
331 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
332 License'' in the Emacs manual.
334 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
335 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
336 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
338 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
339 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
340 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
341 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
347 @title T-gnus 6.15 Manual
349 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
352 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
353 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
355 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
357 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
358 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
359 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
360 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
361 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
362 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
363 License'' in the Emacs manual.
365 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
366 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
367 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
369 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
370 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
371 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
372 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
381 @top The gnus Newsreader
385 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using gnus. The news
386 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
387 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
390 T-gnus provides @sc{mime} features based on @sc{semi} API. So T-gnus
391 supports your right to read strange messages including big images or
392 other various kinds of formats. T-gnus also supports
393 internationalization/localization and multiscript features based on MULE
394 API. So T-gnus does not discriminate various language communities.
395 Oh, if you are a Klingon, please wait Unicode Next Generation.
397 This manual corresponds to T-gnus 6.15.
408 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
409 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
411 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
412 being accused of plagiarism:
414 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
415 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
416 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
417 can even read news with it!
419 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
420 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
421 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend gnus to make it behave
422 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
423 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
429 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
430 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
431 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
432 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
433 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
434 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
435 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
436 * Various:: General purpose settings.
437 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
438 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
439 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
440 * Key Index:: Key Index.
442 Other related manuals
444 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
445 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; MIME-specific parts.
446 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
447 * PGG:(pgg). PGP/MIME with Gnus.
450 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
454 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
455 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
456 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
457 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
458 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
459 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
460 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
461 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
462 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
463 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
464 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
468 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
469 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
470 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
474 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
475 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
476 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
477 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
478 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
479 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
480 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
481 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
482 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
483 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
484 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
485 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
486 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
487 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
488 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
489 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
490 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
494 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
495 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
496 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
500 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
501 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
502 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
503 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
504 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
508 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
509 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
510 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
511 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
512 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
516 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
517 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
518 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
519 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
520 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
521 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
522 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
523 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
524 * Threading:: How threads are made.
525 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
526 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
527 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
528 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
529 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
530 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
531 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
532 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
533 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
534 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
535 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
536 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
537 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
538 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
539 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
540 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
541 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
542 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
543 or reselecting the current group.
544 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
545 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
546 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
547 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
549 Summary Buffer Format
551 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
552 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
553 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
554 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
558 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
559 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
561 Reply, Followup and Post
563 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
564 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
565 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
566 * Canceling and Superseding::
570 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
571 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
572 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
574 * Generic Marking Commands::
575 * Setting Process Marks::
579 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
580 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
581 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
585 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
586 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
588 Customizing Threading
590 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
591 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
592 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
593 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
597 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
598 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
599 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
600 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
601 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
602 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
606 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
607 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
608 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
612 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
613 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
614 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
615 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
616 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
617 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
618 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
619 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
620 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
621 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
623 Alternative Approaches
625 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
626 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
628 Various Summary Stuff
630 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
631 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
632 * Summary Generation Commands::
633 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
637 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
638 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
639 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
640 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
641 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
645 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
646 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
647 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
648 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
649 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
650 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
651 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
652 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
656 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
657 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
658 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
659 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
660 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
661 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
662 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
663 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
667 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
668 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
669 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
670 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
671 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
672 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
673 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
677 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
678 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
682 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
683 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
684 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
688 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
689 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
690 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
691 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
692 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
693 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
694 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
695 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
696 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
697 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
698 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
699 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
700 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
704 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
705 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
706 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
708 Choosing a Mail Back End
710 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
711 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
712 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
713 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
714 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
715 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
720 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
721 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
722 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
723 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
724 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
725 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
729 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
730 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
731 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
732 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
733 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
737 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
738 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
739 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
740 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
741 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
745 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
749 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
750 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
751 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
755 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
756 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
760 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
761 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
762 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
763 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
764 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
765 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
766 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
767 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
768 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
769 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
770 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
771 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
775 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
776 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
777 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
781 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
782 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
783 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
787 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
788 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
789 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
790 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
791 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
792 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
793 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
794 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
795 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
796 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
797 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
798 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
799 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
800 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
801 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
802 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
803 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
807 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
808 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
809 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
810 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
814 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
815 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
816 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
820 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
821 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
822 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
823 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
824 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
825 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
826 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
827 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
828 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
829 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
830 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
831 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
832 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
833 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
834 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
835 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
836 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
837 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
838 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
842 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
843 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
844 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
845 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
846 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
847 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
848 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
849 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
853 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
854 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
855 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
856 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
860 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
861 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
862 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
863 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
864 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
865 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
869 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
870 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
871 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
872 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
873 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
874 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
875 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
876 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
877 * Frequently Asked Questions::
881 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
882 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
883 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
884 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
885 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
886 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
887 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
888 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
889 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
893 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
894 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
895 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
896 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
897 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
901 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
902 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
903 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
904 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
908 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
909 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
910 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
911 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
912 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
913 * Group Info:: The group info format.
914 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
915 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
916 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
920 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
921 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
922 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
923 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
924 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
925 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
929 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
930 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
934 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
935 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
941 @chapter Starting gnus
946 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting gnus
947 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
950 @findex gnus-other-frame
951 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
952 If you want to start gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
953 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
955 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
956 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
957 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
959 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
960 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
963 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
964 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
965 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
966 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
967 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
968 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
969 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
970 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
971 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
972 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
973 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
977 @node Finding the News
978 @section Finding the News
981 @vindex gnus-select-method
983 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where gnus should look for
984 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
985 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
986 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
989 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
990 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
993 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
996 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
999 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
1002 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
1003 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
1004 server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1006 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1008 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
1009 If this variable is not set, gnus will take a look at the
1010 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1011 gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1012 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
1013 that fails as well, gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
1015 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1016 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1017 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1018 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1020 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1021 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1022 You can also make gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1023 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1024 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), gnus will let you choose between the servers
1025 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1026 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1027 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1028 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1031 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1033 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
1034 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1035 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1036 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1037 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1038 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1040 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1042 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1043 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1044 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1045 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1046 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1047 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1050 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1051 you would typically set this variable to
1054 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1058 @node The First Time
1059 @section The First Time
1060 @cindex first time usage
1062 If no startup files exist, gnus will try to determine what groups should
1063 be subscribed by default.
1065 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1066 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, gnus
1067 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1068 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1071 Since she hasn't, gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1072 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1073 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1075 You'll also be subscribed to the gnus documentation group, which should
1076 help you with most common problems.
1078 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, gnus will just
1079 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1083 @node The Server is Down
1084 @section The Server is Down
1085 @cindex server errors
1087 If the default server is down, gnus will understandably have some
1088 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1089 the news groups, you may want to start gnus anyway.
1091 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1092 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1093 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1094 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1095 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1096 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1097 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1099 @findex gnus-no-server
1100 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1102 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1103 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1104 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start gnus. That might come in handy
1105 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1106 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1107 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1108 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1112 @section Slave Gnusae
1115 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one gnus at the
1116 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1117 are using the two different gnusae to read from two different servers),
1118 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1120 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1121 @file{.newsrc} file.
1123 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the gnus
1124 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1125 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1126 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1127 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1128 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1129 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1132 Anyway, you start one gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1133 however you do it). Each subsequent slave gnusae should be started with
1134 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1135 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1136 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master gnus
1137 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1138 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1139 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1141 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1142 information in the normal (i.e., master) @file{.newsrc} file.
1144 If the @file{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1145 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1146 file. If you answer "yes", the unsaved changes to the master will be
1147 incorporated into the slave. If you answer "no", the slave may see some
1148 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1150 @node Fetching a Group
1151 @section Fetching a Group
1152 @cindex fetching a group
1154 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1155 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1156 group and I don't care whether gnus has been started or not''. This is
1157 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1158 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1159 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1165 @cindex subscription
1167 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1168 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1169 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1170 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1171 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1172 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1173 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1174 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1175 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1178 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1179 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1180 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1184 @node Checking New Groups
1185 @subsection Checking New Groups
1187 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1188 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1189 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1190 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, gnus will ask the
1191 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1192 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1193 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1194 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1195 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1196 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1198 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1199 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1200 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1201 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1202 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1203 work. I could write a function to make gnus guess whether the server
1204 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1205 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1206 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1207 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1208 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1210 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, gnus will
1211 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1212 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1213 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1214 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1215 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1218 @node Subscription Methods
1219 @subsection Subscription Methods
1221 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1222 What gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1223 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1225 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1226 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1228 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1232 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1233 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1234 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1235 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1236 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1238 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1239 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1240 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1241 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1243 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1244 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1245 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1247 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1248 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1249 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1250 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1251 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1252 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1253 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1254 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1255 up. Or something like that.
1257 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1258 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1259 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that gnus will ask
1260 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1261 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1263 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1264 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1265 Kill all new groups.
1267 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1268 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1269 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1270 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1271 topic parameter that looks like
1277 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1280 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1285 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1286 A closely related variable is
1287 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1288 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will ask you in a
1289 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1290 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1293 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1294 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1295 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1296 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1299 @node Filtering New Groups
1300 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1302 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1303 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1304 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1307 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1310 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1311 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1312 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1313 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1314 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1315 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1316 subscribing these groups.
1317 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1318 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1320 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1321 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1322 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1323 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1324 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1325 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1326 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1327 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1329 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1330 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1331 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1332 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1333 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1334 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1335 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1336 that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1337 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1338 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1341 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1342 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1345 @node Changing Servers
1346 @section Changing Servers
1347 @cindex changing servers
1349 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1350 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1351 very flaky and you want to use another.
1353 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1354 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1358 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1359 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1360 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1361 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1364 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1365 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1366 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1367 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1369 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1370 @findex gnus-change-server
1371 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1372 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1373 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1374 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1375 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1377 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1378 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1379 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1380 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1381 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1383 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1384 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1385 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1386 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1387 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1388 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1390 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1391 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1392 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1393 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1395 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1396 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1397 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1398 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1399 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1400 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1401 cache for all groups).
1405 @section Startup Files
1406 @cindex startup files
1411 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1412 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1414 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1415 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1416 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1417 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1418 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1419 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1420 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1422 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1423 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1424 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1425 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1426 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1427 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1429 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1430 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1431 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1432 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1433 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from gnus faster.
1434 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1435 gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1436 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes gnus ignore the
1437 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1438 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1440 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1441 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1442 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1443 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1444 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1445 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1446 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1447 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1448 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1449 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1450 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1451 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1453 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1454 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1455 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1456 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1458 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1459 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1460 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1461 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1462 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1463 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1464 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1465 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1466 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1467 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1470 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1471 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1473 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1474 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1477 @vindex gnus-init-file
1478 @vindex gnus-site-init-file
1479 When gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1480 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1481 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1482 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1483 @file{site-init} files with gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1484 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1485 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1486 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1487 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1493 @cindex dribble file
1496 Whenever you do something that changes the gnus data (reading articles,
1497 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1498 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1499 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1500 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1503 If gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1504 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1507 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1508 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, gnus won't create and
1509 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1511 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1512 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1513 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, gnus will dribble
1514 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1515 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1516 file permissions as the @file{.newsrc} file.
1518 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1519 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1520 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1523 @node The Active File
1524 @section The Active File
1526 @cindex ignored groups
1528 When gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1529 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1530 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1532 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1533 Before examining the active file, gnus deletes all lines that match the
1534 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1535 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make gnus
1536 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1537 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1538 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1541 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1542 @c if you set it to anything else.
1544 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1546 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1547 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent gnus from
1548 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1550 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1551 you actually subscribe to.
1553 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1554 variable to @code{nil} will probably make gnus slower, not faster. At
1555 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow gnus down
1556 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1558 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1559 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1560 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1561 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1562 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1563 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1565 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1566 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1567 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1570 If this variable is @code{nil}, gnus will ask for group info in total
1571 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1572 @sc{nntp} server, gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1573 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1574 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1575 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1577 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1578 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1580 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1581 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1583 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1584 secondary select methods.
1587 @node Startup Variables
1588 @section Startup Variables
1592 @item gnus-load-hook
1593 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1594 A hook run while gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1595 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1596 times you start gnus.
1598 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1599 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1600 A hook run after starting up gnus successfully.
1602 @item gnus-startup-hook
1603 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1604 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1606 @item gnus-started-hook
1607 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1608 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1611 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1612 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1613 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1614 generating the group buffer.
1616 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1617 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1618 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1619 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1620 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1621 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1622 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1623 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1625 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1626 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1627 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1628 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1629 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1630 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @file{.emacs} instead.
1632 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1633 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1634 Message displayed by gnus when no groups are available.
1636 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1637 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1638 If non-@code{nil}, play the gnus jingle at startup.
1640 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1641 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1642 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1643 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1649 @chapter Group Buffer
1650 @cindex group buffer
1652 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1654 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1655 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1656 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1657 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1658 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1659 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1660 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1661 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1662 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1663 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1664 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1665 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1666 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1667 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1668 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1669 @c human rights at 9...
1672 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1673 is the first buffer shown when gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1674 long as gnus is active.
1678 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1679 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1680 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1681 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1682 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1683 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1684 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1685 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1691 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1692 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1693 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1694 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1695 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1696 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1697 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1698 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1699 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1700 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1701 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1702 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1703 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1704 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1705 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1706 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1707 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1711 @node Group Buffer Format
1712 @section Group Buffer Format
1715 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1716 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1717 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1721 @node Group Line Specification
1722 @subsection Group Line Specification
1723 @cindex group buffer format
1725 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1726 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1728 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1731 25: news.announce.newusers
1732 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1737 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1738 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1739 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1740 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1742 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1743 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1744 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1745 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1746 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1747 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1749 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1751 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1752 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1753 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1754 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1755 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1757 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1758 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1759 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1761 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1766 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1769 Whether the group is subscribed.
1772 Level of subscribedness.
1775 Number of unread articles.
1778 Number of dormant articles.
1781 Number of ticked articles.
1784 Number of read articles.
1787 Number of unseen articles.
1790 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1791 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1793 Gnus uses this estimation because the @sc{nntp} protocol provides
1794 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1795 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1796 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1797 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1798 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1799 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1800 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1803 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1806 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1815 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1816 comment element in the group parameters.
1819 Newsgroup description.
1822 @samp{m} if moderated.
1825 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1831 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1837 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1841 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1844 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1845 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1846 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1847 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1848 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1851 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1853 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1857 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1860 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1864 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1865 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1866 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1867 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1868 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1869 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1874 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1875 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1876 group, or a bogus native group.
1879 @node Group Modeline Specification
1880 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1881 @cindex group modeline
1883 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1884 The mode line can be changed by setting
1885 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1886 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1890 The native news server.
1892 The native select method.
1896 @node Group Highlighting
1897 @subsection Group Highlighting
1898 @cindex highlighting
1899 @cindex group highlighting
1901 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1902 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1903 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1904 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1905 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1907 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1911 (cond (window-system
1912 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1913 (defface my-group-face-1
1914 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1915 (defface my-group-face-2
1916 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1917 (defface my-group-face-3
1918 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1919 (defface my-group-face-4
1920 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1921 (defface my-group-face-5
1922 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1924 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1925 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1926 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1927 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1928 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1929 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1932 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1934 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1941 The number of unread articles in the group.
1945 Whether the group is a mail group.
1947 The level of the group.
1949 The score of the group.
1951 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1953 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1954 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1956 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1957 topic being inserted.
1960 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1961 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal gnus
1962 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1964 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1965 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1966 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1967 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1968 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1971 @node Group Maneuvering
1972 @section Group Maneuvering
1973 @cindex group movement
1975 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1976 expected, hopefully.
1982 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1983 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1984 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1990 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1991 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1992 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1996 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1997 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2001 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2002 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2006 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
2007 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
2008 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2012 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2013 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2014 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2017 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2023 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2024 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2025 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2030 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2031 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2032 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2036 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2037 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2038 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2041 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2042 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2043 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2044 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2048 @node Selecting a Group
2049 @section Selecting a Group
2050 @cindex group selection
2055 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2056 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2057 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2058 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2059 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2060 this command, gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2061 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
2062 determines the number of articles gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
2063 positive, gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
2064 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
2066 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2067 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2068 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2070 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2071 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2076 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2077 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2078 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2079 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2080 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2084 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2085 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2086 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2087 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2088 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2089 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2090 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2091 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2092 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2093 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2096 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2097 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2098 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2099 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2100 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2103 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2104 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2105 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2106 doing any processing of its contents
2107 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2108 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2109 manner will have no permanent effects.
2113 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2114 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what gnus should consider
2115 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
2116 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, gnus will query the user
2117 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2118 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2119 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2120 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2123 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2124 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2125 @vindex gnus-auto-select-subject
2126 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2127 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2128 Which article this is is controlled by the
2129 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2135 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2138 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2141 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2143 @item unseen-or-unread
2144 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2145 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2149 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2153 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2154 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2156 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2157 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2158 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2159 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2163 @node Subscription Commands
2164 @section Subscription Commands
2165 @cindex subscription
2173 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2174 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2175 Toggle subscription to the current group
2176 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2182 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2183 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2184 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2185 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2191 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2192 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2193 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2199 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2200 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2203 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2204 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2205 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2206 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2207 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2213 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2214 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2218 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2219 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2222 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2223 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2224 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2225 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2226 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2227 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2228 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2229 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2230 @file{.newsrc} file.
2234 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2244 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2245 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2246 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2247 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2248 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2249 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2254 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2255 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2256 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2260 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2261 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2262 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2264 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2265 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2266 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2267 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2268 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2269 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2276 @section Group Levels
2280 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2281 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2282 can ask gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2283 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2284 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2286 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2292 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2293 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2294 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2295 prompted for a level.
2298 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2299 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2300 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2301 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2302 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2303 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2304 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2305 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2306 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2307 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2308 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2309 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2310 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2311 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2312 reasons of efficiency.
2314 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2315 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2317 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2318 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2319 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2320 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2321 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2322 groups are hidden, in a way.
2324 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2325 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2326 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2327 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2328 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2329 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2331 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2332 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2333 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2334 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2335 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2336 list of killed groups.)
2338 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2339 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2340 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2342 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2343 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2344 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2345 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2346 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2347 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2348 relevant valid ranges.
2350 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2351 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2352 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2353 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2354 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2355 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2358 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2359 one with the best level.
2361 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2362 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2363 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2366 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2367 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2368 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2369 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2372 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2373 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2374 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2375 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2377 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2378 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2379 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2380 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2381 to 5. The default is 6.
2385 @section Group Score
2390 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2391 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2392 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2395 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2396 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2397 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2398 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2399 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2400 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2401 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2402 least significant part.))
2404 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2405 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2406 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2407 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2408 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2409 action after each summary exit, you can add
2410 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2411 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2412 slow things down somewhat.
2415 @node Marking Groups
2416 @section Marking Groups
2417 @cindex marking groups
2419 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2420 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2421 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2422 bidding on those groups.
2424 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2425 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2426 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2434 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2435 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2441 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2442 Remove the mark from the current group
2443 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2447 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2448 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2452 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2453 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2457 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2458 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2462 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2463 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2464 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2467 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2469 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2470 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2471 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2472 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2473 the command to be executed.
2476 @node Foreign Groups
2477 @section Foreign Groups
2478 @cindex foreign groups
2480 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2481 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2482 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2483 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2490 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2491 @cindex making groups
2492 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2493 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2494 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2498 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2499 @cindex renaming groups
2500 Rename the current group to something else
2501 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2502 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2508 @findex gnus-group-customize
2509 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2513 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2514 @cindex renaming groups
2515 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2516 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2520 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2521 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2522 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2526 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2527 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2528 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2532 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2534 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2535 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2540 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2541 Make the gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2545 @cindex (ding) archive
2546 @cindex archive group
2547 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2548 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2549 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2550 Make a gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2551 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2552 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2553 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2557 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2559 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2560 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2561 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2562 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2566 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2568 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2569 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2570 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2574 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2575 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2577 Make a group based on some file or other
2578 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2579 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2580 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2581 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2582 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2583 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2584 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2585 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2586 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2590 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2591 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2592 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2593 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2597 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2601 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2602 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2603 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2604 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2605 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2606 @xref{Web Searches}.
2608 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2609 to a particular group by using a match string like
2610 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2613 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2614 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2615 This function will delete the current group
2616 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2617 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2618 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2619 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2620 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2624 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2625 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2626 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2630 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2631 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2632 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2635 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2638 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2639 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2640 gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2641 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2642 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2643 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2647 @node Group Parameters
2648 @section Group Parameters
2649 @cindex group parameters
2651 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2652 Here's an example group parameter list:
2655 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2659 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2660 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2661 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2662 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2664 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2665 is an alist of regexps and values.
2667 The following group parameters can be used:
2672 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2675 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2678 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2679 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2680 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2681 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2682 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2684 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2685 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2686 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2687 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2688 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2689 list address instead.
2691 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2695 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2698 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2701 It is totally ignored
2702 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2703 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2705 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2706 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2707 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2708 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2709 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2711 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2712 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2713 sending the message.
2715 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2716 @cindex Mail List Groups
2717 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2718 entering summary buffer.
2720 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2725 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2726 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2727 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2728 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2729 headers for your posts to these lists. Look here @pxref{(message)Mailing
2730 Lists} for a complete treatment of available MFT support.
2732 See also @code{gnus-find-subscribed-addresses}, the function that
2733 directly uses this group parameter.
2737 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2738 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2739 of whether it has any unread articles.
2741 @item broken-reply-to
2742 @cindex broken-reply-to
2743 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2744 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2745 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2746 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2747 broken behavior. So there!
2751 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2752 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2756 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, gnus
2757 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2758 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2763 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2764 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2765 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2766 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2767 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2768 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2769 (@pxref{Archived Messages}). CAVEAT:: It yields an error putting
2770 @code{(gcc-self . t)} in groups of a @code{nntp} server or so, because
2771 a @code{nntp} server doesn't accept articles.
2775 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2776 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2777 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2779 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2782 @cindex total-expire
2783 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2784 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2785 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2786 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2789 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2793 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2794 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2795 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2796 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2797 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2798 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2799 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2802 @cindex score file group parameter
2803 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2804 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2805 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2808 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2809 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2810 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2811 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2814 @cindex admin-address
2815 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2816 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2817 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2818 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2822 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2823 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2827 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2830 Display the last INTEGER articles in the group. This is the same as
2831 entering the group with C-u INTEGER.
2834 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2838 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2840 Here are some examples:
2844 Display only unread articles.
2847 Display everything except expirable articles.
2849 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2850 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2854 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2855 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2856 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2857 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2858 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
2862 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2863 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2864 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2868 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2869 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
2870 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
2874 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2875 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2876 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2878 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2880 @item ignored-charsets
2881 @cindex ignored-charset
2882 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2883 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2884 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2886 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2889 @cindex posting-style
2890 You can store additional posting style information for this group
2891 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2892 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2893 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2894 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2896 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2897 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2898 like this in the group parameters:
2903 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
2904 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2909 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2910 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2914 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2915 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2916 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2917 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2918 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2922 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
2923 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
2924 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
2925 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
2927 For example, if the INBOX.list.sieve group has the @code{(sieve
2928 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
2929 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
2930 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
2933 if address \"sender\" \"sieve-admin@@extundo.com\" @{
2934 fileinto \"INBOX.list.sieve\";
2938 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, , Top, sieve,
2941 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2942 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2943 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2944 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2945 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2946 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2947 @code{eval}ed there.
2949 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
2950 A use for this feature, is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
2951 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
2952 @samp{nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps} has the tag
2953 @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this tag can be
2954 removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for the group by
2955 putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")} into the group
2956 parameters for the group.
2959 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2960 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2961 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2962 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2963 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2967 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2968 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2969 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2970 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2971 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2973 @vindex gnus-parameters
2974 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
2975 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
2979 (setq gnus-parameters
2981 (gnus-show-threads nil)
2982 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
2983 (gnus-summary-line-format
2984 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
2988 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
2992 (gnus-use-scoring t))
2996 (broken-reply-to . t))))
2999 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
3000 the @code{to-group} example shows.
3003 @node Listing Groups
3004 @section Listing Groups
3005 @cindex group listing
3007 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3015 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3016 List all groups that have unread articles
3017 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3018 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3019 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
3020 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3027 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3028 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3029 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3030 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3031 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3032 unsubscribed groups).
3036 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3037 List all unread groups on a specific level
3038 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3039 with no unread articles.
3043 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3044 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3045 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3046 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3051 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3052 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3056 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3057 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3058 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3062 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3063 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3067 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3068 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3069 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3070 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3071 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3072 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3073 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3074 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3078 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3079 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3080 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3084 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3085 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3086 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3090 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3091 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3095 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3096 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3100 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3101 List groups limited within the current selection
3102 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3106 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3107 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3111 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3112 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3116 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3117 @cindex visible group parameter
3118 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3119 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3120 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3121 get the same effect.
3123 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3124 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3125 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3126 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3127 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3130 @node Sorting Groups
3131 @section Sorting Groups
3132 @cindex sorting groups
3134 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3135 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3136 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3137 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3138 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3139 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3144 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3145 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3146 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3148 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3149 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3150 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3152 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3153 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3154 Sort by group level.
3156 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3157 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3158 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3160 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3161 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3162 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3163 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3165 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3166 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3167 Sort by number of unread articles.
3169 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3170 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3171 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3173 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3174 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3175 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3180 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3181 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3185 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3186 some sorting criteria:
3190 @kindex G S a (Group)
3191 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3192 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3193 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3196 @kindex G S u (Group)
3197 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3198 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3199 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3202 @kindex G S l (Group)
3203 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3204 Sort the group buffer by group level
3205 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3208 @kindex G S v (Group)
3209 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3210 Sort the group buffer by group score
3211 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3214 @kindex G S r (Group)
3215 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3216 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3217 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3220 @kindex G S m (Group)
3221 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3222 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name
3223 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3226 @kindex G S n (Group)
3227 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3228 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3229 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3233 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3234 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3236 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3237 commands will sort in reverse order.
3239 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3243 @kindex G P a (Group)
3244 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3245 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3246 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3249 @kindex G P u (Group)
3250 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3251 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3252 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3255 @kindex G P l (Group)
3256 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3257 Sort the groups by group level
3258 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3261 @kindex G P v (Group)
3262 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3263 Sort the groups by group score
3264 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3267 @kindex G P r (Group)
3268 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3269 Sort the groups by group rank
3270 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3273 @kindex G P m (Group)
3274 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3275 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name
3276 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3279 @kindex G P n (Group)
3280 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3281 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3282 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3285 @kindex G P s (Group)
3286 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3287 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3291 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3295 @node Group Maintenance
3296 @section Group Maintenance
3297 @cindex bogus groups
3302 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3303 Find bogus groups and delete them
3304 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3308 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3309 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3310 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3311 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3312 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3316 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3317 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3318 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3319 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3320 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3321 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3324 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3325 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3326 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3327 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3332 @node Browse Foreign Server
3333 @section Browse Foreign Server
3334 @cindex foreign servers
3335 @cindex browsing servers
3340 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3341 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3342 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3343 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3346 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3347 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3348 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3349 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3351 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3356 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3357 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3361 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3362 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3365 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3366 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3367 Enter the current group and display the first article
3368 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3371 @kindex RET (Browse)
3372 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3373 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3377 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3378 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3379 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3385 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3386 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3390 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3391 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3395 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3396 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3397 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3402 @section Exiting gnus
3403 @cindex exiting gnus
3405 Yes, gnus is ex(c)iting.
3410 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3411 Suspend gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit gnus,
3412 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3413 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3417 @findex gnus-group-exit
3418 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3419 Quit gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3423 @findex gnus-group-quit
3424 Quit gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3425 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3428 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3429 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3430 @vindex gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook
3431 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend gnus and
3432 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit gnus, while
3433 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3438 If you wish to completely unload gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3439 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3440 trying to customize meta-variables.
3445 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3446 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3447 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3453 @section Group Topics
3456 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3457 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3458 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3459 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3460 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3461 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3465 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3466 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3477 2: alt.religion.emacs
3480 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3482 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3483 13: comp.sources.unix
3486 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3488 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3489 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3490 is a toggling command.)
3492 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3493 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and
3494 now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3495 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3498 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3499 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3500 @file{~/.gnus} file:
3503 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3507 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3508 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3509 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3510 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3511 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3515 @node Topic Commands
3516 @subsection Topic Commands
3517 @cindex topic commands
3519 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3520 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3521 definitions slightly.
3523 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3524 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3525 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3526 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3527 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3528 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3530 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3537 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3538 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3539 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3543 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3545 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3546 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3547 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3548 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3551 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3552 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3553 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3554 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3558 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3559 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3560 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3561 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3567 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3568 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3569 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3573 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3574 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3575 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3578 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3579 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the `cut' part of cut and paste. Then,
3580 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the `Gnus'
3581 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the `paste' part of cut and
3582 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3584 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3585 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3589 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3590 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3597 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3599 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3600 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3601 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3602 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3603 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3604 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3608 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3614 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3615 Move the current group to some other topic
3616 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3617 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3621 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3622 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3626 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3627 Copy the current group to some other topic
3628 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3629 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3633 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3634 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3635 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3639 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3640 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3641 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3645 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3646 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3647 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3648 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3649 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3650 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3651 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3654 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3655 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3659 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3660 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3661 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3665 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3666 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3667 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3671 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3672 Toggle hiding empty topics
3673 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3677 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3678 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3679 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3680 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3683 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3684 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3685 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3686 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3687 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3690 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3691 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3692 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3693 expiry process (if any)
3694 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3698 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3699 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3702 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3703 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3704 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3708 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3709 List all groups that gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3710 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3713 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3714 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3715 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3718 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3719 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3720 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3724 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3725 @cindex group parameters
3726 @cindex topic parameters
3728 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3729 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3734 @node Topic Variables
3735 @subsection Topic Variables
3736 @cindex topic variables
3738 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3739 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3741 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3742 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3743 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3756 Number of groups in the topic.
3758 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3760 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3763 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3764 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3765 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3768 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3769 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3771 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3772 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3773 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3777 @subsection Topic Sorting
3778 @cindex topic sorting
3780 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3786 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3787 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3788 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3789 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3792 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3793 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3794 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3795 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3798 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3799 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3800 Sort the current topic by group level
3801 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3804 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3805 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3806 Sort the current topic by group score
3807 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3810 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3811 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3812 Sort the current topic by group rank
3813 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3816 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3817 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3818 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
3819 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3822 @kindex T S e (Topic)
3823 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
3824 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
3825 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
3829 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
3830 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
3831 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
3832 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
3836 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
3837 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
3841 @node Topic Topology
3842 @subsection Topic Topology
3843 @cindex topic topology
3846 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3852 2: alt.religion.emacs
3855 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3857 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3858 13: comp.sources.unix
3861 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3862 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3863 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3868 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3869 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3873 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3874 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3875 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3876 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3877 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3878 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3880 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3881 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3882 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3885 @node Topic Parameters
3886 @subsection Topic Parameters
3887 @cindex topic parameters
3889 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3890 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3891 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3893 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3898 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3899 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3900 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3903 @item subscribe-level
3904 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
3905 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
3906 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
3910 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3911 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3912 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3913 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3919 2: alt.religion.emacs
3923 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3925 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3926 13: comp.sources.unix
3930 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3931 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3932 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3933 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3934 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3935 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3937 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3938 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3939 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3940 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3941 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3943 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3944 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3945 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3946 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3947 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3948 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3949 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3950 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3953 @node Misc Group Stuff
3954 @section Misc Group Stuff
3957 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3958 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3959 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3960 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3961 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
3968 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3969 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3970 @xref{Server Buffer}.
3974 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3975 Start composing a message (a news by default)
3976 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
3977 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
3978 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
3979 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
3980 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3984 @findex gnus-group-mail
3985 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
3986 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
3987 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
3988 @xref{Composing Messages}.
3992 @findex gnus-group-news
3993 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
3994 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
3995 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3997 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
3998 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
3999 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
4000 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
4001 for this to work though.
4005 Variables for the group buffer:
4009 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
4010 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
4011 is called after the group buffer has been
4014 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
4015 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4016 is called after the group buffer is
4017 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
4020 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
4021 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4022 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
4023 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
4025 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4026 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4027 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
4028 whether they are empty or not.
4030 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4031 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4032 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
4033 non-ASCII group names.
4037 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4038 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4041 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4042 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4043 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4044 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names. It
4045 is used to show non-ASCII group names. @code{((".*" utf-8))} is the
4046 default value if UTF-8 is supported, otherwise the default is
4051 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4052 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
4057 @node Scanning New Messages
4058 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4059 @cindex new messages
4060 @cindex scanning new news
4066 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4067 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4068 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4069 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4070 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4071 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4076 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4077 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4078 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4079 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4080 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4081 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4082 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4084 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4085 @cindex activating groups
4087 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4088 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4093 @findex gnus-group-restart
4094 Restart gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4095 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4096 gnus variables, and then starts gnus all over again.
4100 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4101 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4103 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4104 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4108 @node Group Information
4109 @subsection Group Information
4110 @cindex group information
4111 @cindex information on groups
4118 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4119 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4122 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
4123 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
4124 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
4125 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
4126 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4127 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
4128 for fetching the file.
4130 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, gnus will attempt to go
4131 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4135 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
4136 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
4138 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
4139 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
4142 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
4143 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
4144 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
4148 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
4149 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
4150 @cindex control message
4151 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
4152 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
4153 group if given a prefix argument.
4155 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-@code{nil},
4156 Gnus will open the control messages in a browser using
4157 @code{browse-url}. Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp}
4158 and displayed in an ephemeral group.
4160 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
4161 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode}
4162 (@pxref{(emacs)Compressed Files}).
4166 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4168 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4169 @cindex describing groups
4170 @cindex group description
4171 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4172 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4173 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4177 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4178 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4179 prefix, force gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4186 @findex gnus-version
4187 Display current gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4191 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4192 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4195 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4198 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4199 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4203 @node Group Timestamp
4204 @subsection Group Timestamp
4206 @cindex group timestamps
4208 It can be convenient to let gnus keep track of when you last read a
4209 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4210 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4213 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4216 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4218 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4219 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4222 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4223 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4226 This will result in lines looking like:
4229 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4230 0: custom 19961002T012713
4233 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4234 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4238 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4239 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4242 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4243 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4247 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4248 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4249 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4250 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4252 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4258 @subsection File Commands
4259 @cindex file commands
4265 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4266 @vindex gnus-init-file
4267 @cindex reading init file
4268 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4269 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4273 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4274 @cindex saving .newsrc
4275 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4276 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4277 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4280 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4281 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4282 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4287 @node Sieve Commands
4288 @subsection Sieve Commands
4289 @cindex group sieve commands
4291 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4292 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4293 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4294 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4295 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4297 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4298 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4299 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4300 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4301 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4302 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4303 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4304 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4305 regenerate the Sieve script.
4307 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4308 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4309 is generated. If it is non-@code{nil} (the default) articles is
4310 placed in all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article
4311 is only placed in the group with the first matching rule. For
4312 example, the group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4313 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4314 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is @code{nil}. (When
4315 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-@code{nil}, it looks the same
4316 except that the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4319 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4320 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4325 @xref{Top, ,Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4331 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4332 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4333 @cindex generating sieve script
4334 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4335 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4339 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4340 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4341 @cindex updating sieve script
4342 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4343 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4344 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4349 @node Summary Buffer
4350 @chapter Summary Buffer
4351 @cindex summary buffer
4353 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4354 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4356 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4357 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4359 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4362 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4363 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4364 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4365 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4366 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4367 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4368 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4369 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4370 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4371 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4372 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4373 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4374 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4375 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4376 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4377 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4378 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4379 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4380 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4381 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4382 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4383 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4384 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4385 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4386 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4387 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4388 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4389 or reselecting the current group.
4390 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4391 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4392 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4393 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4397 @node Summary Buffer Format
4398 @section Summary Buffer Format
4399 @cindex summary buffer format
4403 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4404 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4405 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4411 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4412 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4413 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4414 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4417 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4418 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4419 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4420 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4421 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4422 @code{From} header. Three pre-defined functions exist:
4423 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4424 fast, and too simplistic solution;
4425 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works nicely, but is
4426 slower; and @code{std11-extract-address-components}, which works very
4427 nicely, but is slower. The default function will return the wrong
4428 answer in 5% of the cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the
4429 other function instead:
4432 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4433 'mail-extract-address-components)
4436 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4437 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4438 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4439 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4442 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4443 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4445 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4446 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4447 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4448 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4449 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4451 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4452 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4453 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4454 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4455 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4456 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4458 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4460 The following format specification characters and extended format
4461 specification(s) are understood:
4467 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4468 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4470 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4471 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4472 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4474 Full @code{From} header.
4476 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4478 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4481 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4482 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4483 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4484 may be more thorough.
4486 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4489 Number of lines in the article.
4491 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4492 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4494 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4495 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4497 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4499 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4500 lines. A thread could be drawn like this:
4513 You can customize the appearance with the following options. Note
4514 that it is possible to make the thread display look really neat by
4515 replacing the default ASCII characters with graphic line-drawing
4518 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4519 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4520 Used for the root of a thread. If @code{nil}, use subject
4521 instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4523 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4524 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4525 Used for a thread with just one message. If @code{nil}, use subject
4526 instead. The default is @samp{}.
4528 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4529 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4530 Used for drawing a vertical line. The default is @samp{| }.
4532 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4533 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4534 Used for indenting. The default is @samp{ }.
4536 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4537 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4538 Used for a leaf with brothers. The default is @samp{+-> }.
4540 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4541 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4542 Used for a leaf without brothers. The default is @samp{\-> }
4547 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4548 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4550 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4551 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4553 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4554 for adopted articles.
4556 One space for each thread level.
4558 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4560 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4563 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4564 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4565 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4568 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4570 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4571 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4572 default level. If the difference between
4573 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4574 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4582 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4584 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4590 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4591 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4593 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4594 article has any children.
4600 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4601 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4603 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4604 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4605 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4606 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4607 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4608 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4611 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4612 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4613 There can only be one such area.
4615 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4616 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, gnus will
4617 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4618 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4619 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4620 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4622 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4623 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4625 This restriction may disappear in later versions of gnus.
4628 @node To From Newsgroups
4629 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4633 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4634 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4635 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4636 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4637 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4641 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4642 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4643 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4647 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4648 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4651 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4652 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4655 @findex gnus-extra-header
4656 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4657 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4658 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4661 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4665 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4666 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4667 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4668 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4669 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4670 headers are used instead.
4674 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4675 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4676 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files.
4677 If you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after
4678 changing this variable, by entering the server buffer using @kbd{^},
4679 and then @kbd{g} on the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause
4682 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4683 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4684 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4685 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4687 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4691 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4693 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4694 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4695 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4696 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4700 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
4703 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
4704 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
4707 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4708 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4709 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
4715 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4716 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4719 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4720 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4722 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4723 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4724 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4725 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4727 Here are the elements you can play with:
4733 Unprefixed group name.
4735 Current article number.
4737 Current article score.
4741 Number of unread articles in this group.
4743 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4746 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4747 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4748 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4749 and no unselected ones.
4751 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4752 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4754 Subject of the current article.
4756 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4758 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4760 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4762 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4764 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4766 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4770 @node Summary Highlighting
4771 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4775 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4776 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4777 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4778 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4779 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4781 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4782 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4783 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4784 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4786 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4787 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4788 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4789 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4791 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4792 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4793 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4794 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4795 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4796 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4799 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4800 ((> score default) . bold))
4802 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4803 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4807 @node Summary Maneuvering
4808 @section Summary Maneuvering
4809 @cindex summary movement
4811 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4812 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4814 None of these commands select articles.
4819 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4820 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4821 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4822 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4823 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4827 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4828 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4829 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4830 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4831 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4834 @kindex G g (Summary)
4835 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4836 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4837 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4840 If gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4841 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4842 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4843 to the group buffer.
4845 Variables related to summary movement:
4849 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4850 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4851 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4852 no more unread articles after the current one, gnus will offer to go to
4853 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4854 empty, gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4855 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, gnus will select the
4856 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
4857 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
4858 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
4859 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
4860 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
4861 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
4862 @pxref{Group Levels}.
4864 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4865 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4866 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4867 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4868 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4869 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4870 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4872 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4874 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4875 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4876 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4877 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4878 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4880 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4881 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4882 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4883 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4884 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4885 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4886 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4887 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4890 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4891 the given number of lines from the top.
4896 @node Choosing Articles
4897 @section Choosing Articles
4898 @cindex selecting articles
4901 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4902 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4906 @node Choosing Commands
4907 @subsection Choosing Commands
4909 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4910 and they all select and display an article.
4912 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4913 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4917 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4918 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4919 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4920 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4922 If you have an article window open already and you press @kbd{SPACE}
4923 again, the article will be scrolled. This lets you conveniently
4924 @kbd{SPACE} through an entire newsgroup. @pxref{Paging the Article}.
4929 @kindex G n (Summary)
4930 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4931 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4932 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4937 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4938 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4939 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4944 @kindex G N (Summary)
4945 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4946 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4951 @kindex G P (Summary)
4952 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4953 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4956 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4957 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4958 Go to the next article with the same subject
4959 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4962 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4963 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4964 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4965 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4969 @kindex G f (Summary)
4971 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4972 Go to the first unread article
4973 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4977 @kindex G b (Summary)
4979 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4980 Go to the unread article with the highest score
4981 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
4982 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
4987 @kindex G l (Summary)
4988 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4989 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4992 @kindex G o (Summary)
4993 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4995 @cindex article history
4996 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4997 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4998 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4999 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
5000 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
5001 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
5006 @kindex G j (Summary)
5007 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
5008 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
5009 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
5014 @node Choosing Variables
5015 @subsection Choosing Variables
5017 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
5020 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5021 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5022 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
5023 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
5024 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
5025 the server and display it in the article buffer.
5027 @item gnus-select-article-hook
5028 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
5029 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
5030 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article. If you would
5031 like each article to be saved in the Agent as you read it, putting
5032 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this hook will do so.
5034 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
5035 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
5036 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
5037 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
5038 @findex gnus-unread-mark
5039 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
5040 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
5041 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
5042 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
5043 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
5044 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
5045 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
5046 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
5047 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
5052 @node Paging the Article
5053 @section Scrolling the Article
5054 @cindex article scrolling
5059 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5060 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5061 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
5062 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
5063 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5065 @vindex gnus-article-boring-faces
5066 If the rest of the article consists only of citations and signature,
5067 then it will be skipped; the next article will be shown instead. You
5068 can customize what is considered uninteresting with
5069 @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}, or set it to @code{nil} to disable
5070 this feature. You can manually view the article's pages, no matter how
5071 boring, using @kbd{C-v} in the article buffer.
5074 @kindex DEL (Summary)
5075 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
5076 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
5079 @kindex RET (Summary)
5080 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
5081 Scroll the current article one line forward
5082 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
5085 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
5086 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
5087 Scroll the current article one line backward
5088 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5092 @kindex A g (Summary)
5094 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5095 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5096 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5097 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
5098 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
5099 the way it came from the server.
5101 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5102 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5103 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5106 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5111 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5116 @kindex A < (Summary)
5117 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5118 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5119 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5124 @kindex A > (Summary)
5125 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5126 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5130 @kindex A s (Summary)
5132 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5133 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5134 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5138 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5139 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5144 @node Reply Followup and Post
5145 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5148 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5149 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5150 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5151 * Canceling and Superseding::
5155 @node Summary Mail Commands
5156 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5158 @cindex composing mail
5160 Commands for composing a mail message:
5166 @kindex S r (Summary)
5168 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5169 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5170 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5171 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5172 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5177 @kindex S R (Summary)
5178 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5179 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5180 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5181 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5182 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5185 @kindex S w (Summary)
5186 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5187 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5188 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5189 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5190 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
5193 @kindex S W (Summary)
5194 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5195 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5196 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5197 the process/prefix convention.
5200 @kindex S v (Summary)
5201 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5202 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5203 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5204 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5205 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5206 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5209 @kindex S V (Summary)
5210 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5211 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5212 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5213 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5216 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5217 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5218 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5219 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5222 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5223 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5224 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5225 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5226 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5230 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5231 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5232 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5233 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5234 Forward the current article to some other person
5235 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5236 headers of the forwarded article.
5241 @kindex S m (Summary)
5242 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5243 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5244 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5245 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5246 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5251 @kindex S i (Summary)
5252 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5253 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5254 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5255 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5257 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5258 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
5259 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5260 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5261 for this to work though.
5264 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5265 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5266 @cindex bouncing mail
5267 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5268 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5269 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5270 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5271 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5272 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, gnus will try to fetch
5273 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5274 very well fail, though.
5277 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5278 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5279 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5280 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5281 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5282 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5283 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5284 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5285 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5286 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5288 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5289 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5290 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5291 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5292 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5294 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5295 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5298 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5299 @findex gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward
5300 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5301 result using mail (@code{gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward}). This
5302 command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5305 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5306 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5307 @cindex crossposting
5308 @cindex excessive crossposting
5309 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5310 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5312 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5313 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5314 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5315 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5316 command understands the process/prefix convention
5317 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5321 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5322 Manual}, for more information.
5325 @node Summary Post Commands
5326 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5328 @cindex composing news
5330 Commands for posting a news article:
5336 @kindex S p (Summary)
5337 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5338 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5339 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5340 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5341 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5346 @kindex S f (Summary)
5347 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5348 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5349 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5353 @kindex S F (Summary)
5355 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5356 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5357 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5358 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5359 process/prefix convention.
5362 @kindex S n (Summary)
5363 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5364 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5365 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5368 @kindex S N (Summary)
5369 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5370 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5371 message through mail and include the original message
5372 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5373 the process/prefix convention.
5376 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5377 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5378 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5379 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5380 headers of the forwarded article.
5383 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5384 @findex gnus-summary-digest-post-forward
5386 @cindex making digests
5387 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5388 (@code{gnus-summary-digest-post-forward}). This command uses the
5389 process/prefix convention.
5392 @kindex S u (Summary)
5393 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5394 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5395 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5396 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5399 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5400 Manual}, for more information.
5403 @node Summary Message Commands
5404 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5408 @kindex S y (Summary)
5409 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5410 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5411 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5412 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5413 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5418 @node Canceling and Superseding
5419 @subsection Canceling Articles
5420 @cindex canceling articles
5421 @cindex superseding articles
5423 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5424 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5426 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5428 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5430 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5431 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5432 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5433 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5434 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5435 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5437 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5438 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5441 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5442 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5443 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5445 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5446 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5447 your original article.
5449 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5451 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5452 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5453 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5456 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5457 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5458 have posted almost the same article twice.
5460 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5461 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5462 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5463 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5464 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5465 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5466 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5467 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5468 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5469 canceled/superseded.
5471 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5473 @node Delayed Articles
5474 @section Delayed Articles
5475 @cindex delayed sending
5476 @cindex send delayed
5478 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5479 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5480 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5481 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5484 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5487 @findex gnus-delay-article
5488 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5489 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5490 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5491 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5495 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5496 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5497 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5498 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5501 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5502 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5503 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5506 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5507 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5508 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5509 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5510 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5511 that means a time tomorrow.
5514 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5515 couple of variables:
5518 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5519 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5520 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5521 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5523 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5524 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5525 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5526 formats described above.
5528 @item gnus-delay-group
5529 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5530 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5531 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5532 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5534 @item gnus-delay-header
5535 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5536 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5537 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5538 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5541 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5542 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5543 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5544 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5545 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5547 @findex gnus-delay-send-queue
5548 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5549 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5550 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5551 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5552 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5553 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5556 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5557 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5559 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5560 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
5561 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-@code{nil},
5562 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
5563 argument is ignored.
5565 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
5566 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
5567 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
5571 @node Marking Articles
5572 @section Marking Articles
5573 @cindex article marking
5574 @cindex article ticking
5577 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5579 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5580 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5581 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5583 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5586 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5587 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5588 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
5592 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
5596 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
5597 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
5598 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
5602 @node Unread Articles
5603 @subsection Unread Articles
5605 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5610 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5611 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5613 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5614 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5615 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5616 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5617 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5618 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5619 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5622 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5623 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5625 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5626 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5627 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5628 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5632 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5633 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5635 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5640 @subsection Read Articles
5641 @cindex expirable mark
5643 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5648 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5649 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5650 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5653 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5654 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5657 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5658 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5659 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5662 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5663 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5666 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5667 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5670 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5671 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5674 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5675 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5678 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5679 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5682 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5683 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5686 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5687 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5691 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5692 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5693 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5697 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5698 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5700 One more special mark, though:
5704 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5705 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5707 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5708 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5709 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5710 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by gnus at
5716 @subsection Other Marks
5717 @cindex process mark
5720 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5726 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5727 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5728 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5729 in the article, and gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5730 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5733 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5734 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5735 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5736 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5739 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5740 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5741 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5744 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5745 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5746 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5749 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5750 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5751 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5752 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5755 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5756 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
5757 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
5758 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
5759 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
5760 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
5763 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5764 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
5765 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5766 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
5769 @vindex gnus-downloaded-mark
5770 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, articles may be
5771 downloaded for unplugged (offline) viewing. If you are using the
5772 @samp{%O} spec, these articles get the @samp{+} mark in that spec.
5773 (The variable @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} controls which character to
5777 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
5778 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, some articles might
5779 not have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you
5780 are unplugged (offline). If you are using the @samp{%O} spec, these
5781 articles get the @samp{-} mark in that spec. (The variable
5782 @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls which character to use.)
5785 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
5786 The Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics} downloads some articles
5787 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
5788 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
5789 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
5790 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
5794 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5795 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5796 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5797 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5798 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5801 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5802 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5803 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5804 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5805 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5806 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5810 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5811 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5812 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5814 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5815 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5816 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5820 @subsection Setting Marks
5821 @cindex setting marks
5823 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5828 @kindex M c (Summary)
5829 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5830 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5831 @cindex mark as unread
5832 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5833 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5839 @kindex M t (Summary)
5840 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5841 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5842 @xref{Article Caching}.
5847 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5848 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5849 Mark the current article as dormant
5850 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5854 @kindex M d (Summary)
5856 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5857 Mark the current article as read
5858 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5862 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5863 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5864 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5869 @kindex M k (Summary)
5870 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5871 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5872 and then select the next unread article
5873 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5877 @kindex M K (Summary)
5878 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5879 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5880 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5881 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5884 @kindex M C (Summary)
5885 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5886 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5887 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5890 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5891 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5892 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5893 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5896 @kindex M H (Summary)
5897 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5898 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
5899 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5902 @kindex M h (Summary)
5903 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
5904 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
5905 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
5908 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5909 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5910 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5911 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5914 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5915 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5916 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5917 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5921 @kindex M e (Summary)
5923 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5924 Mark the current article as expirable
5925 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5928 @kindex M b (Summary)
5929 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5930 Set a bookmark in the current article
5931 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5934 @kindex M B (Summary)
5935 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5936 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5937 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5940 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5941 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5942 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5943 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5946 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5947 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5948 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5949 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5952 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5953 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5954 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5955 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5956 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5959 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5960 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5961 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5962 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5963 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5964 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5965 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5966 The default is @code{t}.
5969 @node Generic Marking Commands
5970 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5972 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5973 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5974 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5975 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5976 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5979 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
5980 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5983 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5984 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5985 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5986 to list in this manual.
5988 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5989 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5990 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5991 article, you could say something like:
5994 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5995 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5996 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
6002 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6003 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
6007 @node Setting Process Marks
6008 @subsection Setting Process Marks
6009 @cindex setting process marks
6011 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
6012 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
6013 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
6014 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
6015 commands into the cache. For more information,
6016 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
6023 @kindex M P p (Summary)
6024 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6025 Mark the current article with the process mark
6026 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
6027 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6031 @kindex M P u (Summary)
6032 @kindex M-# (Summary)
6033 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
6034 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6037 @kindex M P U (Summary)
6038 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6039 Remove the process mark from all articles
6040 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6043 @kindex M P i (Summary)
6044 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
6045 Invert the list of process marked articles
6046 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
6049 @kindex M P R (Summary)
6050 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6051 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6052 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6055 @kindex M P G (Summary)
6056 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6057 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6058 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6061 @kindex M P r (Summary)
6062 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6063 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6067 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6068 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6071 @kindex M P t (Summary)
6072 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6073 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6074 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6077 @kindex M P T (Summary)
6078 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6079 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6080 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6083 @kindex M P v (Summary)
6084 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
6085 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
6086 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
6089 @kindex M P s (Summary)
6090 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
6091 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6094 @kindex M P S (Summary)
6095 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
6096 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
6097 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
6100 @kindex M P a (Summary)
6101 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
6102 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6105 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6106 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6107 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6108 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6111 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6112 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6113 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6114 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6117 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6118 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6119 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6120 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6123 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6124 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6125 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6126 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6130 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
6131 set process marks based on article body contents.
6138 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6139 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6140 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6143 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
6144 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
6145 additional articles.
6151 @kindex / / (Summary)
6152 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6153 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6154 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6158 @kindex / a (Summary)
6159 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6160 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6161 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6165 @kindex / x (Summary)
6166 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6167 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6168 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6169 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6174 @kindex / u (Summary)
6176 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6177 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6178 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6179 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6180 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6183 @kindex / m (Summary)
6184 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6185 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6186 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6189 @kindex / t (Summary)
6190 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6191 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6192 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6193 articles younger than that number of days.
6196 @kindex / n (Summary)
6197 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6198 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
6199 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
6200 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6203 @kindex / w (Summary)
6204 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6205 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6206 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6210 @kindex / . (Summary)
6211 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6212 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6213 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6216 @kindex / v (Summary)
6217 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6218 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6219 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6222 @kindex / p (Summary)
6223 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6224 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6225 group parameter predicate
6226 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). See @pxref{Group
6227 Parameters} for more on this predicate.
6231 @kindex M S (Summary)
6232 @kindex / E (Summary)
6233 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6234 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6235 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6238 @kindex / D (Summary)
6239 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6240 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6241 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6244 @kindex / * (Summary)
6245 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6246 Include all cached articles in the limit
6247 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6250 @kindex / d (Summary)
6251 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6252 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6253 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6256 @kindex / M (Summary)
6257 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6258 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6261 @kindex / T (Summary)
6262 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6263 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6266 @kindex / c (Summary)
6267 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6268 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
6269 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6272 @kindex / C (Summary)
6273 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6274 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6275 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6276 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6279 @kindex / N (Summary)
6280 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6281 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6282 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6285 @kindex / o (Summary)
6286 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6287 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6288 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6296 @cindex article threading
6298 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6299 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6300 hierarchical fashion.
6302 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6303 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6304 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6305 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6306 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6307 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6308 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
6310 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6314 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6317 A tree-like article structure.
6320 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6323 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6324 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6325 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6326 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6327 called loose threads.
6329 @item thread gathering
6330 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6332 @item sparse threads
6333 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6334 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6340 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6341 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6345 @node Customizing Threading
6346 @subsection Customizing Threading
6347 @cindex customizing threading
6350 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6351 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6352 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6353 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
6358 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6361 @cindex loose threads
6364 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6365 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6366 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6367 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6368 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6369 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6371 When there is no real root of a thread, gnus will have to fudge
6372 something. This variable says what fudging method gnus should use.
6373 There are four possible values:
6377 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6378 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6379 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6380 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6381 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6386 @cindex adopting articles
6391 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6392 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6393 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6394 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6397 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6398 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6399 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6400 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6401 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6402 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6403 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6404 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6405 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6406 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to @code{t}.
6409 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6410 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6411 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6415 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6416 display them after one another.
6419 Don't gather loose threads.
6422 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6423 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6424 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6425 variable is @code{nil}, gnus requires an exact match between the
6426 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6427 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6428 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6429 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6430 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6431 variable to a really low number, you'll find that gnus will gather
6432 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6434 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6435 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, gnus will
6436 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6439 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6440 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6441 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6442 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6443 simplification is used.
6445 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6446 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6447 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6448 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6450 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6452 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6458 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6459 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6460 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6461 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6466 (mapconcat 'identity
6467 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6469 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6472 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6475 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6476 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6477 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6478 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6479 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6480 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6482 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6485 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6486 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6487 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6489 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6490 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6493 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6494 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6495 Remove excessive whitespace.
6497 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6498 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6499 Remove all whitespace.
6502 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6505 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6506 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6507 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6508 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6509 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6510 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6511 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6512 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6514 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6515 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6516 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6517 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6518 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6519 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6520 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6521 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6522 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6526 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6527 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6528 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6529 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6531 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6532 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6533 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6536 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6540 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6541 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6547 @node Filling In Threads
6548 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6551 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6552 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6553 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6554 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
6555 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
6556 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
6557 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
6558 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
6559 fetching old headers only works if the back end you are using carries
6560 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
6561 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
6562 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do
6565 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
6566 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
6567 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
6569 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
6570 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
6571 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
6572 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
6573 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
6574 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
6575 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where gnus guesses that an article
6576 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
6577 lines. If you select a gap, gnus will try to fetch the article in
6578 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, gnus will display all these
6579 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
6580 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, gnus won't cut
6581 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
6582 @code{nil} by default.
6584 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
6585 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
6586 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
6587 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
6588 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
6589 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
6590 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
6592 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
6593 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
6594 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
6599 @node More Threading
6600 @subsubsection More Threading
6603 @item gnus-show-threads
6604 @vindex gnus-show-threads
6605 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
6606 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
6607 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
6608 slower and more awkward.
6610 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6611 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6612 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
6615 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
6616 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
6617 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}).
6622 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6623 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
6624 gnus-article-unseen-p))
6627 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
6628 unread, but you get my drift.)
6631 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
6632 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
6633 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
6634 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
6635 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
6636 threads are expunged.
6638 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
6639 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
6640 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
6643 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6644 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6645 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
6646 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
6647 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
6648 result in a new thread.
6650 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
6651 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
6652 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
6655 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6656 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6657 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
6658 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
6659 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
6660 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
6661 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
6662 Setting this variable to an alternate value
6663 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
6664 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
6665 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
6670 @node Low-Level Threading
6671 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
6675 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
6676 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
6677 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
6678 @code{(gnus-set-summary-default-charset)}, which sets up local value of
6679 @code{default-mime-charset} in summary buffer based on variable
6680 @code{gnus-newsgroup-default-charset-alist}.
6682 @item gnus-alter-header-function
6683 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
6684 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
6685 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
6686 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
6687 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
6688 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
6689 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
6690 meaningful. Here's one example:
6693 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
6695 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
6696 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
6698 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
6700 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6707 @node Thread Commands
6708 @subsection Thread Commands
6709 @cindex thread commands
6715 @kindex T k (Summary)
6716 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
6717 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6718 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6719 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6720 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6725 @kindex T l (Summary)
6726 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
6727 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6728 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6729 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6732 @kindex T i (Summary)
6733 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6734 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6735 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6738 @kindex T # (Summary)
6739 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6740 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6741 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6744 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6745 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6746 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
6747 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6750 @kindex T T (Summary)
6751 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
6752 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
6755 @kindex T s (Summary)
6756 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
6757 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
6758 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
6761 @kindex T h (Summary)
6762 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
6763 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
6766 @kindex T S (Summary)
6767 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
6768 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
6771 @kindex T H (Summary)
6772 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
6773 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
6776 @kindex T t (Summary)
6777 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6778 Re-thread the current article's thread
6779 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6780 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6783 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6784 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6785 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6786 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6790 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6791 understand the numeric prefix.
6796 @kindex T n (Summary)
6798 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
6800 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6801 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6802 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6805 @kindex T p (Summary)
6807 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
6809 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6810 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6811 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6814 @kindex T d (Summary)
6815 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6816 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6819 @kindex T u (Summary)
6820 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6821 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6824 @kindex T o (Summary)
6825 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6826 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6829 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6830 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6831 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6832 a command like @kbd{T k} (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6833 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6834 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6835 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6836 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6837 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6838 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6839 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6840 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6844 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6845 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6847 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6848 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6849 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6850 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6851 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6852 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6853 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
6854 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6855 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-thread
6856 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6857 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6858 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6859 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6861 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6862 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6863 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6864 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
6865 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
6866 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
6867 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
6868 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6870 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6871 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6872 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6874 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6875 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6876 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6877 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6878 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6879 ascending article order.
6881 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6882 by number, you could do something like:
6885 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6886 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6887 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6888 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6891 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6892 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6893 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6894 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6895 which the articles arrived.
6897 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6901 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6903 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6904 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6907 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6908 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6909 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6910 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6913 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6914 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6915 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6916 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6917 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6918 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
6919 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6920 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
6921 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
6922 variable. It is very similar to the
6923 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
6924 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
6925 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6926 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
6927 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
6928 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
6929 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6931 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6935 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6936 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6937 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6942 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6943 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6944 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6945 @cindex article pre-fetch
6948 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6949 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6950 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6951 article appears. Why can't gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6952 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6954 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6955 article fetching, especially the way gnus does it.
6957 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6958 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6959 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6960 article 3, but since gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6961 connection is blocked.
6963 To avoid these situations, gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6964 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6965 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6966 extra connection takes some time, so gnus startup will be slower.
6968 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6969 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6970 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6971 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6974 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
6977 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6978 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6979 happen automatically.
6981 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6982 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6983 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6984 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
6985 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
6986 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6987 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6989 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6990 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6991 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6992 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
6993 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
6994 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
6995 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
6996 data structure as the only parameter.
6998 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
7001 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
7002 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
7003 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
7004 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
7007 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
7010 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
7011 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down gnus too much.
7012 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
7014 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
7015 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
7016 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
7017 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
7021 Remove articles when they are read.
7024 Remove articles when exiting the group.
7027 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
7029 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
7030 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
7031 @c from the next group.
7034 @node Article Caching
7035 @section Article Caching
7036 @cindex article caching
7039 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
7040 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
7041 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
7042 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
7043 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
7045 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
7047 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7048 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
7049 @vindex gnus-use-cache
7050 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
7051 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
7052 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
7053 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
7054 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
7056 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
7057 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
7058 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
7059 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
7060 as dormant, and don't worry.
7062 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
7064 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
7065 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
7066 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
7067 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
7068 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
7069 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
7070 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
7071 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
7072 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
7073 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
7075 @findex gnus-jog-cache
7076 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
7077 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
7078 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
7079 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
7080 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
7081 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
7082 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
7083 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
7084 not then be downloaded by this command.
7086 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
7087 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
7088 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
7089 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
7090 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
7091 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
7093 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
7094 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
7095 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
7096 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
7097 variables, the group is not cached.
7099 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
7100 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
7101 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
7102 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
7103 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
7104 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, gnus
7105 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7106 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
7107 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7110 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7111 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7112 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7113 where, isn't that cool?
7115 @node Persistent Articles
7116 @section Persistent Articles
7117 @cindex persistent articles
7119 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7120 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7121 useful in my opinion.
7123 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7124 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7125 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7126 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7127 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7128 the expiry going on at the news server.
7130 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7131 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7132 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7138 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7139 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7142 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7143 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7144 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7145 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7149 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7151 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7152 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7153 interested in persistent articles:
7156 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7160 @node Article Backlog
7161 @section Article Backlog
7163 @cindex article backlog
7165 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7166 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7167 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where gnus will buffer
7168 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7169 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7170 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7171 that, turning the backlog on will slow gnus down a little bit, and
7172 increase memory usage some.
7174 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7175 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, gnus will store
7176 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7177 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, gnus will store
7178 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7179 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7180 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7182 The default value is 20.
7185 @node Saving Articles
7186 @section Saving Articles
7187 @cindex saving articles
7189 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7190 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7191 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7192 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7193 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7195 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7196 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7197 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7199 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7200 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, gnus will not delete
7201 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7203 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7204 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7205 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7206 deleted before saving.
7212 @kindex O o (Summary)
7214 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7215 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7216 Save the current article using the default article saver
7217 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7220 @kindex O m (Summary)
7221 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7222 Save the current article in mail format
7223 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7226 @kindex O r (Summary)
7227 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7228 Save the current article in rmail format
7229 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7232 @kindex O f (Summary)
7233 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7234 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7235 Save the current article in plain file format
7236 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7239 @kindex O F (Summary)
7240 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7241 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7242 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7245 @kindex O b (Summary)
7246 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7247 Save the current article body in plain file format
7248 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7251 @kindex O h (Summary)
7252 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7253 Save the current article in mh folder format
7254 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7257 @kindex O v (Summary)
7258 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7259 Save the current article in a VM folder
7260 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7264 @kindex O p (Summary)
7266 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7267 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7268 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7269 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
7270 complete headers in the piped output.
7273 @kindex O P (Summary)
7274 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7275 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7276 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7277 external program Muttprint (see
7278 @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/}). The program name and
7279 options to use is controlled by the variable
7280 @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}. (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7284 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7285 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7286 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7287 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7288 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7289 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7290 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7291 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7292 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7293 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7294 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7295 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7299 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7300 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7301 gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
7302 functions below, or you can create your own.
7306 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7307 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7308 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7309 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7310 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
7311 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7312 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7314 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7315 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7316 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7317 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7318 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7319 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7321 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7322 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7323 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7324 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7325 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7326 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7327 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7329 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7330 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7331 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7332 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7333 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7334 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7336 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7337 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7338 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7339 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7340 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7342 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7343 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7344 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7345 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7346 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7349 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7350 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7351 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7352 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7353 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7355 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7356 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7357 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7358 reader to use this setting.
7361 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7362 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7363 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7364 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7367 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7368 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7369 available functions that generate names:
7373 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7374 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7375 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7377 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7378 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7379 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7381 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7382 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7383 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7385 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7386 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7387 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7389 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7390 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7391 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7394 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7395 You can have gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7396 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7397 save articles related to gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7398 related to VM in @file{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7402 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7403 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7404 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7405 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7408 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7409 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
7410 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
7411 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
7412 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
7413 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
7414 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
7415 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
7416 called returns a string or a list of strings.
7418 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
7419 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
7420 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
7421 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
7423 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
7424 means that gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
7425 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
7428 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
7429 lots of mail groups called things like
7430 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
7431 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
7432 following will do just that:
7435 (defun my-save-name (group)
7436 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
7437 (substring group (match-end 0))))
7439 (setq gnus-split-methods
7440 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
7445 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7446 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
7447 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
7448 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
7449 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
7450 all the files in the top level directory
7451 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
7452 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
7453 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
7454 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
7456 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
7457 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
7458 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
7459 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
7460 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
7463 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
7467 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
7468 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
7469 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
7472 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
7473 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
7474 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
7475 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
7478 @node Decoding Articles
7479 @section Decoding Articles
7480 @cindex decoding articles
7482 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
7483 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
7486 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
7487 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
7488 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
7489 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
7490 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
7491 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
7495 @cindex article series
7496 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
7497 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
7498 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
7499 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
7500 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
7502 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
7503 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
7504 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
7506 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, gnus
7507 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
7508 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
7510 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
7511 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
7512 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
7515 @node Uuencoded Articles
7516 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
7518 @cindex uuencoded articles
7523 @kindex X u (Summary)
7524 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
7525 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
7526 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
7529 @kindex X U (Summary)
7530 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
7531 Uudecodes and saves the current series
7532 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7535 @kindex X v u (Summary)
7536 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
7537 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
7540 @kindex X v U (Summary)
7541 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
7542 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
7543 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
7547 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
7548 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
7549 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
7550 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
7551 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7553 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
7554 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
7555 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
7556 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
7559 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
7560 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
7561 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
7562 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
7563 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
7564 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
7568 @node Shell Archives
7569 @subsection Shell Archives
7571 @cindex shell archives
7572 @cindex shared articles
7574 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
7575 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
7576 some commands to deal with these:
7581 @kindex X s (Summary)
7582 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
7583 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
7586 @kindex X S (Summary)
7587 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
7588 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
7591 @kindex X v s (Summary)
7592 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
7593 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
7596 @kindex X v S (Summary)
7597 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
7598 Unshars, views and saves the current series
7599 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
7603 @node PostScript Files
7604 @subsection PostScript Files
7610 @kindex X p (Summary)
7611 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
7612 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
7615 @kindex X P (Summary)
7616 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
7617 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
7618 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
7621 @kindex X v p (Summary)
7622 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
7623 View the current PostScript series
7624 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
7627 @kindex X v P (Summary)
7628 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
7629 View and save the current PostScript series
7630 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
7635 @subsection Other Files
7639 @kindex X o (Summary)
7640 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
7641 Save the current series
7642 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
7645 @kindex X b (Summary)
7646 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
7647 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
7648 doesn't really work yet.
7652 @node Decoding Variables
7653 @subsection Decoding Variables
7655 Adjective, not verb.
7658 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
7659 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
7660 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
7664 @node Rule Variables
7665 @subsubsection Rule Variables
7666 @cindex rule variables
7668 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
7669 variables are of the form
7672 (list '(regexp1 command2)
7679 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7680 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7682 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
7683 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @file{.au} sound file, you could
7686 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7687 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
7690 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7691 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7692 This variable is consulted if gnus couldn't make any matches from the
7693 user and default view rules.
7695 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7696 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7697 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
7702 @node Other Decode Variables
7703 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
7706 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7708 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7709 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
7710 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
7711 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
7712 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
7716 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
7717 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
7720 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
7721 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
7722 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
7725 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7726 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7727 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
7728 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
7729 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
7732 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7733 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7734 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
7736 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7737 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7738 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
7739 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
7740 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
7743 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7744 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7745 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
7747 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7748 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7749 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
7750 looking for files to display.
7752 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
7753 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
7754 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
7757 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7758 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7759 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
7762 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7763 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7764 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
7767 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7768 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7769 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
7772 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7773 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7774 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
7775 decoded articles as unread.
7777 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7778 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7779 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
7780 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
7782 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7783 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7784 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
7786 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7787 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7789 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
7790 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
7791 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
7792 @code{metamail} for viewing.
7794 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7795 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7796 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
7797 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
7798 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
7799 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
7800 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
7801 simply dropped them.
7806 @node Uuencoding and Posting
7807 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
7811 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7812 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7813 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
7814 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
7815 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7816 for you when you post the article.
7818 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7819 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7820 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7821 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7823 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7824 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7825 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7826 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7827 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7828 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7829 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
7831 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7832 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7833 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7834 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7835 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7836 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7837 Default is @code{t}.
7843 @subsection Viewing Files
7844 @cindex viewing files
7845 @cindex pseudo-articles
7847 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, gnus will attempt
7848 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7849 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7850 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, gnus will
7851 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7852 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7853 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7855 Finally, gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7856 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
7857 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
7858 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
7860 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7861 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7862 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7864 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7865 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7866 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7867 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7868 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7870 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7871 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7872 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7873 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7874 a list of parameters to that command.
7876 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7877 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7878 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7880 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7881 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7882 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7885 @node Article Treatment
7886 @section Article Treatment
7888 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7889 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7890 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7891 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7892 these articles easier.
7895 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7896 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7897 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7898 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7899 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
7900 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7901 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7902 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
7903 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7904 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7908 @node Article Highlighting
7909 @subsection Article Highlighting
7910 @cindex highlighting
7912 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7913 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7918 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7919 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7920 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7921 Do much highlighting of the current article
7922 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7923 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7926 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7927 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7928 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7929 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7930 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7931 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7932 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7933 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7934 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7935 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7936 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7937 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7940 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7941 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7942 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7944 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7947 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7949 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7950 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7951 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7953 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7954 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7955 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7957 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7958 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7959 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7960 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7961 gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7962 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7964 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7965 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7966 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
7968 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7969 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7970 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
7972 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7973 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7974 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7975 that it's a citation.
7977 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7978 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7979 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7981 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7982 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7983 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7985 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7986 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7987 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7988 cited text belonging to the attribution.
7994 @kindex W H s (Summary)
7995 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7996 @vindex gnus-signature-face
7997 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
7998 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
7999 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
8000 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
8001 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
8006 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
8009 @node Article Fontisizing
8010 @subsection Article Fontisizing
8012 @cindex article emphasis
8014 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
8015 @kindex W e (Summary)
8016 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
8017 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
8018 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
8019 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
8021 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
8022 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
8023 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
8024 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
8025 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
8026 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
8027 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
8028 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
8032 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
8033 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
8034 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
8043 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
8044 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
8045 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
8046 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
8047 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
8048 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
8049 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
8050 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
8051 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
8052 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
8053 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
8054 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
8055 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
8057 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
8058 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
8059 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
8063 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
8066 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
8068 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
8069 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
8070 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
8071 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
8073 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
8076 @node Article Hiding
8077 @subsection Article Hiding
8078 @cindex article hiding
8080 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
8081 too much cruft in most articles.
8086 @kindex W W a (Summary)
8087 @findex gnus-article-hide
8088 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
8089 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
8090 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
8093 @kindex W W h (Summary)
8094 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
8095 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
8099 @kindex W W b (Summary)
8100 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8101 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
8102 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
8105 @kindex W W s (Summary)
8106 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
8107 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8111 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8112 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8113 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8114 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8115 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8116 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8117 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8118 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8122 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8123 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8124 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8125 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8130 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8131 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8132 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8133 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8136 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8137 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8138 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8139 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8142 @cindex stripping advertisements
8143 @cindex advertisements
8144 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8145 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8146 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8147 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8148 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8149 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8150 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8151 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8152 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8153 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8156 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8157 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8158 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8162 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8163 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8164 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8165 @code{(ADDRESS . BANNER)}, where ADDRESS is a regexp matching a mail
8166 address in the From header, BANNER is one of a symbol @code{signature},
8167 an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}, a regexp and @code{nil}.
8168 If ADDRESS matches author's mail address, it will remove things like
8169 advertisements. For example, if a sender has the mail address
8170 @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a banner something like
8171 @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he sends, you can use the
8172 following element to remove them:
8175 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" . "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8181 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8182 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8183 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8184 customizing the hiding:
8188 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8189 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8190 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8191 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8192 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8193 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8194 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8199 Starting point of the hidden text.
8201 Ending point of the hidden text.
8203 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8205 Number of lines of hidden text.
8208 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8209 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8210 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8211 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8212 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8217 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8218 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8220 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8221 following two variables:
8224 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8225 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8226 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8227 50), hide the cited text.
8229 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8230 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8231 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8236 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8237 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8238 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8239 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8240 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8241 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8245 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8246 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8247 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8249 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8250 citation customization.
8252 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8256 @node Article Washing
8257 @subsection Article Washing
8259 @cindex article washing
8261 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8262 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8264 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8265 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8268 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8269 articles by default.
8274 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8275 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8279 Force redisplaying of the current article
8280 (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). This is also not really washing.
8281 If you type this, you see the article without any previously applied
8282 interactive Washing functions but with all default treatments
8283 (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8286 @kindex W l (Summary)
8287 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8288 Remove page breaks from the current article
8289 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8293 @kindex W r (Summary)
8294 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8295 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8296 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8297 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8298 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8299 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8301 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8302 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8303 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8304 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8307 @kindex W m (Summary)
8308 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8309 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8313 @kindex W t (Summary)
8315 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8316 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8317 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8320 @kindex W v (Summary)
8321 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8322 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8323 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8326 @kindex W m (Summary)
8327 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
8328 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
8329 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
8332 @kindex W o (Summary)
8333 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8334 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8337 @kindex W d (Summary)
8338 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8339 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8341 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8343 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8344 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8345 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8346 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8349 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8350 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8351 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8352 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8355 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
8356 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8357 @cindex Outlook Express
8358 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
8359 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
8360 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8363 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
8364 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
8365 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min
8366 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max
8367 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
8368 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
8369 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
8370 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the miminum and
8371 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
8372 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines}).
8375 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
8376 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
8377 Repair a broken attribution line.
8378 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
8381 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
8382 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
8383 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
8384 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
8387 @kindex W w (Summary)
8388 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
8389 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
8391 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
8395 @kindex W Q (Summary)
8396 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
8397 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
8400 @kindex W C (Summary)
8401 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
8402 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
8403 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
8406 @kindex W c (Summary)
8407 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
8408 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
8409 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
8410 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
8411 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
8414 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
8415 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
8416 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
8417 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
8418 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is usually done
8419 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8420 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
8422 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8425 @kindex W Z (Summary)
8426 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
8427 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
8428 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
8429 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
8432 @kindex W u (Summary)
8433 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
8434 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
8435 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
8436 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
8437 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
8440 @kindex W h (Summary)
8441 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
8442 Treat @sc{html} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
8443 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8444 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @sc{html}.
8446 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8448 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
8449 The default is to use the function specified by
8450 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{(emacs-mime)Display
8451 Customization}) to convert the @sc{html}, but this is controlled by
8452 the @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions
8453 you can use include:
8460 Use emacs-w3m (see @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/} for more
8464 Use Links (see @uref{http://artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mikulas/links/}).
8467 Use Lynx (see @uref{http://lynx.browser.org/}).
8470 Use html2text -- a simple @sc{html} converter included with Gnus.
8475 @kindex W b (Summary)
8476 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
8477 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
8478 @xref{Article Buttons}.
8481 @kindex W B (Summary)
8482 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
8483 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
8484 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
8487 @kindex W p (Summary)
8488 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
8489 Verify a signed control message (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}).
8490 Control messages such as @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are
8491 usually signed by the hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the PGP
8492 public key of the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
8493 message.@footnote{PGP keys for many hierarchies are available at
8494 @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
8497 @kindex W s (Summary)
8498 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
8499 Verify a signed (PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}) message
8500 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
8503 @kindex W a (Summary)
8504 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
8505 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
8506 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
8509 @kindex W E l (Summary)
8510 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
8511 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
8512 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
8515 @kindex W E m (Summary)
8516 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8517 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
8518 lines with a single empty line.
8519 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
8522 @kindex W E t (Summary)
8523 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
8524 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
8525 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
8528 @kindex W E a (Summary)
8529 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
8530 Do all the three commands above
8531 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
8534 @kindex W E A (Summary)
8535 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
8536 Remove all blank lines
8537 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
8540 @kindex W E s (Summary)
8541 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
8542 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
8543 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
8546 @kindex W E e (Summary)
8547 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
8548 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
8549 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
8553 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
8556 @node Article Header
8557 @subsection Article Header
8559 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
8564 @kindex W G u (Summary)
8565 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
8566 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
8569 @kindex W G n (Summary)
8570 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
8571 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
8572 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
8575 @kindex W G f (Summary)
8576 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
8577 Fold all the message headers
8578 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
8582 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
8583 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
8584 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
8589 @node Article Buttons
8590 @subsection Article Buttons
8593 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
8594 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
8595 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
8596 button on these references.
8598 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8599 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
8600 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links and man pages.
8601 This is controlled by two variables, one that handles article bodies and
8602 one that handles article heads:
8606 @item gnus-button-alist
8607 @vindex gnus-button-alist
8608 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
8611 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8617 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
8618 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
8619 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
8620 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
8621 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}.
8624 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
8625 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
8626 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
8629 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
8630 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
8631 avoid false matches.
8634 This function will be called when you click on this button.
8637 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
8638 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
8642 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
8645 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
8648 @item gnus-header-button-alist
8649 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
8650 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
8651 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
8652 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
8655 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8658 @var{header} is a regular expression.
8660 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
8661 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
8662 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
8663 default values of the variables above.
8665 @item gnus-article-button-face
8666 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
8667 Face used on buttons.
8669 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
8670 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
8671 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
8675 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
8679 @subsection Article Date
8681 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
8682 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
8683 when the article was sent.
8688 @kindex W T u (Summary)
8689 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
8690 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
8691 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
8694 @kindex W T i (Summary)
8695 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
8697 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
8698 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
8701 @kindex W T l (Summary)
8702 @findex gnus-article-date-local
8703 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
8706 @kindex W T p (Summary)
8707 @findex gnus-article-date-english
8708 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
8709 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
8712 @kindex W T s (Summary)
8713 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
8714 @findex gnus-article-date-user
8715 @findex format-time-string
8716 Display the date using a user-defined format
8717 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
8718 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
8719 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
8720 for a list of possible format specs.
8723 @kindex W T e (Summary)
8724 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
8725 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
8726 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
8727 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
8728 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
8731 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
8734 @vindex gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header
8735 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
8736 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
8739 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
8740 into wonderful absurdities.
8742 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
8745 (gnus-start-date-timer)
8748 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
8749 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
8753 @kindex W T o (Summary)
8754 @findex gnus-article-date-original
8755 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
8756 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
8757 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
8758 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
8759 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
8763 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
8764 preferred format automatically.
8767 @node Article Display
8768 @subsection Article Display
8773 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
8774 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
8776 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
8777 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
8779 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
8780 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
8782 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
8783 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
8785 All these functions are toggles--if the elements already exist,
8790 @kindex W D x (Summary)
8791 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
8792 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
8793 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
8796 @kindex W D d (Summary)
8797 @findex gnus-article-display-face
8798 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
8799 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
8802 @kindex W D s (Summary)
8803 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
8804 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
8807 @kindex W D f (Summary)
8808 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
8809 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
8812 @kindex W D m (Summary)
8813 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
8814 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
8815 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
8818 @kindex W D n (Summary)
8819 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
8820 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
8821 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
8824 @kindex W D D (Summary)
8825 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
8826 Remove all images from the article buffer
8827 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
8833 @node Article Signature
8834 @subsection Article Signature
8836 @cindex article signature
8838 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8839 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
8840 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
8841 that says what is to be considered a signature is
8842 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
8843 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
8844 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
8845 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
8846 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
8849 (setq gnus-signature-separator
8850 '("^-- $" ; The standard
8851 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
8852 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
8853 ; line of dashes. Shame!
8854 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
8855 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
8856 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
8859 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
8862 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
8863 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
8864 signature when displaying articles.
8868 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
8871 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
8874 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
8875 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
8877 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
8878 in question is not a signature.
8881 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
8882 listed above. Here's an example:
8885 (setq gnus-signature-limit
8886 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
8889 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
8890 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
8891 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
8892 signature after all.
8895 @node Article Miscellania
8896 @subsection Article Miscellania
8900 @kindex A t (Summary)
8901 @findex gnus-article-babel
8902 Translate the article from one language to another
8903 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
8909 @section MIME Commands
8910 @cindex MIME decoding
8912 @cindex viewing attachments
8914 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
8915 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
8921 @kindex K v (Summary)
8922 View the @sc{mime} part.
8925 @kindex K o (Summary)
8926 Save the @sc{mime} part.
8929 @kindex K c (Summary)
8930 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
8933 @kindex K e (Summary)
8934 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
8937 @kindex K i (Summary)
8938 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
8941 @kindex K | (Summary)
8942 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
8945 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
8950 @kindex K b (Summary)
8951 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
8952 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
8956 @kindex K m (Summary)
8957 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
8958 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
8959 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
8960 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
8961 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
8964 @kindex X m (Summary)
8965 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
8966 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
8967 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
8968 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8971 @kindex M-t (Summary)
8972 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
8973 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
8974 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
8977 @kindex W M w (Summary)
8978 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
8979 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
8980 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
8983 @kindex W M c (Summary)
8984 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
8985 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
8986 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
8988 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
8989 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
8990 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
8991 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
8992 include @sc{mime} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
8993 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
8996 @kindex W M v (Summary)
8997 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
8998 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
8999 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
9006 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
9007 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
9008 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9009 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
9012 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
9015 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
9019 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
9020 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
9021 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't required the @samp{MIME-Version} header
9022 before interpreting the message as a @sc{mime} message. This helps
9023 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
9024 default is @code{nil}.
9026 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
9027 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
9028 There are other, non-@sc{mime} encoding methods used. The most common
9029 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
9030 This variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
9031 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
9032 Gnus @sc{mime} machinery. The default is @code{t}.
9034 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9035 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9036 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9037 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9038 displayed or this variable is overridden by
9039 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
9040 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
9041 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is nil.
9043 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9044 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9045 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9046 this list will have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9047 displayed. This variable overrides
9048 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
9049 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
9052 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
9053 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
9054 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
9056 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9057 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9058 If this is non-nil, then all @sc{mime} parts get buttons. The default
9059 value is @code{nil}.
9061 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
9062 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
9063 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
9064 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
9065 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
9066 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
9067 save all jpegs into some directory).
9069 Here's an example function the does the latter:
9072 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
9073 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
9075 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
9076 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
9077 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
9078 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
9079 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
9082 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9083 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9084 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
9086 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9087 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9088 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @sc{mime} parts.
9089 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
9091 Ready-made functions include@*
9092 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
9093 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
9094 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
9095 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
9096 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
9097 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
9098 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
9099 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
9100 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9101 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9102 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9103 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9105 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
9106 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
9108 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
9109 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
9110 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
9113 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9114 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9115 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9116 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
9120 to your @file{.gnus.el} file.
9129 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
9130 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
9131 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
9132 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
9133 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
9134 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
9135 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
9137 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
9138 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
9139 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
9140 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
9142 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets
9143 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
9144 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
9145 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
9146 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
9147 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
9148 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
9149 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
9150 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
9152 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
9153 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
9154 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
9155 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
9156 quoted-printable header encoding.
9158 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
9159 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
9160 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
9164 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
9167 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
9168 means encode all charsets),
9170 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
9171 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
9172 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
9179 @cindex coding system aliases
9180 @cindex preferred charset
9182 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
9184 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
9185 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
9188 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
9189 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
9192 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
9193 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
9195 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
9198 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
9201 This will almost do the right thing.
9203 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
9207 (codepage-setup 1251)
9208 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
9212 @node Article Commands
9213 @section Article Commands
9220 @kindex A P (Summary)
9221 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
9222 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
9223 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
9224 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
9225 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
9226 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
9231 @node Summary Sorting
9232 @section Summary Sorting
9233 @cindex summary sorting
9235 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
9236 can't really see why you'd want that.
9241 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
9242 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
9243 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
9246 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
9247 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
9248 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
9251 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
9252 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
9253 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
9256 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
9257 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
9258 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
9261 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
9262 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
9263 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
9266 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
9267 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
9268 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
9271 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
9272 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
9273 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
9276 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
9277 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
9278 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
9281 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
9282 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
9283 Sort using the default sorting method
9284 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
9287 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
9288 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
9289 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
9290 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
9291 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
9295 @node Finding the Parent
9296 @section Finding the Parent
9297 @cindex parent articles
9298 @cindex referring articles
9303 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
9304 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
9305 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
9306 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
9307 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
9308 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
9309 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
9310 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
9311 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
9313 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
9314 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
9315 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, gnus will fetch the parent, the
9316 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
9317 @kbd{-3 ^}, gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
9321 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
9322 @kindex A R (Summary)
9323 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
9324 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
9327 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
9328 @kindex A T (Summary)
9329 Display the full thread where the current article appears
9330 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
9331 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
9332 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
9333 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
9334 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
9335 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
9337 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
9338 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
9339 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
9340 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
9341 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
9342 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
9345 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
9346 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
9348 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
9349 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
9350 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
9351 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
9352 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
9353 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
9354 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
9357 The current select method will be used when fetching by
9358 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
9359 by giving this command a prefix.
9361 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
9362 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
9363 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
9364 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
9365 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
9366 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
9369 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
9370 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
9371 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
9374 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
9375 then ask Google if that fails:
9378 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
9380 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
9383 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
9384 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
9385 @code{nnbabyl}, and @code{nnmaildir} are able to locate articles from
9386 any groups, while @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
9387 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current group.
9388 (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not
9389 support this at all.
9392 @node Alternative Approaches
9393 @section Alternative Approaches
9395 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
9396 gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
9399 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
9400 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
9405 @subsection Pick and Read
9406 @cindex pick and read
9408 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
9409 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
9410 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
9411 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
9413 @findex gnus-pick-mode
9414 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
9415 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
9416 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
9417 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
9418 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
9420 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
9425 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
9426 Pick the article or thread on the current line
9427 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9428 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
9429 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
9430 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
9431 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
9432 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
9435 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
9436 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
9437 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
9438 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
9442 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
9443 Unpick the thread or article
9444 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9445 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
9446 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
9447 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
9448 the thread or article at that line.
9452 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
9453 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
9454 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
9455 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
9456 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
9457 will still be visible when you are reading.
9461 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
9462 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
9463 which is mapped to the same function
9464 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
9466 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
9469 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
9472 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
9473 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
9475 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
9476 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
9477 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
9479 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
9480 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
9481 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
9482 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
9483 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
9484 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
9485 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
9489 @subsection Binary Groups
9490 @cindex binary groups
9492 @findex gnus-binary-mode
9493 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
9494 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
9495 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
9496 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
9497 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
9498 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
9501 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
9502 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
9503 command, when you have turned on this mode
9504 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
9506 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
9507 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
9511 @section Tree Display
9514 @vindex gnus-use-trees
9515 If you don't like the normal gnus summary display, you might try setting
9516 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
9517 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
9520 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
9523 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
9524 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
9525 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
9527 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9528 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9529 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
9530 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
9531 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
9533 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
9534 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
9535 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
9536 default is @code{modeline}.
9538 @item gnus-tree-line-format
9539 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
9540 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
9541 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
9542 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
9543 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
9544 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
9550 The name of the poster.
9552 The @code{From} header.
9554 The number of the article.
9556 The opening bracket.
9558 The closing bracket.
9563 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
9565 Variables related to the display are:
9568 @item gnus-tree-brackets
9569 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
9570 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
9571 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
9572 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
9573 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
9575 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9576 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9577 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
9578 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
9582 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
9583 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
9584 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will try to keep the tree
9585 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other gnus
9586 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
9587 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
9588 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
9589 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
9590 other windows displayed next to it.
9592 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
9596 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
9597 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
9600 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
9601 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
9602 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9603 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
9604 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
9605 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
9606 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
9610 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
9613 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
9623 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
9627 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
9628 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
9630 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
9632 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
9637 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
9638 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
9639 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
9642 (setq gnus-use-trees t
9643 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9644 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
9645 (gnus-add-configuration
9649 (summary 0.75 point)
9654 @xref{Window Layout}.
9657 @node Mail Group Commands
9658 @section Mail Group Commands
9659 @cindex mail group commands
9661 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
9662 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
9664 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
9665 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9670 @kindex B e (Summary)
9671 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
9672 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
9673 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
9674 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
9675 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
9678 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
9679 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
9680 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
9681 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
9682 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
9683 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
9686 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
9687 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
9688 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
9689 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
9690 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
9691 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
9694 @kindex B m (Summary)
9696 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
9697 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
9698 Move the article from one mail group to another
9699 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9700 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9703 @kindex B c (Summary)
9705 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
9706 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
9707 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
9708 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9709 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9712 @kindex B B (Summary)
9713 @cindex crosspost mail
9714 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
9715 Crosspost the current article to some other group
9716 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
9717 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
9718 be properly updated.
9721 @kindex B i (Summary)
9722 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
9723 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
9724 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
9725 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9728 @kindex B I (Summary)
9729 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
9730 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
9731 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
9732 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9735 @kindex B r (Summary)
9736 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
9737 @vindex gnus-summary-respool-default-method
9738 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
9739 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
9740 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
9741 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
9742 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
9743 (which is the default).
9747 @kindex B w (Summary)
9749 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
9750 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
9751 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
9752 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
9753 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
9754 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
9755 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, gnus won't re-highlight the article.
9758 @kindex B q (Summary)
9759 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
9760 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
9761 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
9762 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
9765 @kindex B t (Summary)
9766 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
9767 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
9768 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
9771 @kindex B p (Summary)
9772 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
9773 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
9774 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
9775 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
9776 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
9777 article from your news server (or rather, from
9778 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
9779 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
9780 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
9781 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
9782 just not have arrived yet.
9785 @kindex K E (Summary)
9786 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
9787 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
9788 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
9789 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
9790 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
9794 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
9795 @cindex moving articles
9796 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have gnus
9797 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
9798 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
9799 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
9800 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
9801 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
9802 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
9805 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
9806 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
9807 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
9808 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
9812 @node Various Summary Stuff
9813 @section Various Summary Stuff
9816 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
9817 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
9818 * Summary Generation Commands::
9819 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
9823 @vindex gnus-summary-display-while-building
9824 @item gnus-summary-display-while-building
9825 If non-@code{nil}, show and update the summary buffer as it's being
9826 built. If @code{t}, update the buffer after every line is inserted.
9827 If the value is an integer, @var{n}, update the display every @var{n}
9828 lines. The default is @code{nil}.
9830 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
9831 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
9832 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
9834 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
9835 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
9836 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
9837 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
9838 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
9839 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
9842 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9843 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9844 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
9845 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
9846 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
9848 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9849 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9850 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
9853 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9854 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9855 When gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
9856 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
9857 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
9858 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
9859 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), gnus will rename the
9860 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
9861 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
9862 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
9864 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9865 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9866 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
9867 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
9868 list of articles to be selected.
9870 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
9871 the list in one particular group:
9874 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
9875 (if (string= group "some.group")
9876 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
9880 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
9881 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
9882 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
9883 variables and their default values (when the default values are not
9884 nil), that should be made global while the summary buffer is active.
9885 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
9886 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
9887 buffers. For example:
9890 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
9891 '(message-use-followup-to
9892 (gnus-visible-headers .
9893 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
9899 @node Summary Group Information
9900 @subsection Summary Group Information
9905 @kindex H f (Summary)
9906 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
9907 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
9908 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
9909 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
9910 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
9911 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
9912 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
9913 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
9914 be used for fetching the file.
9917 @kindex H d (Summary)
9918 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
9919 Give a brief description of the current group
9920 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
9921 rereading the description from the server.
9924 @kindex H h (Summary)
9925 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
9926 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
9927 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
9930 @kindex H i (Summary)
9931 @findex gnus-info-find-node
9932 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
9936 @node Searching for Articles
9937 @subsection Searching for Articles
9942 @kindex M-s (Summary)
9943 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
9944 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
9945 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
9948 @kindex M-r (Summary)
9949 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
9950 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
9951 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
9955 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
9956 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
9957 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
9958 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
9959 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
9960 search backward instead.
9962 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
9963 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
9966 @kindex M-& (Summary)
9967 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
9968 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
9969 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
9972 @node Summary Generation Commands
9973 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
9978 @kindex Y g (Summary)
9979 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
9980 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
9983 @kindex Y c (Summary)
9984 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
9985 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
9986 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
9989 @kindex Y d (Summary)
9990 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
9991 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
9992 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
9997 @node Really Various Summary Commands
9998 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
10004 @kindex C-d (Summary)
10005 @kindex A D (Summary)
10006 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
10007 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
10008 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
10009 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
10010 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
10011 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
10012 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
10013 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
10017 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
10018 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
10019 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
10020 several documents into one biiig group
10021 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
10022 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
10023 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
10024 command understands the process/prefix convention
10025 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10028 @kindex C-t (Summary)
10029 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
10030 Toggle truncation of summary lines
10031 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
10032 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
10033 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
10036 @kindex = (Summary)
10037 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
10038 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
10039 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
10042 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
10043 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
10044 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10045 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
10048 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
10049 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
10050 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10051 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
10056 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
10057 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
10058 @cindex summary exit
10059 @cindex exiting groups
10061 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
10062 group and return you to the group buffer.
10068 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
10069 @kindex q (Summary)
10070 @findex gnus-summary-exit
10071 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
10072 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
10073 @vindex gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook
10074 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
10075 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
10076 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
10077 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
10078 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
10079 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
10080 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
10081 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
10085 @kindex Z E (Summary)
10086 @kindex Q (Summary)
10087 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
10088 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
10089 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
10093 @kindex Z c (Summary)
10094 @kindex c (Summary)
10095 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
10096 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
10097 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
10098 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
10101 @kindex Z C (Summary)
10102 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
10103 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
10104 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
10107 @kindex Z n (Summary)
10108 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
10109 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
10110 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
10113 @kindex Z R (Summary)
10114 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
10115 Exit this group, and then enter it again
10116 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
10117 all articles, both read and unread.
10121 @kindex Z G (Summary)
10122 @kindex M-g (Summary)
10123 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
10124 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
10125 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
10126 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
10127 articles, both read and unread.
10130 @kindex Z N (Summary)
10131 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
10132 Exit the group and go to the next group
10133 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
10136 @kindex Z P (Summary)
10137 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
10138 Exit the group and go to the previous group
10139 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
10142 @kindex Z s (Summary)
10143 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
10144 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
10145 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
10146 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
10147 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
10150 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
10151 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
10152 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
10153 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
10155 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
10156 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
10157 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
10158 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
10159 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
10160 If you do that, gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
10161 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
10162 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
10163 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
10164 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
10165 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
10166 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
10168 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
10170 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
10171 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
10172 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
10173 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
10174 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
10175 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
10176 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
10177 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
10178 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
10181 @node Crosspost Handling
10182 @section Crosspost Handling
10186 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
10187 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
10188 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
10189 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
10190 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
10191 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
10194 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
10195 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
10196 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
10197 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
10198 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
10200 @cindex cross-posting
10203 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
10204 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
10205 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
10206 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
10207 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
10208 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
10209 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
10210 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
10211 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
10212 the cross reference mechanism.
10214 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
10215 @cindex overview.fmt
10216 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
10217 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
10218 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
10219 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
10220 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
10221 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
10224 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
10225 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
10226 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
10231 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
10234 @node Duplicate Suppression
10235 @section Duplicate Suppression
10237 By default, gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
10238 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
10239 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
10240 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
10245 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
10246 is evil and not very common.
10249 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
10250 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
10253 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
10254 different @sc{nntp} servers.
10257 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
10260 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
10261 well, but these four are the most common situations.
10263 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
10264 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
10265 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
10266 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
10267 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
10268 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
10269 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
10272 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
10273 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
10274 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
10275 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
10276 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
10277 saw the article in.
10280 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
10281 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
10282 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
10284 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
10285 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
10286 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
10287 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
10288 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single gnus
10289 session are suppressed.
10291 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
10292 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
10293 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
10294 suppression list. The default is 10000.
10296 @item gnus-duplicate-file
10297 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
10298 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
10299 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
10302 If you have a tendency to stop and start gnus often, setting
10303 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
10304 you leave gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
10305 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
10306 so that means that if you stop and start gnus often, you should set
10307 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
10308 to you to figure out, I think.
10313 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
10314 The formats that are supported are PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} and @sc{s/mime},
10315 however you need some external programs to get things to work:
10319 To handle PGP and PGP/MIME messages, you have to install an OpenPGP
10320 implementation such as GnuPG. The lisp interface to GnuPG included
10321 with Gnus is called PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg, PGG Manual}), but
10322 Mailcrypt and gpg.el are also supported.
10325 To handle @sc{s/mime} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
10326 or newer is recommended.
10330 More information on how to set things up can be found in the message
10331 manual (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
10334 @item mm-verify-option
10335 @vindex mm-verify-option
10336 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
10337 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
10338 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10340 @item mm-decrypt-option
10341 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
10342 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
10343 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
10344 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10347 @vindex mml1991-use
10348 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for PGP
10349 messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but @code{mailcrypt} and
10350 @code{gpg} are also supported although deprecated.
10353 @vindex mml2015-use
10354 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10355 PGP/MIME messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but @code{mailcrypt}
10356 and @code{gpg} are also supported although deprecated.
10361 @section Mailing List
10363 @kindex A M (summary)
10364 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
10365 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
10366 add a @code{to-list} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
10367 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
10370 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
10375 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
10376 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
10377 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
10380 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
10381 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
10382 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
10385 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
10386 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
10387 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
10391 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
10392 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
10393 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
10396 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
10397 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10398 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
10401 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
10402 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10403 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
10407 @node Article Buffer
10408 @chapter Article Buffer
10409 @cindex article buffer
10411 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
10412 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
10413 tell gnus otherwise.
10416 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
10417 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
10418 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
10419 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
10420 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
10424 @node Hiding Headers
10425 @section Hiding Headers
10426 @cindex hiding headers
10427 @cindex deleting headers
10429 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
10430 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
10432 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
10433 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
10434 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
10435 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
10436 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
10437 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
10438 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
10439 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
10440 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
10442 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
10446 @item gnus-visible-headers
10447 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
10448 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
10449 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
10450 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
10452 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
10453 the article and the subject, you'd say:
10456 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
10459 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10462 @item gnus-ignored-headers
10463 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
10464 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
10465 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
10466 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
10467 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
10469 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} field
10470 and the @code{Xref} field, you might say:
10473 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
10476 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10479 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
10480 variable will have no effect.
10484 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
10485 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
10486 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
10487 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
10488 the headers are to be displayed.
10490 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
10491 and then the subject, you might say something like:
10494 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
10497 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
10498 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
10500 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
10501 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
10502 You can hide further boring headers by setting
10503 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
10504 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
10505 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
10506 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
10509 These conditions are:
10512 Remove all empty headers.
10514 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
10515 @code{Newsgroups} header.
10517 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
10518 @code{From} header.
10520 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
10523 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10524 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
10526 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
10529 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
10531 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
10534 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
10537 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
10538 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
10541 This is also the default value for this variable.
10545 @section Using MIME
10548 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
10549 while people stand around yawning.
10551 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
10552 while all newsreaders die of fear.
10554 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
10555 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
10556 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
10558 @vindex gnus-show-mime
10559 @vindex gnus-article-display-method-for-mime
10560 @findex gnus-article-display-mime-message
10561 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
10562 @code{gnus-article-display-method-for-mime}, which is
10563 @code{gnus-article-display-mime-message} by default. This function
10564 calls the @sc{semi} MIME-View program to actually do the work. For more
10565 information on @sc{semi} MIME-View, see its manual page (however it is
10566 not existed yet, sorry).
10568 Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
10569 @sc{mime} all the time. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime} set, then
10570 you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article buffer.
10571 These can't be avoided.
10573 In GNUS or Gnus, it might be best to just use the toggling functions
10574 from the summary buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance,
10575 you enter the group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it,
10576 @sc{mime} has decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible
10577 sing-a-long song comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find
10578 the volume button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to
10579 look at you, and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you
10580 can't find the program to control the volume, and everybody else in the
10581 room suddenly decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel
10584 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
10586 To avoid such kind of situation, gnus stops to use
10587 @code{metamail-buffer}. So now, you can set @code{gnus-show-mime} to
10588 non-@code{nil} every-time, then you can push button in the article
10589 buffer when there are nobody else.
10591 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
10594 @node Customizing Articles
10595 @section Customizing Articles
10596 @cindex article customization
10598 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
10599 exist. You can call these functions interactively
10600 (@pxref{Article Washing}), or you can have them
10601 called automatically when you select the articles.
10603 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
10604 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
10605 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
10606 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
10608 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
10609 for sensible values.
10613 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
10616 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
10619 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
10622 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
10625 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
10629 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
10630 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
10631 regexps in the list.
10634 A list where the first element is not a string:
10636 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
10637 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
10638 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
10642 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
10646 @code{mime}: Do this treatment if the value of @code{gnus-show-mime}' is
10651 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
10652 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
10653 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
10654 considered to contain just a single part.
10656 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
10657 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
10658 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
10659 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
10660 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
10661 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
10662 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
10664 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
10665 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
10666 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
10667 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
10670 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
10671 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
10673 @xref{Article Buttons}.
10675 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
10676 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
10677 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
10678 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
10679 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
10680 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
10681 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
10682 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
10683 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
10684 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
10685 @item gnus-treat-decode-article-as-default-mime-charset (t, integer)
10687 @xref{Article Washing}.
10689 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
10690 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
10691 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
10692 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
10693 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
10694 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
10695 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
10697 @xref{Article Date}.
10699 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
10700 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
10701 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
10705 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
10707 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
10709 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
10710 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
10711 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
10715 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
10719 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
10720 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
10721 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
10722 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
10723 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
10724 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
10725 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
10726 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
10728 @xref{Article Hiding}.
10730 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
10731 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
10732 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
10734 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
10736 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
10737 @item gnus-treat-translate
10738 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
10740 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
10741 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
10742 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
10743 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
10745 @xref{Article Header}.
10750 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
10751 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
10752 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
10753 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
10754 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
10758 @node Article Keymap
10759 @section Article Keymap
10761 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
10762 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
10763 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
10764 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
10767 A few additional keystrokes are available:
10772 @kindex SPACE (Article)
10773 @findex gnus-article-next-page
10774 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
10775 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h SPACE h}.
10778 @kindex DEL (Article)
10779 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
10780 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
10781 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h DEL h}.
10784 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
10785 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
10786 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
10787 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
10788 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
10791 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
10792 @findex gnus-article-mail
10793 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
10794 given a prefix, include the mail.
10797 @kindex s (Article)
10798 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
10799 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
10800 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
10803 @kindex ? (Article)
10804 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
10805 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
10806 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
10809 @kindex TAB (Article)
10810 @findex gnus-article-next-button
10811 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
10812 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
10815 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
10816 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
10817 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
10820 @kindex R (Article)
10821 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
10822 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
10823 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If given a prefix, make a
10824 wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10828 @kindex F (Article)
10829 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
10830 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
10831 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If given a prefix, make
10832 a wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10840 @section Misc Article
10844 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
10845 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
10846 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
10847 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
10850 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
10851 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
10853 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
10854 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
10856 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
10857 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
10858 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
10859 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
10860 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
10861 the contents of the article buffer.
10863 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
10864 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
10865 Hook called in article mode buffers.
10867 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10868 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10869 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
10870 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
10872 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
10873 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
10874 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
10875 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
10876 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
10882 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
10883 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
10884 performed. The characters and their meaning:
10889 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
10892 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
10895 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
10896 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
10897 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
10900 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
10903 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
10906 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
10911 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
10915 @vindex gnus-break-pages
10917 @item gnus-break-pages
10918 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
10919 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
10920 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
10921 paging will not be done.
10923 @item gnus-page-delimiter
10924 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
10925 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
10930 @node Composing Messages
10931 @chapter Composing Messages
10932 @cindex composing messages
10935 @cindex sending mail
10940 @cindex using s/mime
10941 @cindex using smime
10943 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
10944 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
10945 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
10946 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
10947 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
10948 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
10951 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
10952 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
10953 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
10954 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
10955 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
10956 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
10957 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
10958 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
10961 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
10962 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
10968 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
10971 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
10972 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
10973 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
10974 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
10975 @code{nil} include all headers.
10977 @item gnus-add-to-list
10978 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
10979 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
10980 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
10982 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
10983 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
10984 This can also be a function receiving the group name as the only
10985 parameter which should return non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is
10986 needed, or a regular expression matching group names, where
10987 confirmation is should be asked for.
10989 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
10990 press R anyway, this variable might be for you.
10992 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
10993 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
10994 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
10995 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
10996 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
11001 @node Posting Server
11002 @section Posting Server
11004 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
11005 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
11007 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
11009 It can be quite complicated.
11011 @vindex gnus-post-method
11012 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
11013 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
11014 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
11015 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
11016 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
11017 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
11018 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
11019 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
11020 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
11023 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
11026 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
11027 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
11028 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
11029 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
11031 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
11032 gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
11034 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
11035 If that's the case, gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
11038 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
11039 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
11041 When sending mail, Message invokes @code{message-send-mail-function}.
11042 The default function, @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, pipes
11043 your article to the @code{sendmail} binary for further queuing and
11044 sending. When your local system is not configured for sending mail
11045 using @code{sendmail}, and you have access to a remote @sc{smtp}
11046 server, you can set @code{message-send-mail-function} to
11047 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and make sure to setup the @code{smtpmail}
11048 package correctly. An example:
11051 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
11052 smtpmail-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11053 ;; The following variable needs to be set because of the FLIM version of
11054 ;; smtpmail.el. Which smtpmail.el is used depends on the `load-path'.
11055 (setq smtp-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11058 To the thing similar to this, there is @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}.
11059 It is useful if your ISP requires the POP-before-SMTP authentication.
11060 See the documentation for the function @code{mail-source-touch-pop}.
11062 Other possible choices for @code{message-send-mail-function} includes
11063 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
11064 and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
11066 @node Mail and Post
11067 @section Mail and Post
11069 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
11073 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
11074 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
11075 @cindex mailing lists
11077 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
11078 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
11079 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
11080 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
11081 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
11082 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
11083 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
11084 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
11085 still a pain, though.
11087 @item gnus-version-expose-system
11088 @vindex gnus-version-expose-system
11090 Your system type (@code{system-configuration} variable, such as
11091 @samp{i686-pc-linux}) is exposed in the auto-generated by default
11092 User-Agent header. Sometimes, it may be desireable (mostly because of
11093 aesthetic reasons) to turn it off. In this case, set it to @code{nil}.
11097 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
11098 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
11099 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
11102 @findex ispell-message
11104 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
11107 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
11108 you're in, you could say something like the following:
11111 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
11115 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
11116 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
11118 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
11121 Modify to suit your needs.
11124 @node Archived Messages
11125 @section Archived Messages
11126 @cindex archived messages
11127 @cindex sent messages
11129 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
11130 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
11131 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
11132 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
11135 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
11136 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
11139 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
11140 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server gnus is to
11141 use to store sent messages. The default is:
11144 (nnfolder "archive"
11145 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
11146 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
11147 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
11148 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
11151 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
11152 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
11153 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
11154 directory chosen, you could say something like:
11157 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
11158 '(nnfolder "archive"
11159 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
11160 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
11161 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
11164 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
11166 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
11167 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
11168 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
11170 This variable can be used to do the following:
11175 Messages will be saved in that group.
11177 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
11178 message will not be stored in the select method given by
11179 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
11180 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
11181 has the default value shown above. Then setting
11182 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
11183 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
11184 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
11188 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
11190 an alist of regexps, functions and forms
11191 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
11194 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
11199 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
11201 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
11204 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
11206 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
11209 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
11211 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11212 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
11213 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
11214 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
11217 More complex stuff:
11219 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11220 '((if (message-news-p)
11225 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
11226 messages in one file per month:
11229 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11230 '((if (message-news-p)
11232 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
11235 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
11236 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
11238 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
11239 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
11240 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
11241 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
11242 gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
11243 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
11244 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
11245 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
11246 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
11247 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
11249 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
11250 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
11251 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
11252 this will disable archiving.
11255 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
11256 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
11257 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
11258 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
11259 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
11262 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
11263 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
11264 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
11267 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
11268 but the latter is the preferred method.
11270 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11271 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11272 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
11274 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11275 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11276 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
11277 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
11278 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
11279 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
11280 changed in the future.
11285 @node Posting Styles
11286 @section Posting Styles
11287 @cindex posting styles
11290 All them variables, they make my head swim.
11292 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
11293 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
11294 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
11297 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
11298 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
11299 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
11300 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
11301 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
11306 (signature "Peace and happiness")
11307 (organization "What me?"))
11309 (signature "Death to everybody"))
11310 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
11311 (organization "Emacs is it")))
11314 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
11315 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
11316 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
11317 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
11318 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
11319 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
11320 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
11321 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
11323 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
11324 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
11325 If it is the form @code{(header MATCH REGEXP)}, then Gnus will look in
11326 the original article for a header whose name is MATCH and compare that
11327 REGEXP. MATCH and REGEXP are strings. (There original article is the
11328 one you are replying or following up to. If you are not composing a
11329 reply or a followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
11330 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with no
11331 arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
11332 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
11333 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
11336 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
11337 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
11338 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
11339 @code{x-face-file}, @code{address} (overriding
11340 @code{user-mail-address}), @code{name} (overriding
11341 @code{(user-full-name)}) or @code{body}. The attribute name can also
11342 be a string or a symbol. In that case, this will be used as a header
11343 name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the article; if
11344 the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed. If the
11345 attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the result
11348 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
11349 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
11350 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
11351 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
11352 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
11353 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
11354 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
11355 references chars lines xref extra.
11357 @vindex message-reply-headers
11359 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
11360 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
11361 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
11363 @findex message-mail-p
11364 @findex message-news-p
11366 So here's a new example:
11369 (setq gnus-posting-styles
11371 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11373 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11374 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11376 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
11377 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; A form
11378 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
11379 (message-news-p ;; A function symbol
11380 (signature my-news-signature))
11381 (window-system ;; A value symbol
11382 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
11383 ;; If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.
11384 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
11385 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
11386 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; A user defined function
11387 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
11388 (address "user@@bar.foo")
11389 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
11390 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
11392 (From (save-excursion
11393 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
11394 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
11396 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
11399 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
11400 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
11401 if you fill many roles.
11403 Setting the @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} variable will make
11404 posting-styles allow to have distinctive names. You can specify an
11405 arbitrary posting-style when article posting with @kbd{S P} in the
11406 summary buffer. @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} is an alist which maps
11407 the names to styles. Once a posting-style is added to the alist, we can
11408 import it from @code{gnus-posting-styles}. If an attribute whose name
11409 is @code{import} is found, Gnus will look for the attribute value in
11410 @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} and expand it in place.
11415 (setq gnus-named-posting-styles
11417 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11419 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11420 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11423 (organization "The Church of Emacs"))))
11426 The posting-style named "Emacs" will inherit all the attributes from
11427 "Default" except @code{organization}.
11434 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
11435 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
11436 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
11437 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
11438 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
11440 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
11441 some sort using the gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
11442 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
11443 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
11444 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
11448 @vindex nndraft-directory
11449 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
11450 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
11451 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
11452 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
11453 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
11454 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
11456 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
11457 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
11460 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
11461 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
11462 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
11463 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
11464 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
11465 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
11466 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
11467 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
11468 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
11469 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
11470 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
11471 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
11472 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
11473 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
11475 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
11476 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
11477 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
11479 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
11480 @kindex D e (Draft)
11481 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
11482 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
11483 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
11485 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
11488 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
11489 @kindex D s (Draft)
11490 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
11491 @kindex D S (Draft)
11492 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
11493 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
11494 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
11495 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
11496 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
11499 @findex gnus-draft-toggle-sending
11500 @kindex D t (Draft)
11501 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
11502 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
11503 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
11506 @node Rejected Articles
11507 @section Rejected Articles
11508 @cindex rejected articles
11510 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
11511 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
11512 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
11513 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
11515 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of gnus.
11516 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
11517 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
11518 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So gnus saves these
11519 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
11521 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
11522 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
11523 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
11525 @node Signing and encrypting
11526 @section Signing and encrypting
11528 @cindex using s/mime
11529 @cindex using smime
11531 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla PGP
11532 format or @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}. For decoding such messages,
11533 see the @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} options
11534 (@pxref{Security}).
11536 @vindex gnus-message-replysign
11537 @vindex gnus-message-replyencrypt
11538 @vindex gnus-message-replysignencrypted
11539 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
11540 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
11541 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
11542 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
11543 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
11544 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
11545 automatically encrypted messages.
11547 Instructing MML to perform security operations on a @sc{mime} part is
11548 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c
11549 C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
11554 @kindex C-c C-m s s
11555 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
11557 Digitally sign current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11560 @kindex C-c C-m s o
11561 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11563 Digitally sign current message using PGP.
11566 @kindex C-c C-m s p
11567 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11569 Digitally sign current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11572 @kindex C-c C-m c s
11573 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
11575 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11578 @kindex C-c C-m c o
11579 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
11581 Digitally encrypt current message using PGP.
11584 @kindex C-c C-m c p
11585 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
11587 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11590 @kindex C-c C-m C-n
11591 @findex mml-unsecure-message
11592 Remove security related MML tags from message.
11596 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
11598 @node Select Methods
11599 @chapter Select Methods
11600 @cindex foreign groups
11601 @cindex select methods
11603 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
11604 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
11605 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
11606 personal mail group.
11608 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
11609 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
11610 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
11611 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
11612 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
11613 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
11615 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
11616 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
11618 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
11621 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
11622 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
11623 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
11624 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
11625 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
11627 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
11630 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
11631 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
11632 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
11633 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
11634 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
11635 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
11636 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
11637 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
11641 @node Server Buffer
11642 @section Server Buffer
11644 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
11645 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
11646 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
11647 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
11648 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
11649 back end represents a virtual server.
11651 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
11652 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
11653 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
11654 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
11656 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
11657 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
11658 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
11659 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
11660 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
11661 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
11662 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
11664 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
11665 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
11668 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
11669 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
11670 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
11671 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
11672 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
11673 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
11674 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
11677 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
11678 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
11681 @node Server Buffer Format
11682 @subsection Server Buffer Format
11683 @cindex server buffer format
11685 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
11686 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
11687 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
11688 variable, with some simple extensions:
11693 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
11696 The name of this server.
11699 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
11702 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
11705 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
11706 The mode line can also be customized by using the
11707 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
11708 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
11718 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
11721 @node Server Commands
11722 @subsection Server Commands
11723 @cindex server commands
11729 @findex gnus-server-add-server
11730 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
11734 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
11735 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
11738 @kindex SPACE (Server)
11739 @findex gnus-server-read-server
11740 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
11744 @findex gnus-server-exit
11745 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
11749 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
11750 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
11754 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
11755 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
11759 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
11760 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
11764 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
11765 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
11769 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
11770 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
11771 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
11776 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
11777 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
11778 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
11779 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
11784 @node Example Methods
11785 @subsection Example Methods
11787 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
11790 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
11793 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
11799 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
11800 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
11803 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
11804 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
11806 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
11807 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
11811 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
11814 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
11815 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
11817 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
11818 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
11819 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
11823 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
11826 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
11829 Here's the method for a public spool:
11833 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
11834 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
11840 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
11841 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
11842 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
11843 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
11844 should probably look something like this:
11848 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
11849 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
11850 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
11851 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11854 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
11855 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
11856 configuration to the example above:
11859 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
11862 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}.
11864 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
11865 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
11866 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
11870 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
11871 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
11872 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
11873 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11876 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
11877 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
11878 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
11879 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
11882 @node Creating a Virtual Server
11883 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
11885 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
11886 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
11888 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
11889 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
11890 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
11892 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
11894 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
11895 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
11896 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
11897 will contain the following:
11907 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
11908 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
11909 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
11912 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
11913 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
11914 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
11917 @node Server Variables
11918 @subsection Server Variables
11920 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
11921 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
11922 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
11923 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
11924 won't change the "derived" variables.
11926 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
11927 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
11928 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
11929 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
11930 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
11931 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
11932 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
11933 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
11934 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
11938 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
11939 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
11940 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
11944 @node Servers and Methods
11945 @subsection Servers and Methods
11947 Wherever you would normally use a select method
11948 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
11949 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
11950 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
11954 @node Unavailable Servers
11955 @subsection Unavailable Servers
11957 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
11958 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
11959 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
11960 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
11961 actually the case or not.
11963 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
11964 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
11965 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
11966 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
11967 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
11968 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
11969 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
11970 it will regard that server as ``down''.
11972 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
11973 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
11975 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
11976 with the following commands:
11982 @findex gnus-server-open-server
11983 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
11984 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
11988 @findex gnus-server-close-server
11989 Close the connection (if any) to the server
11990 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
11994 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
11995 Mark the current server as unreachable
11996 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
11999 @kindex M-o (Server)
12000 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
12001 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
12002 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
12005 @kindex M-c (Server)
12006 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
12007 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
12008 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
12012 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
12013 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
12014 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
12018 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
12019 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
12025 @section Getting News
12026 @cindex reading news
12027 @cindex news back ends
12029 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
12030 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
12031 or it can read from a local spool.
12034 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
12035 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
12043 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
12044 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
12045 server as the, uhm, address.
12047 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
12048 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
12049 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
12050 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12052 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
12053 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
12054 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
12056 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
12061 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
12062 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
12063 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
12065 @cindex authentification
12066 @cindex nntp authentification
12067 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12068 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
12069 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
12070 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
12071 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
12072 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
12073 present in this hook.
12075 @item nntp-authinfo-function
12076 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
12077 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12078 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
12079 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
12080 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
12081 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
12082 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
12083 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
12084 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
12085 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
12086 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
12090 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
12093 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
12095 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
12096 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
12097 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
12098 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
12099 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
12100 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
12101 @samp{force} is explained below.
12105 Here's an example file:
12108 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
12109 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
12112 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
12113 have to be first, for instance.
12115 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
12116 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
12117 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
12118 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
12119 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
12120 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
12121 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
12123 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
12124 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
12130 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
12131 previously mentioned.
12133 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
12135 @item nntp-server-action-alist
12136 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
12137 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
12138 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
12139 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
12142 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
12143 '(("innd" (ding))))
12146 You probably don't want to do that, though.
12148 The default value is
12151 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
12152 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
12153 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
12156 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
12157 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
12159 @item nntp-maximum-request
12160 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
12161 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this back end
12162 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
12163 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
12164 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
12165 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
12166 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
12168 @item nntp-connection-timeout
12169 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
12170 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
12171 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
12172 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
12173 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
12174 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
12175 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
12176 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
12177 no timeouts are done.
12179 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
12180 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
12181 @c @cindex PPP connections
12182 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
12183 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
12184 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
12185 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
12186 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
12187 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
12188 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
12189 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
12190 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
12191 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
12193 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
12194 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
12195 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
12196 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
12197 @c described above.
12199 @item nntp-server-hook
12200 @vindex nntp-server-hook
12201 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
12204 @item nntp-buggy-select
12205 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
12206 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
12208 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
12209 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
12210 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
12211 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
12214 @item nntp-xover-commands
12215 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
12218 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
12219 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
12223 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
12224 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
12225 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
12226 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
12227 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
12228 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
12229 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
12230 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
12231 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
12232 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
12233 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
12235 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
12236 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
12237 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
12239 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12240 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12241 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
12242 server closes connection.
12244 @item nntp-record-commands
12245 @vindex nntp-record-commands
12246 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
12247 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
12248 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
12249 that doesn't seem to work.
12251 @item nntp-open-connection-function
12252 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
12253 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
12254 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
12255 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
12256 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
12257 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
12258 indirect ones (two pre-made).
12260 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
12261 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
12262 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
12263 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
12264 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
12265 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
12266 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
12269 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
12272 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
12273 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
12275 @item nntp-read-timeout
12276 @vindex nntp-read-timeout
12277 How long nntp should wait between checking for the end of output.
12278 Shorter values mean quicker response, but is more CPU intensive. The
12279 default is 0.1 seconds. If you have a slow line to the server (and
12280 don't like to see Emacs eat your available CPU power), you might set
12283 @item nntp-list-options
12284 @vindex nntp-list-options
12285 List of newsgroup name used for a option of the LIST command to restrict
12286 the listing output to only the specified newsgroups. Each newsgroup name
12287 can be a shell-style wildcard, for instance, @dfn{fj.*}, @dfn{japan.*},
12288 etc. Fortunately, if the server can accept such a option, it will
12289 probably make gnus run faster. You may use it as a server variable as
12293 (setq gnus-select-method
12294 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12295 (nntp-list-options ("fj.*" "japan.*"))))
12298 @item nntp-options-subscribe
12299 @vindex nntp-options-subscribe
12300 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will be subscribed
12301 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12302 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12303 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12304 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12307 (setq gnus-select-method
12308 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12309 (nntp-options-subscribe "^fj\\.\\|^japan\\.")))
12312 @item nntp-options-not-subscribe
12313 @vindex nntp-options-not-subscribe
12314 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will not be subscribed
12315 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12316 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12317 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12318 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12321 (setq gnus-select-method
12322 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12323 (nntp-options-not-subscribe "\\.binaries\\.")))
12328 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
12329 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
12330 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
12334 @node Direct Functions
12335 @subsubsection Direct Functions
12336 @cindex direct connection functions
12338 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
12339 between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server. The behavior of these
12340 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
12341 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12344 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
12345 @item nntp-open-network-stream
12346 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
12349 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
12350 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
12351 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12352 this you must have OpenSSL (@uref{http://www.openssl.org}) or SSLeay
12353 installed (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also
12354 need @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distribution, for instance). You then
12355 define a server as follows:
12358 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
12360 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
12361 ;; however, openssl s_client -port doesn't like named ports
12363 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12364 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
12365 (nntp-port-number 563)
12366 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12369 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
12370 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
12371 Opens a connection to an @sc{nntp} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
12372 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
12373 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
12374 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
12375 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
12376 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
12380 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12381 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
12382 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
12385 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
12386 session, which is not a good idea.
12390 @node Indirect Functions
12391 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
12392 @cindex indirect connection functions
12394 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
12395 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @sc{nntp} server.
12396 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
12397 the "via" family of connection: they're all prefixed with "via" to make
12398 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
12399 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12402 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12403 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12404 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
12405 to the real @sc{nntp} server from there. This is useful for instance if
12406 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
12408 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12411 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
12412 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
12413 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
12414 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
12416 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12417 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12418 List of strings to be used as the switches to
12419 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
12420 @samp{ssh} for @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}, you may set this to
12421 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
12422 this to @samp{("-t")} or @samp{("-C" "-t")} if the telnet command
12423 requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate host.
12426 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12427 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12428 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
12429 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
12431 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12434 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
12435 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
12436 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
12439 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
12440 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
12441 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
12442 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
12444 @item nntp-via-user-password
12445 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
12446 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
12448 @item nntp-via-envuser
12449 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
12450 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
12451 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
12452 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
12454 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
12455 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
12456 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
12457 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
12464 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
12469 @item nntp-via-user-name
12470 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
12471 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
12473 @item nntp-via-address
12474 @vindex nntp-via-address
12475 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
12480 @node Common Variables
12481 @subsubsection Common Variables
12483 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
12484 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
12489 @item nntp-pre-command
12490 @vindex nntp-pre-command
12491 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native connection
12492 function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream} and
12493 @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is where you would put a @samp{SOCKS}
12494 wrapper for instance.
12497 @vindex nntp-address
12498 The address of the @sc{nntp} server.
12500 @item nntp-port-number
12501 @vindex nntp-port-number
12502 Port number to connect to the @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{nntp}.
12503 If you use @sc{nntp} over @sc{ssl}, you may want to use integer ports rather
12504 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews}), because
12505 external SSL tools may not work with named ports.
12507 @item nntp-end-of-line
12508 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
12509 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
12510 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
12511 using a non native connection function.
12513 @item nntp-telnet-command
12514 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
12515 Command to use when connecting to the @sc{nntp} server through
12516 @samp{telnet}. This is NOT for an intermediate host. This is just for
12517 the real @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{telnet}.
12519 @item nntp-telnet-switches
12520 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
12521 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
12528 @subsection News Spool
12532 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
12533 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
12534 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
12537 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
12538 anything else) as the address.
12540 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
12541 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
12542 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
12543 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
12547 @item nnspool-inews-program
12548 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
12549 Program used to post an article.
12551 @item nnspool-inews-switches
12552 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
12553 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
12555 @item nnspool-spool-directory
12556 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
12557 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
12558 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
12560 @item nnspool-nov-directory
12561 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
12562 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
12563 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
12565 @item nnspool-lib-dir
12566 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
12567 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
12569 @item nnspool-active-file
12570 @vindex nnspool-active-file
12571 The name of the active file.
12573 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
12574 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
12575 The name of the group descriptions file.
12577 @item nnspool-history-file
12578 @vindex nnspool-history-file
12579 The name of the news history file.
12581 @item nnspool-active-times-file
12582 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
12583 The name of the active date file.
12585 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
12586 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
12587 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
12590 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12591 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12593 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
12594 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
12595 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
12601 @section Getting Mail
12602 @cindex reading mail
12605 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
12609 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
12610 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
12611 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
12612 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
12613 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
12614 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
12615 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
12616 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
12617 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
12618 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
12619 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
12620 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
12621 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
12625 @node Mail in a Newsreader
12626 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
12628 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
12629 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
12630 of a culture shock.
12632 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
12633 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
12635 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
12636 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
12637 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
12638 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
12640 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
12642 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
12643 deleted? How awful!
12645 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
12646 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
12647 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
12648 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
12651 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
12652 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
12653 they want to treat a message.
12655 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
12656 via @sc{smtp}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
12657 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
12658 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
12659 archived somewhere else.
12661 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
12662 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
12663 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
12664 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
12665 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
12667 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
12668 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
12669 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
12671 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
12672 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
12675 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
12676 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
12677 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
12678 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
12679 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
12681 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
12682 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
12683 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
12684 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
12685 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
12686 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
12690 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
12691 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
12693 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
12694 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
12695 and things will happen automatically.
12697 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
12698 mail" back end), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
12701 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
12704 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
12705 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
12706 directory, which is @file{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
12707 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
12708 like any other group.
12710 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
12713 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12714 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12715 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12719 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
12720 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
12721 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
12724 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
12725 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
12726 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
12729 @node Splitting Mail
12730 @subsection Splitting Mail
12731 @cindex splitting mail
12732 @cindex mail splitting
12734 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
12735 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
12736 to be split into groups.
12739 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12740 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12741 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12742 ("mail.other" "")))
12745 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
12746 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
12747 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
12748 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
12749 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
12750 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
12751 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
12754 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
12757 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
12758 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
12759 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
12760 mail belongs in that group.
12762 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
12763 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
12764 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
12765 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
12766 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
12767 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
12769 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
12770 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
12771 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
12772 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
12773 thinks should carry this mail message.
12775 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
12776 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
12777 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
12778 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
12780 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
12781 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
12782 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
12783 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
12784 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
12786 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
12789 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
12790 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
12791 links. If that's the case for you, set
12792 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
12793 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
12795 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
12796 @kindex nnmail-split-history
12797 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
12798 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
12799 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
12800 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
12803 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
12804 Header lines longer than the value of
12805 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
12808 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
12809 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
12810 By default the splitting codes MIME decodes headers so you can match
12811 on non-ASCII strings. The @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset}
12812 variable specifies the default charset for decoding. The behaviour
12813 can be turned off completely by binding
12814 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} to nil, which is useful if you
12815 want to match articles based on the raw header data.
12817 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
12818 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If
12819 you specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable
12820 @code{mail-sources} @pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}, however, then
12821 splitting does @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
12822 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-nil value to make splitting
12823 happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on other kinds
12826 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
12827 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
12828 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
12829 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
12830 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
12831 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
12832 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
12833 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
12834 month's rent money.
12838 @subsection Mail Sources
12840 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
12841 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
12845 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
12846 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
12847 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
12851 @node Mail Source Specifiers
12852 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
12854 @cindex mail server
12857 @cindex mail source
12859 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
12860 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
12865 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
12868 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
12869 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
12870 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
12873 The following mail source types are available:
12877 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
12883 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
12884 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
12885 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
12888 An example file mail source:
12891 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
12894 Or using the default file name:
12900 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
12901 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
12902 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
12905 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
12909 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
12912 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
12916 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
12919 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
12921 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
12924 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
12928 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
12929 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
12930 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files. That is,
12931 there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that directory and
12932 groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool} will be put in
12933 the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix to be used instead
12934 of @code{.spool}.) Setting
12935 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil forces Gnus to
12936 scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful if you want
12937 to scan mail groups at a specified level.
12939 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
12940 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
12941 that to a non-nil value, then the normal splitting process is applied
12942 to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
12948 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
12952 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
12956 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
12957 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
12958 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
12959 predicate are considered.
12963 Script run before/after fetching mail.
12967 An example directory mail source:
12970 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
12975 Get mail from a POP server.
12981 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
12982 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
12985 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
12986 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
12987 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
12988 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
12989 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
12992 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
12996 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
13000 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
13001 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
13004 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
13007 The valid format specifier characters are:
13011 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
13012 included in this string.
13015 The name of the server.
13018 The port number of the server.
13021 The user name to use.
13024 The password to use.
13027 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13028 corresponding keywords.
13031 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13032 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13035 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13036 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13039 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
13040 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
13043 @item :authentication
13044 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
13045 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
13049 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this can be the symbol
13050 @code{ssl}, the symbol @code{tls} or others. The default is @code{nil}
13051 and use insecure connections. Note that for SSL/TLS, you need external
13052 programs and libraries:
13056 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL@. Requires OpenSSL (the program
13057 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
13058 library @samp{ssl.el}.
13060 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to SSL)@.
13061 Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
13066 Non-@code{nil} if mail is to be left on the server and UIDL used for
13067 message retrieval. The default is @code{nil}.
13071 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
13072 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
13074 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
13075 default user name, and default fetcher:
13081 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
13084 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
13085 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
13088 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
13091 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
13095 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
13096 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
13097 contains exactly one mail.
13103 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
13104 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
13107 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
13108 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
13110 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
13111 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
13112 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
13115 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
13116 from locking problems).
13120 Two example maildir mail sources:
13123 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
13124 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
13128 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
13133 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
13134 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
13135 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
13136 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
13139 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, SSL/TLS and STARTTLS support you
13140 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
13146 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
13147 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13150 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
13151 @samp{993} for SSL/TLS connections.
13154 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
13158 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
13162 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
13163 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
13164 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{ssl},
13165 @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
13167 @item :authentication
13168 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
13169 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
13170 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
13171 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
13174 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
13175 mapped into the @code{imap-shell-program} variable. This should be a
13176 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
13182 The valid format specifier characters are:
13186 The name of the server.
13189 User name from @code{imap-default-user}.
13192 The port number of the server.
13195 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13196 corresponding keywords.
13199 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
13200 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
13203 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
13204 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
13205 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
13206 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
13207 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
13208 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
13211 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
13212 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
13213 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
13214 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
13217 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
13218 after finishing the fetch.
13222 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
13225 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
13227 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
13231 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{www.hotmail.com},
13232 @uref{webmail.netscape.com}, @uref{www.netaddress.com},
13233 @uref{mail.yahoo..com}.
13235 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
13236 required for url "4.0pre.46".
13238 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
13244 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
13245 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
13248 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
13252 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
13256 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
13257 folder after finishing the fetch.
13261 An example webmail source:
13264 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
13266 :password "secret")
13271 @item Common Keywords
13272 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
13278 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
13279 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
13283 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
13288 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
13289 useful when you use local mail and news.
13294 @subsubsection Function Interface
13296 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
13297 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
13298 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
13299 consider the following mail-source setting:
13302 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
13303 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
13306 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
13307 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
13308 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
13309 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
13310 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
13312 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
13315 @node Mail Source Customization
13316 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
13318 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
13319 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
13323 @item mail-source-crash-box
13324 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
13325 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
13326 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
13328 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
13329 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
13330 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
13332 @item mail-source-ignore-errors
13333 @vindex mail-source-ignore-errors
13334 If non-@code{nil}, ignore errors when reading mail from a mail source.
13336 @item mail-source-directory
13337 @vindex mail-source-directory
13338 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
13339 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
13340 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
13343 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13344 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13345 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
13346 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
13347 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
13348 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
13350 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
13351 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
13352 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
13354 @item mail-source-movemail-program
13355 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
13356 If non-nil, name of program for fetching new mail. If nil,
13357 @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
13362 @node Fetching Mail
13363 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
13365 @vindex mail-sources
13366 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
13367 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
13368 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
13369 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
13371 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
13372 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
13375 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
13376 mail server, you'd say something like:
13381 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13382 :password "secret")))
13385 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
13389 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
13390 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13393 :password "secret")))
13397 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
13398 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
13399 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
13400 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
13401 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
13402 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
13406 @node Mail Back End Variables
13407 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
13409 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
13413 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13414 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13415 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
13416 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
13418 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
13419 @item nnmail-split-hook
13420 @findex gnus-article-decode-encoded-words
13421 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
13422 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
13423 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
13424 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
13425 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
13426 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
13427 in the buffer will show up in any files.
13428 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
13431 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13432 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13433 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13434 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13435 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
13436 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
13437 starting to handle the new mail) and
13438 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
13439 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
13440 default file modes the new mail files get:
13443 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13444 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
13446 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13447 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
13450 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
13451 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
13452 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
13453 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
13454 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
13455 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
13456 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
13458 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
13459 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
13460 @findex delete-file
13461 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
13463 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13464 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13465 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
13466 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
13467 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
13469 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13470 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13471 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
13472 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
13473 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
13475 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
13476 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
13477 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
13482 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
13483 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
13484 @cindex mail splitting
13485 @cindex fancy mail splitting
13487 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
13488 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
13489 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
13490 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
13491 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
13492 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
13494 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
13497 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
13498 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
13499 ;; from real errors.
13500 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
13502 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
13503 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
13504 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
13505 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
13506 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
13507 ;; Other mailing lists...
13508 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
13509 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
13510 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
13511 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
13512 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
13513 ;; message was really cross-posted.
13514 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
13515 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
13517 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
13518 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
13522 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
13523 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
13524 the five possible split syntaxes:
13529 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
13530 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
13534 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
13535 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
13536 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
13537 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
13538 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
13539 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
13540 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
13541 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
13544 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13545 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
13546 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
13547 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
13550 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13551 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
13554 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
13555 (i.e., delete) this message. Use with extreme caution.
13558 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
13559 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
13560 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
13561 function should return a @var{split}.
13564 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
13565 body of the messages:
13568 (defun split-on-body ()
13570 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
13571 (goto-char (point-min))
13572 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
13576 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
13577 when the @code{:} function is run.
13580 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13581 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
13582 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
13586 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
13590 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
13591 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
13592 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
13593 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
13594 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
13596 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
13597 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
13598 are expanded as specified by the variable
13599 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
13600 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
13603 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
13604 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
13605 when all this splitting is performed.
13607 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
13608 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
13609 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
13612 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
13615 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
13616 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
13618 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
13619 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
13620 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
13621 groupings 1 through 9.
13623 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
13624 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
13625 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
13626 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
13627 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
13628 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
13629 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
13630 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
13631 it once per thread.
13633 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} and
13634 @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-nil value. And then
13635 you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon
13638 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; or 'delete
13639 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
13641 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
13642 ;; other splits go here
13646 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
13647 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
13648 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
13649 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
13650 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
13651 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
13652 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
13653 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
13654 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name
13655 unless the group name matches the regexp
13656 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is recommended
13657 that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a somewhat higher
13658 number than the default so that the message ids are still in the cache.
13659 (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300 kBytes in size.)
13660 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13661 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
13662 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
13663 messages goes into the new group.
13665 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
13666 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
13667 outgoing messages are written to an `outgoing' group, you could set
13668 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
13669 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
13673 @node Group Mail Splitting
13674 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
13675 @cindex mail splitting
13676 @cindex group mail splitting
13678 @findex gnus-group-split
13679 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
13680 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
13681 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
13682 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
13683 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
13684 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
13685 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
13686 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
13688 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
13689 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
13690 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
13691 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
13693 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
13694 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
13695 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
13696 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
13697 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
13698 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
13699 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
13701 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
13702 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
13703 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
13704 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
13705 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
13706 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
13707 @code{gnus-group-split}.
13709 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
13710 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
13711 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
13712 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
13713 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
13714 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
13715 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
13716 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
13717 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
13718 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
13719 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
13720 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
13721 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
13723 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
13728 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
13729 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
13731 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
13732 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
13733 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
13734 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
13736 ((split-spec . catch-all))
13739 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
13740 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
13741 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
13744 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
13745 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
13746 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
13750 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
13751 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
13752 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
13756 (: gnus-group-split-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
13759 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
13760 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
13761 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
13762 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
13763 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
13764 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
13765 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
13766 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
13767 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
13769 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
13770 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
13771 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
13772 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
13773 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
13774 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
13775 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
13776 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
13777 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
13779 @findex gnus-group-split-update
13780 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
13781 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
13782 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
13783 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
13784 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus.el}:
13787 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
13790 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
13791 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
13792 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
13793 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
13794 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
13797 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
13798 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
13799 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
13800 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
13802 @node Incorporating Old Mail
13803 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
13804 @cindex incorporating old mail
13805 @cindex import old mail
13807 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
13808 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
13809 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
13812 Doing so can be quite easy.
13814 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
13815 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
13816 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
13817 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
13818 your @code{nnml} groups.
13824 Go to the group buffer.
13827 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
13828 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13831 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
13834 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
13835 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
13838 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
13839 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
13842 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
13843 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
13844 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
13845 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
13846 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
13848 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
13849 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
13850 using the new mail back end.
13853 @node Expiring Mail
13854 @subsection Expiring Mail
13855 @cindex article expiry
13857 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
13858 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
13859 different approach to mail reading.
13861 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
13862 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
13863 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
13864 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
13865 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
13866 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
13869 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
13870 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default keybindings, this means
13871 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
13872 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
13873 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
13874 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
13875 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
13876 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
13877 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
13879 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
13880 two features, called `auto-expire' and `total-expire', that can help you
13881 with this. In a nutshell, `auto-expire' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
13882 for you when you select an article. And `total-expire' means that Gnus
13883 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
13884 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
13885 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
13888 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
13889 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
13890 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
13891 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
13892 into its own group.)
13894 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
13895 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
13896 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
13897 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
13898 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
13899 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
13900 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring @pxref{Adaptive
13901 Scoring}. Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
13904 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13905 Groups that match the regular expression
13906 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
13907 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
13908 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
13910 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
13911 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
13912 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
13913 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
13914 @file{.gnus.el} file:
13916 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
13918 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
13919 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
13920 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
13923 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
13924 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
13925 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
13926 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
13927 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
13929 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
13930 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
13933 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13934 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
13937 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
13938 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
13940 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
13941 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
13942 don't really mix very well.
13944 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
13945 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
13946 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
13947 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
13950 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
13951 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
13952 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
13953 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
13956 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13958 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13960 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
13962 ((string= group "mail.junk")
13964 ((string= group "important")
13970 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
13971 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
13973 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
13974 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
13975 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
13978 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
13979 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
13981 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
13982 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
13983 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
13984 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
13985 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
13986 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
13987 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
13988 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
13989 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
13990 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
13991 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
13992 from as its parameter) which should return a target -- either a group
13993 name or @code{delete}.
13995 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
13997 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
14000 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14001 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14002 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
14003 expire mail to groups according to the variable
14004 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
14007 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14008 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14009 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
14010 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
14011 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
14014 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
14015 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
14016 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
14017 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
14018 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
14019 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
14021 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
14022 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
14023 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
14024 easier for procmail users.
14026 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
14027 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
14028 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
14029 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
14030 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
14031 caution. Even more dangerous is the
14032 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
14033 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
14034 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
14035 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
14036 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
14037 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
14038 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
14041 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
14043 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
14044 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
14045 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
14046 auto-expire turned on.
14050 @subsection Washing Mail
14051 @cindex mail washing
14052 @cindex list server brain damage
14053 @cindex incoming mail treatment
14055 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
14056 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
14057 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
14058 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
14059 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
14060 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
14062 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
14063 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
14064 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
14067 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
14068 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
14069 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
14070 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
14073 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14074 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14075 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
14076 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
14077 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
14080 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14081 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14082 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
14083 Emacs running on MS machines.
14087 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14088 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14089 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
14090 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
14093 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14094 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14095 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
14096 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
14098 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
14099 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
14100 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
14101 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
14102 into a feature by documenting it.)
14104 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14105 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14106 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
14107 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
14108 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
14109 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
14110 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
14113 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
14114 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
14117 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
14118 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
14121 This can also be done non-destructively with
14122 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
14124 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
14125 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
14126 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
14128 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14129 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14131 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
14132 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
14133 @code{References} headers.
14137 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14138 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14139 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
14143 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
14144 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
14145 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
14152 @subsection Duplicates
14154 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
14155 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
14156 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
14157 @cindex duplicate mails
14158 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
14159 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
14160 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
14161 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
14162 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
14163 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
14164 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
14165 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
14166 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
14167 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
14168 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
14169 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
14170 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
14172 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
14173 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
14174 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
14175 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
14177 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
14180 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
14181 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
14185 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
14186 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
14187 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
14188 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
14189 (any mail "mail.misc")
14196 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14197 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
14202 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
14203 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
14204 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
14205 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
14206 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
14209 @node Not Reading Mail
14210 @subsection Not Reading Mail
14212 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
14213 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
14214 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
14216 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
14217 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
14218 mail, which should help.
14220 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14221 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14222 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14223 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14224 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14225 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
14226 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
14227 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
14228 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
14229 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
14230 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
14232 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
14233 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
14237 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
14238 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
14240 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
14241 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
14242 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
14244 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
14245 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
14246 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
14247 Spool}). You might notice that only five back ends are listed below;
14248 @code{nnmaildir}'s documentation has not yet been completely
14249 incorporated into this manual. Until it is, you can find it at
14250 @uref{http://multivac.cwru.edu./nnmaildir/}.
14253 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
14254 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
14255 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
14256 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
14257 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
14258 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
14262 @node Unix Mail Box
14263 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
14265 @cindex unix mail box
14267 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14268 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14269 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
14270 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
14271 which group it belongs in.
14273 Virtual server settings:
14276 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
14277 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14278 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
14281 @item nnmbox-active-file
14282 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14283 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
14284 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
14286 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
14287 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14288 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
14289 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
14294 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
14298 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14299 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14300 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
14301 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
14302 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
14304 Virtual server settings:
14307 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
14308 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14309 The name of the rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
14311 @item nnbabyl-active-file
14312 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14313 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
14314 @file{~/.rmail-active}
14316 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14317 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14318 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
14324 @subsubsection Mail Spool
14326 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
14328 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
14329 format. It should be used with some caution.
14331 @vindex nnml-directory
14332 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
14333 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
14334 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
14335 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
14337 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
14340 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
14341 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
14342 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
14343 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
14344 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
14345 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
14346 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
14347 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
14349 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
14350 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
14351 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
14352 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
14354 @cindex self contained nnml servers
14356 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
14357 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14358 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14359 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
14360 for a group is usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
14361 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
14362 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
14363 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
14366 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
14367 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
14368 them next time it starts.
14370 Virtual server settings:
14373 @item nnml-directory
14374 @vindex nnml-directory
14375 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory. The
14376 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default value
14379 @item nnml-active-file
14380 @vindex nnml-active-file
14381 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
14382 @file{~/Mail/active"}.
14384 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
14385 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
14386 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14387 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}.
14389 @item nnml-get-new-mail
14390 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14391 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
14394 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
14395 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
14396 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14397 default is @code{nil}.
14399 @item nnml-nov-file-name
14400 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
14401 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
14403 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14404 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14405 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
14407 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
14408 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
14409 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14410 default is @code{nil}.
14412 @item nnml-marks-file-name
14413 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
14414 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
14416 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
14417 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
14418 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
14423 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
14424 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
14425 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
14426 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
14427 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
14428 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
14429 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
14434 @subsubsection MH Spool
14436 @cindex mh-e mail spool
14438 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
14439 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks file.
14440 This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than @code{nnml},
14441 but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
14443 Virtual server settings:
14446 @item nnmh-directory
14447 @vindex nnmh-directory
14448 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
14449 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14452 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
14453 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14454 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
14458 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
14459 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
14460 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
14461 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
14462 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
14463 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
14464 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
14469 @subsubsection Mail Folders
14471 @cindex mbox folders
14472 @cindex mail folders
14474 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a separate
14475 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
14476 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
14479 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
14481 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
14482 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14483 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14484 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
14485 Marks for a group is usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
14486 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
14487 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder} directory.
14488 Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to backup, use
14489 @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the
14490 @code{nnfolder} directory).
14492 Virtual server settings:
14495 @item nnfolder-directory
14496 @vindex nnfolder-directory
14497 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
14498 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14501 @item nnfolder-active-file
14502 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
14503 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
14505 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14506 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14507 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14508 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}
14510 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
14511 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14512 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
14515 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14516 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14517 @cindex backup files
14518 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
14519 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
14520 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
14521 your @file{.emacs} file:
14524 (defun turn-off-backup ()
14525 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
14527 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
14530 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14531 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14532 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
14533 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
14534 extract some information from it before removing it.
14536 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14537 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14538 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14539 default is @code{nil}.
14541 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14542 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14543 The extension for @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
14545 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
14546 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
14547 The directory where the @sc{nov} files should be stored. If nil,
14548 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14550 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14551 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14552 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14553 default is @code{nil}.
14555 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14556 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14557 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
14559 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
14560 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
14561 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If nil,
14562 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14567 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
14568 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
14569 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
14570 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
14571 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
14572 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
14575 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
14576 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
14578 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
14579 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
14580 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
14581 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
14582 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
14584 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
14585 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
14586 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
14587 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
14588 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
14589 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
14590 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
14591 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
14594 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
14595 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
14596 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
14597 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
14602 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
14603 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
14604 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
14605 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
14606 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
14607 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
14608 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
14609 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
14610 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
14611 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
14612 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
14613 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
14614 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
14619 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
14620 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
14621 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
14622 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
14623 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
14624 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
14625 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
14626 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
14627 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
14628 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
14629 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
14630 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
14631 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
14632 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
14634 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
14635 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
14640 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
14641 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
14642 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
14643 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
14644 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
14645 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
14646 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
14647 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
14648 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
14649 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
14650 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
14651 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
14652 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
14653 provided by the active file and overviews.
14655 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
14656 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
14657 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
14658 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
14659 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
14662 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
14663 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
14668 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
14669 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
14670 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
14671 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
14672 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
14673 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
14674 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
14678 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
14679 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
14680 itself puts @emph{all} one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
14681 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
14682 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
14683 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
14684 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
14685 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
14686 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
14688 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
14689 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
14690 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
14691 friendly mail back end all over.
14695 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
14696 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
14697 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
14698 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
14699 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
14700 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
14701 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to ReiserFS
14702 (@uref{http://www.namesys.com/}) or another non-block-structured
14705 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
14706 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
14707 This means you can skip Gnus's mail splitting if your mail is already
14708 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
14709 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
14710 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
14711 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
14712 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
14713 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
14714 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will undergo
14715 treatment such as duplicate checking.
14717 An article will not necessarily keep the same number across Gnus
14718 sessions; articles are renumbered starting from 1 for each Gnus session
14719 (more precisely, each time you open the @code{nnmaildir} server). This
14720 way, you don't get gaps in your article number ranges, and when entering
14721 large groups, Gnus is likely to give a more accurate article count. The
14722 price is that @code{nnmaildir} doesn't work with the cache or agent.
14723 This will probably be changed in the future.
14725 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
14726 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
14727 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
14728 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
14729 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
14732 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses group
14733 parameters slightly different from those of other mail back ends.
14735 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
14736 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
14737 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
14738 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
14739 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
14740 would) to make it use less memory.
14742 Startup and shutdown are likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than
14743 with other back ends. Everything in between is likely to be faster,
14744 depending in part on your file system.
14746 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
14747 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
14752 @node Browsing the Web
14753 @section Browsing the Web
14755 @cindex browsing the web
14759 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
14760 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
14761 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
14762 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
14763 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
14764 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
14765 even know what a news group is.
14767 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
14768 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
14769 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
14770 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
14771 you mad in the end.
14773 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
14776 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
14777 interfaces to these sources.
14781 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
14782 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
14783 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
14784 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
14785 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
14786 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
14789 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
14791 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
14792 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
14793 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
14794 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
14795 though, you should be ok.
14797 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
14798 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
14799 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
14800 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
14801 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
14803 @node Archiving Mail
14804 @subsection Archiving Mail
14805 @cindex archiving mail
14806 @cindex backup of mail
14808 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
14809 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
14810 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
14811 marks is fairly simple.
14813 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
14814 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
14817 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
14818 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
14819 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
14820 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
14821 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
14822 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
14823 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
14824 before you restore the data.
14826 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
14827 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
14828 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
14829 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
14830 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
14831 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
14832 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
14833 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
14834 is unnecessary in that case.
14837 @subsection Web Searches
14842 @cindex Usenet searches
14843 @cindex searching the Usenet
14845 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
14846 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
14847 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
14848 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
14849 searches without having to use a browser.
14851 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
14852 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
14853 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
14854 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
14855 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
14857 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
14858 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
14859 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
14860 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
14861 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
14862 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
14863 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
14864 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
14865 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
14866 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
14869 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
14870 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
14871 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
14872 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
14873 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
14874 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
14876 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
14877 to use @code{nnweb}.
14879 Virtual server variables:
14884 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
14885 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
14886 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
14889 @vindex nnweb-search
14890 The search string to feed to the search engine.
14892 @item nnweb-max-hits
14893 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
14894 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
14897 @item nnweb-type-definition
14898 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
14899 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
14900 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
14905 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
14909 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
14912 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
14915 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
14919 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
14926 @subsection Slashdot
14930 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
14931 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
14932 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
14934 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
14935 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
14938 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
14939 '((nnslashdot "")))
14942 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
14943 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
14944 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
14945 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
14946 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
14949 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
14950 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14952 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
14953 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
14954 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
14955 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
14956 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
14957 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
14960 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
14963 @item nnslashdot-threaded
14964 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
14965 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
14966 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
14967 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
14968 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
14969 but much, much slower than unthreaded.
14971 @item nnslashdot-login-name
14972 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
14973 The login name to use when posting.
14975 @item nnslashdot-password
14976 @vindex nnslashdot-password
14977 The password to use when posting.
14979 @item nnslashdot-directory
14980 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
14981 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
14982 @file{~/News/slashdot/}.
14984 @item nnslashdot-active-url
14985 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
14986 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
14987 news articles and comments. The default is
14988 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
14990 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
14991 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
14992 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
14994 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
14996 @item nnslashdot-article-url
14997 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
14998 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
15000 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
15002 @item nnslashdot-threshold
15003 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
15004 The score threshold. The default is -1.
15006 @item nnslashdot-group-number
15007 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
15008 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
15009 updated. The default is 0.
15016 @subsection Ultimate
15018 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
15020 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
15021 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
15022 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
15023 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
15025 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
15026 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
15027 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
15028 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
15029 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
15030 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
15031 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
15033 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
15036 @item nnultimate-directory
15037 @vindex nnultimate-directory
15038 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
15039 @file{~/News/ultimate/}.
15044 @subsection Web Archive
15046 @cindex Web Archive
15048 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
15049 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
15050 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
15051 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15054 @findex gnus-group-make-warchive-group
15055 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
15056 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
15057 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
15058 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
15059 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
15060 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
15061 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
15063 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
15066 @item nnwarchive-directory
15067 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
15068 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
15069 @file{~/News/warchive/}.
15071 @item nnwarchive-login
15072 @vindex nnwarchive-login
15073 The account name on the web server.
15075 @item nnwarchive-passwd
15076 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
15077 The password for your account on the web server.
15085 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
15086 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
15087 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15090 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
15091 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
15094 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
15097 @item nnrss-directory
15098 @vindex nnrss-directory
15099 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
15100 @file{~/News/rss/}.
15104 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
15105 the summary buffer.
15108 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
15109 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
15111 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
15113 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
15114 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
15117 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
15120 (require 'browse-url)
15122 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
15124 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
15127 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
15128 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
15131 (browse-url (cdr url))
15132 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
15133 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
15135 (eval-after-load "gnus"
15136 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
15137 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
15138 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
15141 @node Customizing w3
15142 @subsection Customizing w3
15148 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
15149 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
15150 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
15152 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
15153 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
15154 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
15157 (eval-after-load "w3"
15159 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
15160 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
15161 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
15162 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
15164 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
15167 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
15168 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
15177 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
15178 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
15179 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
15180 specify the network address of the server.
15182 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
15183 POP can, it can hence be viewed as a POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
15184 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
15185 protocol -- however, @sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp}
15186 because news is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
15188 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a POP++, use an imap entry in
15189 @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the
15190 @sc{imap} server and store them on the local disk. This is not the
15191 usage described in this section--@xref{Mail Sources}.
15193 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
15194 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
15195 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
15196 usage explained in this section.
15198 A server configuration in @file{~/.gnus} with a few @sc{imap} servers
15199 might look something like the following. (Note that for SSL/TLS, you
15200 need external programs and libraries, see below.)
15203 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15204 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
15205 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
15207 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15208 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
15209 ; a UW server running on localhost
15211 (nnimap-server-port 143)
15212 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15213 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
15214 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
15215 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
15216 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
15217 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
15218 (nnimap-stream network))
15219 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
15221 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
15222 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
15223 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
15226 After defining the new server, you can subscribe to groups on the
15227 server using normal Gnus commands such as @kbd{U} in the Group Buffer
15228 (@pxref{Subscription Commands}) or via the Server Buffer
15229 (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
15231 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
15236 @item nnimap-address
15237 @vindex nnimap-address
15239 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
15240 server name if not specified.
15242 @item nnimap-server-port
15243 @vindex nnimap-server-port
15244 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
15246 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
15249 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15250 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
15253 @item nnimap-list-pattern
15254 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
15255 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
15256 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
15257 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
15258 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
15259 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
15261 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
15262 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
15263 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
15266 Example server specification:
15269 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15270 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
15271 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
15274 @item nnimap-stream
15275 @vindex nnimap-stream
15276 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
15277 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
15278 of SSL/TLS. (@sc{imap} over SSL/TLS is being replaced by STARTTLS, which
15279 can be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
15281 Example server specification:
15284 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15285 (nnimap-stream ssl))
15288 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
15292 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
15293 @samp{imtest} program.
15295 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
15297 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
15298 SSL). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
15301 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Requires OpenSSL (the program
15302 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
15303 library @samp{ssl.el}.
15305 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
15307 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
15310 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
15311 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
15312 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
15313 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
15314 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
15315 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
15316 restrictions on @sc{imap} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
15317 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
15318 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
15321 @vindex imap-ssl-program
15322 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
15323 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
15324 and nnimap support it too - although the most recent versions of
15325 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
15326 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
15327 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
15328 to OpenSSL/SSLeay. You also need @samp{ssl.el} (from the W3
15329 distribution, for instance).
15331 @vindex imap-shell-program
15332 @vindex imap-shell-host
15333 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
15334 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
15336 @item nnimap-authenticator
15337 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
15339 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
15340 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
15342 Example server specification:
15345 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15346 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
15349 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
15353 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
15354 external program @code{imtest}.
15356 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
15359 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
15360 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
15362 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
15364 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
15366 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your email address as password.
15369 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
15371 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
15372 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
15373 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
15374 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
15375 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
15376 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
15379 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
15380 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
15381 running in circles yet?
15383 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
15384 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
15387 The possible options are:
15392 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
15395 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
15396 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
15397 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
15398 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
15400 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
15405 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
15406 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
15408 If non-nil (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as well),
15409 for other @sc{imap} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
15410 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
15411 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @sc{imap}
15412 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @sc{imap}
15415 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
15416 enable per-user persistant dormant flags, using something like:
15419 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
15420 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15421 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
15422 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15425 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
15426 as ticked for other users.
15428 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
15430 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
15432 This variable contain the @sc{imap} search command sent to server when
15433 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
15434 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
15435 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
15437 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
15438 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
15439 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
15440 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
15442 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
15443 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
15445 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
15446 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
15447 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
15453 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
15454 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
15455 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
15456 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
15457 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
15462 @node Splitting in IMAP
15463 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
15464 @cindex splitting imap mail
15466 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
15467 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
15468 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
15469 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
15470 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
15474 Here are the variables of interest:
15478 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
15479 @cindex splitting, crosspost
15481 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
15483 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
15484 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
15486 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
15488 @item nnimap-split-inbox
15489 @cindex splitting, inbox
15491 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
15493 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
15494 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
15498 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
15499 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
15502 No nnmail equivalent.
15504 @item nnimap-split-rule
15505 @cindex Splitting, rules
15506 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
15508 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
15511 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
15512 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
15513 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
15514 Neither did I, we need examples.
15517 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15519 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
15520 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
15521 ("INBOX.private" "")))
15524 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
15525 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
15526 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
15528 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
15529 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
15533 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
15536 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
15537 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
15539 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
15540 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
15541 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
15542 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
15544 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
15545 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
15546 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
15547 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
15548 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
15549 them every time you fetch new mail.)
15551 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
15552 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
15553 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
15555 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
15556 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
15557 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15559 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
15561 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
15562 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
15563 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
15566 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15567 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
15568 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
15569 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
15570 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
15571 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
15574 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
15575 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
15576 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
15577 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
15578 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
15579 group/function elements.
15581 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
15583 @item nnimap-split-predicate
15585 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
15587 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
15588 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
15590 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
15591 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
15592 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
15595 @item nnimap-split-fancy
15596 @cindex splitting, fancy
15597 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
15598 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
15600 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15601 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
15602 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
15604 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
15605 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15606 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
15607 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15612 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
15613 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
15616 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
15618 @item nnimap-split-download-body
15619 @findex nnimap-split-download-body
15620 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
15622 Set to non-nil to download entire articles during splitting. This is
15623 generally not required, and will slow things down considerably. You
15624 may need it if you want to use an advanced splitting function that
15625 analyses the body to split the article.
15629 @node Expiring in IMAP
15630 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
15631 @cindex expiring imap mail
15633 Even though @code{nnimap} is not a proper @code{nnmail} derived back
15634 end, it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring
15635 Mail}). Unlike splitting in IMAP (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}) it do
15636 not clone the @code{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating
15637 @var{nnimap-expiry-wait}) but reuse the @code{nnmail} variables. What
15638 follows below are the variables used by the @code{nnimap} expiry
15641 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @sc{imap} server is
15642 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
15643 @code{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
15644 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
15645 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
15646 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
15647 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
15648 messages. Most do, fortunately.
15652 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
15653 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
15655 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
15656 number, the symbol @var{immediate} or @var{never}.
15658 @item nnmail-expiry-target
15660 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
15661 @code{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
15662 that if the destination is a IMAP group on the same server, the
15663 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
15667 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
15668 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
15669 @cindex editing imap acls
15670 @cindex Access Control Lists
15671 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
15673 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
15675 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
15676 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
15677 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
15680 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
15681 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
15682 editing window with detailed instructions.
15684 Some possible uses:
15688 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
15689 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
15690 follow the list without subscribing to it.
15692 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
15693 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
15694 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
15698 @node Expunging mailboxes
15699 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
15703 @cindex Manual expunging
15705 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
15707 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
15708 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
15709 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
15711 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
15714 @node A note on namespaces
15715 @subsection A note on namespaces
15716 @cindex IMAP namespace
15719 The IMAP protocol has a concept called namespaces, described by the
15720 following text in the RFC:
15723 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
15725 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
15726 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
15727 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
15728 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
15730 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
15731 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
15732 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
15733 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
15734 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
15735 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
15738 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the IMAP
15739 implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace prefixes in a way
15740 that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
15742 Specifically, University of Washington's IMAP server uses mailbox
15743 names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only in the
15744 @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is created
15745 (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed without
15746 the namespace prefix, i.e @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do not make it
15747 possible for the user to guarantee that user entered mailbox names
15748 will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands, you should
15749 simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in Gnus.
15751 See the UoW @sc{imapd} documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
15752 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
15753 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
15755 @node Other Sources
15756 @section Other Sources
15758 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
15759 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
15763 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
15764 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
15765 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
15766 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
15767 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
15771 @node Directory Groups
15772 @subsection Directory Groups
15774 @cindex directory groups
15776 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
15777 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
15780 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
15781 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
15782 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
15783 back end to read directories. Big deal.
15785 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
15786 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
15787 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
15788 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
15789 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
15791 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
15793 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
15794 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
15795 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
15796 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
15799 @node Anything Groups
15800 @subsection Anything Groups
15803 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
15804 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
15805 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
15808 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
15809 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
15810 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
15811 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
15812 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
15813 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
15814 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
15815 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
15816 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
15817 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
15820 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
15821 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
15822 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
15823 in the article buffer, just as usual.
15825 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
15826 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
15827 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
15828 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
15830 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
15831 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
15832 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
15833 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
15834 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
15835 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
15836 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
15837 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
15842 @item nneething-map-file-directory
15843 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
15844 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
15845 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
15847 @item nneething-exclude-files
15848 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
15849 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
15850 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
15852 @item nneething-include-files
15853 @vindex nneething-include-files
15854 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
15855 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
15857 @item nneething-map-file
15858 @vindex nneething-map-file
15859 Name of the map files.
15863 @node Document Groups
15864 @subsection Document Groups
15866 @cindex documentation group
15869 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
15870 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
15877 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
15882 The standard Unix mbox file.
15884 @cindex MMDF mail box
15886 The MMDF mail box format.
15889 Several news articles appended into a file.
15892 @cindex rnews batch files
15893 The rnews batch transport format.
15894 @cindex forwarded messages
15897 Forwarded articles.
15900 Netscape mail boxes.
15903 @sc{mime} multipart messages.
15905 @item standard-digest
15906 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
15909 A @sc{mime} digest of messages.
15911 @item lanl-gov-announce
15912 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
15914 @item rfc822-forward
15915 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
15918 The Outlook mail box.
15921 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
15924 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
15927 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
15930 An RFC934-forwarded message.
15936 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
15939 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
15945 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
15946 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
15947 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
15950 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
15951 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
15952 group. And that's it.
15954 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
15955 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
15956 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
15957 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
15958 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
15959 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
15960 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
15961 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
15962 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
15963 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
15965 Virtual server variables:
15968 @item nndoc-article-type
15969 @vindex nndoc-article-type
15970 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
15971 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
15972 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
15973 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
15974 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
15976 @item nndoc-post-type
15977 @vindex nndoc-post-type
15978 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
15979 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
15984 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
15988 @node Document Server Internals
15989 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
15991 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
15992 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
15993 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
15994 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
15996 First, here's an example document type definition:
16000 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
16001 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
16004 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
16005 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
16006 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
16007 types can be defined with very few settings:
16010 @item first-article
16011 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
16012 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
16015 @item article-begin
16016 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
16017 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
16019 @item head-begin-function
16020 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
16023 @item nndoc-head-begin
16024 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
16027 @item nndoc-head-end
16028 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
16029 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
16031 @item body-begin-function
16032 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
16036 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
16039 @item body-end-function
16040 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
16044 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
16047 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
16048 regexp will be totally ignored.
16052 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
16053 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
16054 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
16055 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
16056 something that's palatable for Gnus:
16059 @item prepare-body-function
16060 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
16061 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
16062 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
16064 @item article-transform-function
16065 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
16066 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
16067 body of the article.
16069 @item generate-head-function
16070 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
16071 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
16072 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
16073 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
16077 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
16082 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16083 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16084 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
16085 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
16086 (head-end . "^ ?$")
16087 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
16088 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
16089 (subtype digest guess))
16092 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
16093 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
16094 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
16095 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
16096 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
16098 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
16099 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
16100 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
16101 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
16102 traversed sequentially, and @code{nndoc-TYPE-type-p} is called for a given type @code{TYPE}. So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document
16103 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
16104 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
16105 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
16106 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
16107 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
16115 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
16116 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
16117 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
16119 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
16120 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
16121 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
16124 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
16125 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
16126 that interested in doing things properly.
16128 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
16129 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
16132 First some terminology:
16137 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
16138 get news and/or mail from.
16141 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
16142 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
16145 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
16149 @item message packets
16150 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
16151 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
16152 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16154 @item response packets
16155 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
16156 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
16157 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16167 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
16168 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
16169 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
16170 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
16173 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
16176 You put the packet in your home directory.
16179 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
16180 the native or secondary server.
16183 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
16184 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
16187 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
16191 You transfer this packet to the server.
16194 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
16197 You then repeat until you die.
16201 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
16202 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
16205 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
16206 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
16207 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
16211 @node SOUP Commands
16212 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
16214 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
16218 @kindex G s b (Group)
16219 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
16220 Pack all unread articles in the current group
16221 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
16222 process/prefix convention.
16225 @kindex G s w (Group)
16226 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
16227 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
16230 @kindex G s s (Group)
16231 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
16232 Send all replies from the replies packet
16233 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
16236 @kindex G s p (Group)
16237 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
16238 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
16241 @kindex G s r (Group)
16242 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
16243 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
16246 @kindex O s (Summary)
16247 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
16248 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
16249 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
16250 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16255 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
16260 @item gnus-soup-directory
16261 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
16262 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
16263 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
16265 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
16266 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
16267 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
16268 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
16270 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
16271 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
16272 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
16273 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
16275 @item gnus-soup-packer
16276 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
16277 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16278 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
16280 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
16281 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
16282 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16283 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16285 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
16286 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
16287 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
16289 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16290 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16291 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
16292 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
16298 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
16301 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
16302 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
16303 you can read them at leisure.
16305 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
16309 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
16310 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
16311 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
16312 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
16314 @item nnsoup-directory
16315 @vindex nnsoup-directory
16316 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
16317 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
16319 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
16320 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
16321 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
16322 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
16324 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
16325 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
16326 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
16327 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
16328 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
16330 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
16331 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
16332 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
16333 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
16335 @item nnsoup-active-file
16336 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
16337 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
16338 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
16339 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
16340 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
16342 @item nnsoup-packer
16343 @vindex nnsoup-packer
16344 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
16345 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
16347 @item nnsoup-unpacker
16348 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
16349 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
16350 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16352 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
16353 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
16354 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
16357 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
16358 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
16359 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
16362 @item nnsoup-always-save
16363 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
16364 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
16370 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
16372 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
16373 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
16374 more for that to happen.
16376 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
16377 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
16378 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
16381 In specific, this is what it does:
16384 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
16385 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
16388 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
16389 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
16390 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
16393 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
16394 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
16395 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
16398 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
16399 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
16400 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
16402 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
16408 @item nngateway-address
16409 @vindex nngateway-address
16410 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
16412 @item nngateway-header-transformation
16413 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
16414 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
16415 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
16416 transformation should be called, and defaults to
16417 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
16418 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
16421 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
16422 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
16423 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
16426 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
16429 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
16432 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
16435 The following pre-defined functions exist:
16437 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16440 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16441 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16442 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
16444 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16446 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16447 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16448 @code{nngateway-address}.
16453 (setq gnus-post-method
16455 "mail2news@@replay.com"
16456 (nngateway-header-transformation
16457 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
16465 So, to use this, simply say something like:
16468 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
16473 @node Combined Groups
16474 @section Combined Groups
16476 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
16480 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
16481 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
16485 @node Virtual Groups
16486 @subsection Virtual Groups
16488 @cindex virtual groups
16489 @cindex merging groups
16491 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
16494 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
16495 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
16496 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
16498 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
16499 regexp to match component groups.
16501 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
16502 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
16503 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
16504 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
16505 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
16506 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
16507 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
16508 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
16510 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
16511 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
16514 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
16517 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
16518 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
16520 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
16521 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
16522 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
16523 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
16526 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
16529 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
16530 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
16531 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
16533 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
16534 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
16535 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
16536 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
16537 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
16539 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
16540 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
16541 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
16543 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
16544 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
16545 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
16546 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
16547 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
16548 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
16549 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
16550 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
16551 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
16552 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
16553 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
16555 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
16556 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
16557 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
16558 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
16559 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
16560 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
16561 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
16563 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
16564 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
16566 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
16567 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
16571 @node Kibozed Groups
16572 @subsection Kibozed Groups
16576 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
16577 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will do this for
16578 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
16579 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
16581 @kindex G k (Group)
16582 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
16585 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
16586 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
16587 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
16588 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
16590 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
16591 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
16592 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
16594 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
16595 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
16596 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
16597 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
16598 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
16599 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
16600 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
16601 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
16603 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
16604 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
16605 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
16606 Stranger things have happened.
16608 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
16609 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
16611 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
16612 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
16613 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
16614 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
16615 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
16616 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
16618 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
16619 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
16622 @node Gnus Unplugged
16623 @section Gnus Unplugged
16628 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
16630 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
16631 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
16632 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
16633 read news. Believe it or not.
16635 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
16636 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
16637 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
16638 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
16639 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
16641 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
16642 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
16643 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
16644 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
16645 reading news on a machine.
16647 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
16648 fact, you don't even have to configure anything.
16650 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
16653 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
16654 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
16655 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
16656 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
16657 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
16658 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
16659 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
16660 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
16661 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
16662 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
16663 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
16664 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
16669 @subsection Agent Basics
16671 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
16673 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
16674 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
16675 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
16676 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
16678 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
16679 connected to the net continuously.
16681 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
16682 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
16684 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
16689 @findex gnus-unplugged
16690 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
16691 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
16692 already fetched while in this mode.
16695 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
16696 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
16697 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
16698 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
16699 Source Specifiers}).
16702 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
16703 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
16704 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
16705 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
16706 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
16709 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
16710 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
16711 then you read the news offline.
16714 And then you go to step 2.
16717 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
16723 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
16724 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
16725 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
16726 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
16727 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
16728 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
16729 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} groups in @code{gnus-select-method} and
16730 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
16733 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
16740 @node Agent Categories
16741 @subsection Agent Categories
16743 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
16744 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
16745 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
16746 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
16747 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
16748 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
16749 you're interested in the articles anyway.
16751 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
16752 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
16753 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
16754 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
16755 managing categories.
16758 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
16759 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
16760 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
16764 @node Category Syntax
16765 @subsubsection Category Syntax
16767 A category consists of two things.
16771 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
16772 are eligible for downloading; and
16775 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
16776 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
16777 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
16780 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
16781 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
16782 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
16783 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
16785 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
16786 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
16787 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
16789 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
16790 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
16791 operators sprinkled in between.
16793 Perhaps some examples are in order.
16795 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
16796 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
16802 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
16803 short (for some value of ``short'').
16805 Here's a more complex predicate:
16814 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
16815 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
16818 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
16819 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
16820 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
16822 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
16823 you want to do, you can write your own.
16827 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
16828 lines; default 100.
16831 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
16832 lines; default 200.
16835 True iff the article has a download score less than
16836 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
16839 True iff the article has a download score greater than
16840 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
16843 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
16844 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
16845 checksum and sees whether articles match.
16854 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
16855 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
16856 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
16859 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
16860 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
16861 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
16862 something along the lines of the following:
16865 (defun my-article-old-p ()
16866 "Say whether an article is old."
16867 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
16868 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
16871 with the predicate then defined as:
16874 (not my-article-old-p)
16877 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
16878 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
16882 (require 'gnus-agent)
16883 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
16884 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
16885 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
16888 and simply specify your predicate as:
16894 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
16895 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
16896 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
16897 just don't give a damn.
16899 The above predicates apply to @emph{all} the groups which belong to the
16900 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
16901 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
16902 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
16903 parameters like so:
16906 (agent-predicate . short)
16909 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
16910 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
16911 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
16913 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
16916 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
16919 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
16920 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
16921 predicate is assumed to be a list.
16924 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
16925 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
16926 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
16927 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
16928 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
16929 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
16931 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
16932 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
16933 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
16934 if it's to be specific to that group.
16936 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
16943 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
16944 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
16950 Category specification
16954 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16960 Group Parameter specification
16963 (agent-score ("from"
16964 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16969 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
16975 These score files must @emph{only} contain the permitted scoring
16976 keywords stated above.
16982 Category specification
16985 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
16991 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
16995 Group Parameter specification
16998 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
17001 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
17006 Use @code{normal} score files
17008 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
17009 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
17010 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
17011 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
17013 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
17014 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
17015 files for a group, @emph{filtering out} those sections that do not
17016 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
17020 Category Specification
17027 Group Parameter specification
17030 (agent-score . file)
17035 @node Category Buffer
17036 @subsubsection Category Buffer
17038 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
17039 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
17040 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
17042 The following commands are available in this buffer:
17046 @kindex q (Category)
17047 @findex gnus-category-exit
17048 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
17051 @kindex k (Category)
17052 @findex gnus-category-kill
17053 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
17056 @kindex c (Category)
17057 @findex gnus-category-copy
17058 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
17061 @kindex a (Category)
17062 @findex gnus-category-add
17063 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
17066 @kindex p (Category)
17067 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
17068 Edit the predicate of the current category
17069 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
17072 @kindex g (Category)
17073 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
17074 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
17075 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
17078 @kindex s (Category)
17079 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
17080 Edit the download score rule of the current category
17081 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
17084 @kindex l (Category)
17085 @findex gnus-category-list
17086 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
17090 @node Category Variables
17091 @subsubsection Category Variables
17094 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
17095 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
17096 Hook run in category buffers.
17098 @item gnus-category-line-format
17099 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
17100 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
17101 Variables}). Valid elements are:
17105 The name of the category.
17108 The number of groups in the category.
17111 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
17112 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
17113 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
17115 @item gnus-agent-short-article
17116 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
17117 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
17119 @item gnus-agent-long-article
17120 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
17121 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
17123 @item gnus-agent-low-score
17124 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
17125 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
17128 @item gnus-agent-high-score
17129 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
17130 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
17136 @node Agent Commands
17137 @subsection Agent Commands
17138 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-plugged
17139 @kindex J j (Agent)
17141 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
17142 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
17143 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
17147 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
17148 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
17149 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
17155 @node Group Agent Commands
17156 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
17160 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
17161 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
17162 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
17163 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
17166 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
17167 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
17168 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
17171 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
17172 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
17173 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
17174 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
17177 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
17178 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
17179 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
17180 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
17183 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
17184 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
17185 Add the current group to an Agent category
17186 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
17187 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17190 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
17191 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
17192 Remove the current group from its category, if any
17193 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
17194 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17197 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
17198 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17199 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
17205 @node Summary Agent Commands
17206 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
17210 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
17211 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
17212 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
17215 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
17216 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
17217 Remove the downloading mark from the article
17218 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
17222 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
17223 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
17224 Toggle whether to download the article
17225 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The dowload mark is @samp{%} by
17229 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
17230 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
17231 Mark all articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}) that are neither cached, downloaded, nor downloadable.
17234 @kindex J S (Agent Summary)
17235 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
17236 Download all eligible (See @pxref{Agent Categories}) articles in this group.
17237 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
17240 @kindex J s (Agent Summary)
17241 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-series
17242 Download all processable articles in this group.
17243 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-series}).
17246 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
17247 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
17248 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
17249 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
17254 @node Server Agent Commands
17255 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
17259 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
17260 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
17261 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
17262 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
17265 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
17266 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
17267 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
17268 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
17273 @node Agent as Cache
17274 @subsection Agent as Cache
17276 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
17277 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
17278 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
17279 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
17280 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
17281 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
17282 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
17283 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
17284 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
17286 This behaviour can be controlled by @code{gnus-agent-cache}
17287 (@pxref{Agent Variables}).
17290 @subsection Agent Expiry
17292 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
17293 @findex gnus-agent-expire
17294 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
17295 @cindex Agent expiry
17296 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
17299 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
17300 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
17301 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
17302 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
17303 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
17304 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
17306 Note that other functions, e.g. @code{gnus-request-expire-articles},
17307 might run @code{gnus-agent-expire} for you to keep the agent
17308 synchronized with the group.
17310 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} can also be a list of regexp/day pairs.
17311 The regexps will be matched against group names to allow differing
17312 expiry in different groups.
17315 (setq gnus-agent-expire-days
17321 If you use the list form, the last element must always be the default
17322 method---it must always match all groups. Also, for a regexp to match,
17323 it must match from the beginning of the group's name.
17325 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
17326 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
17327 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
17328 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
17329 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
17331 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
17332 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's a special
17333 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} command to fix possible problems.
17335 @node Agent Regeneration
17336 @subsection Agent Regeneration
17338 @cindex Agent Regeneration
17339 @cindex Gnus Agent Regeneration
17340 @cindex regeneration
17342 The local data structures used by @code{nnagent} may become corrupted
17343 due to certain exceptional conditions. When this happens,
17344 @code{nnagent} functionality may degrade or even fail. The solution
17345 to this problem is to repair the local data structures by removing all
17346 internal inconsistencies.
17348 For example, if your connection to your server is lost while
17349 downloaded articles into the agent, the local data structures will not
17350 know about articles downloaded prior to the connection failure.
17351 Running @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} or
17352 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} will update the data structures
17353 such that you don't need to download these articles a second time.
17355 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
17356 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate
17357 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} will perform
17358 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} on every agentized group. While
17359 you can run @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} in any buffer, it is strongly
17360 recommended that you first close all summary buffers.
17362 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate-group
17363 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate-group
17364 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} uses the local copies
17365 of individual articles to repair the local NOV(header) database. It
17366 then updates the internal data structures that document which articles
17367 are stored locally. An optional argument will mark articles in the
17370 @node Agent and IMAP
17371 @subsection Agent and IMAP
17373 The Agent works with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
17374 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
17375 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
17376 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
17378 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
17379 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @file{.newsrc} as is the
17380 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
17381 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
17383 Gnus keeps track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
17384 Agent. When you plug back in, Gnus will check if you have any changed
17385 any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the server.
17386 The behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
17388 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17389 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
17390 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
17391 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
17392 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
17393 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
17395 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
17396 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
17397 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
17398 in the group buffer.
17400 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
17401 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
17406 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
17409 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
17413 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by "pushing"
17414 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
17415 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
17416 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
17417 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
17418 removed from the server when you "synchronize". The queued flag
17419 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
17420 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
17423 @node Outgoing Messages
17424 @subsection Outgoing Messages
17426 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
17427 stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view
17428 them there after posting, and edit them at will.
17430 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
17431 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
17432 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
17433 messages in the draft group.
17437 @node Agent Variables
17438 @subsection Agent Variables
17441 @item gnus-agent-directory
17442 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
17443 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
17444 @file{~/News/agent/}.
17446 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
17447 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
17448 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
17449 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
17450 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
17453 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
17454 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
17455 Hook run when connecting to the network.
17457 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
17458 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
17459 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
17461 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
17462 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
17463 Hook run when after finishing fetching articles.
17465 @item gnus-agent-cache
17466 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
17467 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @sc{nov} and
17468 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
17469 The default is non-nil, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
17471 @item gnus-agent-go-online
17472 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
17473 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
17474 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
17475 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
17476 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
17477 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
17480 @item gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
17481 @vindex gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
17482 If @code{gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded} is non-@code{nil},
17483 mark articles as unread after downloading. The default is t.
17485 @item gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
17486 @vindex gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
17487 If @code{gnus-agent-consider-all-articles} is non-@code{nil}, the
17488 agent will fetch all missing headers. When @code{nil}, the agent will
17489 fetch only new headers. The default is @code{nil}.
17491 @item gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
17492 @vindex gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
17493 The agent fetches articles into a temporary buffer prior to parsing
17494 them into individual files. To avoid exceeding the max. buffer size,
17495 the agent alternates between fetching and parsing until all articles
17496 have been fetched. @code{gnus-agent-max-fetch-size} provides a size
17497 limit to control how often the cycling occurs. A large value improves
17498 performance. A small value minimizes the time lost should the
17499 connection be lost while fetching (You may need to run
17500 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} to update the group's state.
17501 However, all articles parsed prior to loosing the connection will be
17502 available while unplugged).
17504 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
17505 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
17506 Perhaps not a Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
17507 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
17508 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
17509 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
17510 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
17511 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
17512 is only valid if the Agent is used.
17517 @node Example Setup
17518 @subsection Example Setup
17520 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
17521 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
17522 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
17525 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
17526 ;;; from your ISP's server.
17527 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
17529 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
17530 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
17531 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
17533 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
17534 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
17536 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
17537 ;;; (gnus-agentize) ; The obsolete setting.
17538 ;;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; Now the default.
17541 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
17542 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
17545 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
17546 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
17547 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
17548 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
17549 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
17552 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
17553 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
17554 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
17555 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
17556 back all the killed groups.)
17558 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
17559 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
17560 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
17563 @node Batching Agents
17564 @subsection Batching Agents
17565 @findex gnus-agent-batch
17567 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
17568 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
17569 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
17571 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
17572 following incantation:
17576 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f -l ~/.gnus.el gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
17580 @node Agent Caveats
17581 @subsection Agent Caveats
17583 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
17584 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
17588 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
17590 @strong{No}. If you want this behaviour, add
17591 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
17592 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
17594 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
17596 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is @code{nil}.
17600 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
17601 articles; when it's plugged, it talks to your ISP and may also use the
17602 locally stored articles.
17609 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
17610 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
17611 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
17614 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
17615 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
17616 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
17617 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
17618 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
17620 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
17621 before generating the summary buffer.
17623 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
17624 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
17625 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
17627 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
17628 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
17629 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
17630 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
17633 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
17634 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
17635 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
17636 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
17637 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
17638 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
17639 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
17640 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
17641 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
17642 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
17643 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
17644 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
17645 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
17646 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
17647 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
17648 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
17649 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
17653 @node Summary Score Commands
17654 @section Summary Score Commands
17655 @cindex score commands
17657 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
17658 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
17659 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
17660 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
17661 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
17663 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
17664 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
17665 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
17666 score file the current one.
17668 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
17673 @kindex V s (Summary)
17674 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
17675 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
17678 @kindex V S (Summary)
17679 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
17680 Display the score of the current article
17681 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
17684 @kindex V t (Summary)
17685 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
17686 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
17687 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
17690 @kindex V w (Summary)
17691 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
17692 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
17695 @kindex V R (Summary)
17696 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
17697 Run the current summary through the scoring process
17698 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
17699 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
17700 effect you're having.
17703 @kindex V c (Summary)
17704 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
17705 Make a different score file the current
17706 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
17709 @kindex V e (Summary)
17710 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
17711 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
17712 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
17716 @kindex V f (Summary)
17717 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
17718 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
17719 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
17722 @kindex V F (Summary)
17723 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17724 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
17725 after editing score files.
17728 @kindex V C (Summary)
17729 @findex gnus-score-customize
17730 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
17731 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
17735 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
17740 @kindex V m (Summary)
17741 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
17742 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
17743 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
17746 @kindex V x (Summary)
17747 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
17748 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
17749 expunge all articles below this score
17750 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
17753 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
17754 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
17757 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
17758 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
17762 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
17763 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
17765 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
17766 keys are available:
17770 Score on the author name.
17773 Score on the subject line.
17776 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
17779 Score on the @code{References} line.
17785 Score on the number of lines.
17788 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
17791 Score on an "extra" header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
17792 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
17795 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
17796 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
17797 @file{ADAPT} files.)
17806 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
17812 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
17813 what headers you are scoring on.
17825 Substring matching.
17828 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
17857 Greater than number.
17862 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
17863 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
17864 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
17869 Temporary score entry.
17872 Permanent score entry.
17875 Immediately scoring.
17879 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
17880 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
17881 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
17885 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
17886 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
17887 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
17888 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
17890 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
17891 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
17892 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
17893 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
17894 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
17896 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
17897 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
17898 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
17899 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
17900 current score file.
17902 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
17903 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
17904 pretend they are keymaps or not.
17907 @node Group Score Commands
17908 @section Group Score Commands
17909 @cindex group score commands
17911 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
17916 @kindex W f (Group)
17917 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17918 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
17919 all the time. This command will flush the cache
17920 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
17924 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
17926 @findex gnus-batch-score
17927 @cindex batch scoring
17929 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
17933 @node Score Variables
17934 @section Score Variables
17935 @cindex score variables
17939 @item gnus-use-scoring
17940 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
17941 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
17942 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
17944 @item gnus-kill-killed
17945 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
17946 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
17947 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
17948 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
17949 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
17950 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
17951 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
17953 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
17954 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
17955 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
17956 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
17957 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
17959 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
17960 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
17961 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
17962 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
17964 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17965 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17966 @cindex score cache
17967 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
17968 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
17969 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
17970 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
17971 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
17972 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
17975 @item gnus-save-score
17976 @vindex gnus-save-score
17977 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
17978 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
17979 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
17981 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
17982 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
17983 across group visits.
17985 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17986 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17987 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
17988 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
17989 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
17990 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
17991 manually entered data.
17993 @item gnus-summary-default-score
17994 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
17995 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
17997 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
17998 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
17999 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
18000 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
18001 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
18002 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
18004 @item gnus-score-over-mark
18005 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
18006 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
18007 default. Default is @samp{+}.
18009 @item gnus-score-below-mark
18010 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
18011 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
18012 default. Default is @samp{-}.
18014 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
18015 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
18016 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
18017 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
18019 Predefined functions available are:
18022 @item gnus-score-find-single
18023 @findex gnus-score-find-single
18024 Only apply the group's own score file.
18026 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
18027 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
18028 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
18029 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
18030 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
18031 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
18032 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
18033 then a regexp match is done.
18035 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
18036 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
18038 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
18039 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
18040 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
18041 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
18043 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
18044 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
18045 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
18046 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
18047 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
18051 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
18052 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
18053 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
18054 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
18055 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
18056 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
18057 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
18060 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
18061 overall score file, you could use the value
18063 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
18064 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
18067 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
18068 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
18069 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
18070 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
18071 are expired. It's 7 by default.
18073 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
18074 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
18075 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
18076 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
18077 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
18078 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
18079 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
18080 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
18082 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
18083 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
18084 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
18086 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
18087 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
18088 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
18089 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
18090 threading---according to the current value of
18091 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
18092 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
18093 simplified in this manner.
18098 @node Score File Format
18099 @section Score File Format
18100 @cindex score file format
18102 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
18103 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
18104 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
18106 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
18110 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
18112 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
18114 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
18116 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
18121 (mark-and-expunge -10)
18125 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
18126 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
18127 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
18128 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
18132 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
18133 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
18135 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
18136 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
18137 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
18139 Six keys are supported by this alist:
18144 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
18145 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
18146 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
18147 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
18148 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
18149 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
18150 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
18151 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
18152 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
18153 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
18154 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
18155 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
18156 to articles that matches these score entries.
18158 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
18159 score entry has one to four elements.
18163 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
18164 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
18168 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
18169 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
18170 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
18171 is successful. If this element is not present, the
18172 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
18173 instead. This is 1000 by default.
18176 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
18177 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
18178 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
18179 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
18180 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
18183 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
18184 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
18185 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
18186 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
18189 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
18190 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
18191 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
18192 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
18193 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
18194 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
18195 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
18196 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
18197 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
18198 instead, if you feel like.
18201 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
18202 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
18203 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
18204 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
18205 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin host,
18206 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks NNTP-Posting-Host in overviews:
18209 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s "NNTP-Posting-Host")
18213 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
18214 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
18216 These predicates are true if
18219 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
18222 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
18223 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
18230 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
18231 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
18232 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
18233 it's not. I think.)
18235 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
18236 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
18237 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
18238 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
18241 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
18242 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
18243 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
18244 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
18245 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
18246 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
18247 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
18251 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
18252 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
18253 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
18254 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
18255 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
18256 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
18257 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
18258 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
18261 @item Head, Body, All
18262 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
18266 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
18267 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
18268 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
18269 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
18270 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
18271 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
18272 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
18276 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
18277 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
18278 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
18279 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
18280 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
18281 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
18282 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
18283 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
18284 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
18285 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
18286 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
18290 @cindex Score File Atoms
18292 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18293 lower than this number will be marked as read.
18296 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18297 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
18299 @item mark-and-expunge
18300 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18301 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
18304 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
18305 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
18306 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
18307 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
18308 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
18311 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
18312 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
18315 @item exclude-files
18316 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
18317 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
18321 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
18322 ignored when handling global score files.
18325 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
18326 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
18327 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
18328 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
18331 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
18332 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
18333 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
18334 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
18336 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
18340 (mark-and-expunge -100)
18343 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
18344 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
18345 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
18346 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
18347 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
18349 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
18350 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
18351 scoring rules exist.
18354 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
18355 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
18356 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
18357 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
18358 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
18359 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
18360 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
18361 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
18362 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
18363 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
18364 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
18368 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
18369 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
18370 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
18371 file for a number of groups.
18374 @cindex local variables
18375 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
18376 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
18377 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
18378 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
18379 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
18383 @node Score File Editing
18384 @section Score File Editing
18386 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
18387 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
18388 with a mode for that.
18390 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
18391 additional commands:
18396 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
18397 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
18398 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
18399 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
18402 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
18403 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
18404 Insert the current date in numerical format
18405 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
18406 you were wondering.
18409 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
18410 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
18411 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
18412 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
18413 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
18418 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
18420 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
18421 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
18423 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
18424 e} to begin editing score files.
18427 @node Adaptive Scoring
18428 @section Adaptive Scoring
18429 @cindex adaptive scoring
18431 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
18432 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
18433 stupidity, to be precise.
18435 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
18436 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
18437 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
18438 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
18439 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
18440 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
18441 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
18442 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
18443 variable to @code{(word line)}.
18445 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
18446 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
18447 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
18448 might look something like this:
18451 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
18452 '((gnus-unread-mark)
18453 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
18454 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
18455 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
18456 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
18457 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
18458 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
18459 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
18460 (gnus-ancient-mark)
18461 (gnus-low-score-mark)
18462 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
18465 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
18466 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
18467 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
18468 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
18469 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
18470 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
18473 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
18474 will be applied to each article.
18476 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
18477 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
18478 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
18479 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
18481 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
18482 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
18483 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
18484 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
18486 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
18487 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
18488 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
18489 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
18491 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
18492 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
18493 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
18494 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
18495 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
18496 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
18498 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
18499 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
18500 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
18502 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
18503 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
18504 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
18506 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
18507 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
18508 let you use different rules in different groups.
18510 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
18511 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
18512 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
18515 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
18516 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
18517 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
18518 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
18519 the length of the match is less than
18520 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
18521 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
18524 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
18525 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
18526 headers. If you adapt on words, the
18527 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
18528 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
18531 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
18532 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
18533 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
18534 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
18535 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
18538 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
18539 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
18540 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
18541 score with 30 points.
18543 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
18544 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
18545 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
18546 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
18547 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
18549 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
18550 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
18551 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
18552 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
18553 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
18555 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
18556 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
18557 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
18558 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
18560 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
18561 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
18562 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
18563 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
18565 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
18566 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
18567 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
18568 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
18569 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
18571 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
18572 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
18573 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
18575 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
18576 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
18577 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
18578 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
18581 @node Home Score File
18582 @section Home Score File
18584 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
18585 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
18586 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
18587 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
18589 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
18590 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
18591 could perhaps use the same home score file.
18593 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
18594 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
18599 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
18603 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
18604 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
18608 A list. The elements in this list can be:
18612 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
18613 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
18616 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
18617 the home score file.
18620 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
18623 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
18628 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
18631 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18632 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
18635 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
18636 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
18638 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
18640 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18641 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
18644 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
18645 Other functions include
18648 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
18649 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
18650 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
18651 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
18655 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
18656 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
18657 their own home score files:
18660 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18661 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
18662 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
18663 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
18664 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
18667 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
18668 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
18669 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
18670 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
18671 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
18673 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
18674 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
18675 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
18676 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
18677 precedence over this variable.
18680 @node Followups To Yourself
18681 @section Followups To Yourself
18683 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
18684 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
18685 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
18686 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
18687 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
18688 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
18692 @item gnus-score-followup-article
18693 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
18694 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
18697 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
18698 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
18699 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
18703 @vindex message-sent-hook
18704 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
18705 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
18707 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
18711 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
18712 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
18716 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18717 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18720 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
18721 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
18726 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
18730 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
18731 is system-dependent.
18734 @node Scoring On Other Headers
18735 @section Scoring On Other Headers
18736 @cindex scoring on other headers
18738 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
18739 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
18740 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
18741 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
18742 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
18744 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
18745 mail groups, you have greater control. In the @pxref{To From
18746 Newsgroups} section of the manual, it's explained in greater detail what
18747 this mechanism does, but here's a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on
18748 how to allow scoring on the @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
18750 Put the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
18753 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
18754 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
18757 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
18758 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
18759 time if you have much mail.
18761 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
18762 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
18768 @section Scoring Tips
18769 @cindex scoring tips
18775 @cindex scoring crossposts
18776 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
18777 the @code{Xref} header.
18779 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
18782 @item Multiple crossposts
18783 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
18784 more than, say, 3 groups:
18787 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
18791 @item Matching on the body
18792 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
18793 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
18794 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
18795 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
18796 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
18797 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
18798 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
18801 @item Marking as read
18802 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
18803 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
18804 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
18808 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
18810 @item Negated character classes
18811 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
18812 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
18813 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
18817 @node Reverse Scoring
18818 @section Reverse Scoring
18819 @cindex reverse scoring
18821 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
18822 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
18823 like this in your score file:
18827 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
18832 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
18833 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
18836 @node Global Score Files
18837 @section Global Score Files
18838 @cindex global score files
18840 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
18841 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
18842 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
18844 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
18845 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
18846 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
18848 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
18849 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
18850 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
18851 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
18852 files are applicable to which group.
18854 To use the score file
18855 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
18856 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
18860 (setq gnus-global-score-files
18861 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
18862 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
18865 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
18867 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
18868 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
18869 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
18870 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
18872 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
18873 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
18875 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
18876 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
18877 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
18878 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
18879 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
18880 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
18882 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
18888 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
18890 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
18892 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
18894 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
18895 lowered out of existence.
18897 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
18898 articles completely.
18901 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
18902 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
18903 old articles for a long time.
18906 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
18907 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
18908 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
18909 holding our breath yet?
18913 @section Kill Files
18916 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
18917 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
18918 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
18920 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
18921 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
18922 files into score files.
18924 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
18925 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
18926 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
18927 that isn't a very good idea.
18929 Normal kill files look like this:
18932 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18933 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
18937 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
18938 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
18940 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
18941 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
18944 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
18949 @kindex M-k (Summary)
18950 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
18951 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
18954 @kindex M-K (Summary)
18955 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
18956 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
18959 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
18964 @kindex M-k (Group)
18965 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
18966 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
18969 @kindex M-K (Group)
18970 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
18971 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
18974 Kill file variables:
18977 @item gnus-kill-file-name
18978 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
18979 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
18980 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
18981 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
18982 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
18983 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
18985 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18986 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18987 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
18988 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
18991 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
18992 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
18993 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
18994 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
18995 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
18996 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
18997 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
18998 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
18999 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
19001 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
19002 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
19003 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
19008 @node Converting Kill Files
19009 @section Converting Kill Files
19011 @cindex converting kill files
19013 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
19014 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
19015 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
19018 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
19019 You can fetch it from
19020 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
19022 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
19023 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
19024 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
19032 GroupLens (@uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/}) is a
19033 collaborative filtering system that helps you work together with other
19034 people to find the quality news articles out of the huge volume of
19035 news articles generated every day.
19037 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
19038 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
19039 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
19040 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
19041 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
19042 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
19043 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
19044 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
19047 @sc{Note:} Unfortunately the GroupLens system seems to have shut down,
19048 so this section is mostly of historical interest.
19051 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
19052 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
19053 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
19054 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
19058 @node Using GroupLens
19059 @subsection Using GroupLens
19061 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
19063 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
19064 better bit in town at the moment.
19066 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
19070 @item gnus-use-grouplens
19071 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
19072 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
19073 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
19075 @item grouplens-pseudonym
19076 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
19077 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
19078 with the Better Bit Bureau.
19080 @item grouplens-newsgroups
19081 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
19082 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
19086 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
19087 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
19088 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
19089 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
19090 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
19091 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
19094 @node Rating Articles
19095 @subsection Rating Articles
19097 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
19098 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
19099 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
19100 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
19103 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
19108 @kindex r (GroupLens)
19109 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
19110 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
19113 @kindex k (GroupLens)
19114 @findex grouplens-score-thread
19115 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
19116 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
19117 threads in rec.humor.
19121 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
19122 the score of the article you're reading.
19127 @kindex n (GroupLens)
19128 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
19129 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
19132 @kindex , (GroupLens)
19133 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
19134 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
19138 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
19139 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
19142 @node Displaying Predictions
19143 @subsection Displaying Predictions
19145 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
19146 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
19147 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
19148 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
19149 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
19151 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
19152 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
19153 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
19154 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
19155 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
19156 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
19157 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
19158 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
19159 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
19160 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
19161 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
19162 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
19163 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
19165 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
19166 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
19167 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
19168 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
19170 The following are valid values for that variable.
19173 @item prediction-spot
19174 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
19177 @item confidence-interval
19178 A numeric confidence interval.
19180 @item prediction-bar
19181 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
19183 @item confidence-bar
19184 Numerical confidence.
19186 @item confidence-spot
19187 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
19189 @item prediction-num
19190 Plain-old numeric value.
19192 @item confidence-plus-minus
19193 Prediction +/- confidence.
19198 @node GroupLens Variables
19199 @subsection GroupLens Variables
19203 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
19204 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
19205 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
19206 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%)
19209 @item grouplens-bbb-host
19210 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
19213 @item grouplens-bbb-port
19214 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
19216 @item grouplens-score-offset
19217 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
19218 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
19221 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
19222 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
19223 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
19228 @node Advanced Scoring
19229 @section Advanced Scoring
19231 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
19232 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
19233 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
19234 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
19235 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
19237 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
19241 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
19242 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
19243 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
19247 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
19248 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
19250 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
19251 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
19252 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
19253 non-@code{nil} value.
19255 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
19256 operator, and various match operators.
19263 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19264 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
19265 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
19270 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19271 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
19272 then this operator will return @code{false}.
19277 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
19278 logical negation of the value of its argument.
19282 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
19283 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
19284 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
19285 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
19286 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
19287 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
19288 the ancestry you want to go.
19290 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
19291 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
19292 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
19293 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
19294 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
19297 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
19298 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
19300 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
19301 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
19304 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
19305 when he's talking about Gnus:
19309 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19310 ("subject" "Gnus"))
19316 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
19320 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19327 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
19328 really don't want to read what he's written:
19332 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19333 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
19337 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
19338 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
19339 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
19346 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
19347 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
19348 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
19349 ("body" "white.*socks"))
19353 The possibilities are endless.
19356 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
19357 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
19359 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
19360 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
19361 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
19362 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
19363 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
19364 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
19365 @samp{subject}) first.
19367 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
19368 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
19379 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
19380 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
19386 ("subject" "Gnus")))
19393 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
19394 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
19399 @section Score Decays
19400 @cindex score decays
19403 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
19404 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
19405 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
19406 use them in any sensible way.
19408 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
19409 @findex gnus-decay-score
19410 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
19411 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
19412 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
19413 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
19414 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
19415 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
19416 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
19417 definition of that function:
19420 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
19422 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
19423 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
19426 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
19428 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
19430 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
19433 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
19434 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
19435 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
19436 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
19440 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
19443 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
19446 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
19450 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
19451 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
19452 the new score, which should be an integer.
19454 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
19455 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
19460 @include message.texi
19461 @chapter Emacs MIME
19462 @include emacs-mime.texi
19464 @include sieve.texi
19466 @c @include pgg.texi
19474 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
19475 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
19476 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
19477 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
19478 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
19479 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
19480 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
19481 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
19482 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
19483 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
19484 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
19485 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
19486 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
19487 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
19488 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
19489 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
19490 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
19491 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
19492 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
19496 @node Process/Prefix
19497 @section Process/Prefix
19498 @cindex process/prefix convention
19500 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
19501 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
19503 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
19504 command to be performed on.
19508 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
19509 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
19510 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
19511 with the current one.
19513 @vindex transient-mark-mode
19514 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
19515 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
19517 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
19518 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
19521 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
19522 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
19524 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
19527 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
19528 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
19529 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
19530 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
19532 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
19533 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
19534 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
19535 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
19536 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
19537 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
19538 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
19539 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
19541 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
19542 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
19543 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
19544 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
19545 expirable, you could say @kbd{M P b M-& E}.
19549 @section Interactive
19550 @cindex interaction
19554 @item gnus-novice-user
19555 @vindex gnus-novice-user
19556 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
19557 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
19558 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
19559 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
19562 @item gnus-expert-user
19563 @vindex gnus-expert-user
19564 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
19565 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
19566 matter how strange.
19568 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
19569 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
19570 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
19571 is @code{t} by default.
19573 @item gnus-interactive-exit
19574 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
19575 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
19580 @node Symbolic Prefixes
19581 @section Symbolic Prefixes
19582 @cindex symbolic prefixes
19584 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
19585 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
19586 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
19587 rule of 900 to the current article.
19589 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
19590 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
19591 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
19592 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
19593 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
19594 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
19595 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
19597 @kindex M-i (Summary)
19598 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
19599 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
19600 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
19601 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
19602 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
19603 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
19604 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
19605 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
19607 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
19608 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
19609 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
19611 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
19615 @node Formatting Variables
19616 @section Formatting Variables
19617 @cindex formatting variables
19619 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
19620 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
19621 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
19622 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
19623 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
19626 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
19627 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
19628 lots of percentages everywhere.
19631 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
19632 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
19633 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
19634 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
19635 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
19636 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
19637 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
19638 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
19641 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
19642 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
19643 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
19644 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
19645 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
19646 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
19647 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
19648 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
19650 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
19651 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
19653 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
19654 @findex gnus-update-format
19655 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
19656 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
19657 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
19658 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
19662 @node Formatting Basics
19663 @subsection Formatting Basics
19665 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
19666 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
19667 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
19669 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
19670 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
19671 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
19672 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
19673 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
19676 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
19677 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
19678 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
19679 less than 4 characters wide.
19681 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
19682 @samp{%&user-date;}.
19685 @node Mode Line Formatting
19686 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
19688 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
19689 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
19690 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
19691 with the following two differences:
19696 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
19699 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
19700 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
19701 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
19702 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
19703 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
19704 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
19705 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
19710 @node Advanced Formatting
19711 @subsection Advanced Formatting
19713 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
19714 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
19715 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
19716 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
19718 These are the valid modifiers:
19723 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
19727 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
19732 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
19735 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
19740 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
19743 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
19746 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
19749 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
19755 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
19760 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
19761 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
19762 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
19763 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
19764 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
19765 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
19766 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
19768 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
19769 last operation, padding.
19771 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
19772 If @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} is set to @code{nil} (@code{t} by
19773 default) with your strong personality, and use a lots of these advanced
19774 thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets quite slow. This can be helped
19775 enormously by running @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with
19776 the look of your lines.
19777 @xref{Compilation}.
19780 @node User-Defined Specs
19781 @subsection User-Defined Specs
19783 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
19784 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
19785 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
19786 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
19787 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
19788 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
19789 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
19790 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
19791 should protect against that.
19793 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
19794 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
19796 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
19797 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
19798 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
19799 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
19803 @node Formatting Fonts
19804 @subsection Formatting Fonts
19806 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
19807 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
19808 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
19809 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
19812 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
19813 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
19814 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
19815 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
19816 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
19817 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
19819 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
19820 special @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}.
19821 If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on.
19822 The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or
19823 symbols naming functions that return a string. When the mouse passes
19824 over text with this property set, a balloon window will appear and
19825 display the string. Please refer to @ref{(emacs)Help Echo} (in GNU
19826 Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in XEmacs) for
19827 more information on this. (For technical reasons, the guillemets have
19828 been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this paragraph.)
19830 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
19833 ;; Create three face types.
19834 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
19835 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
19837 ;; We want the article count to be in
19838 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
19839 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
19840 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
19842 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
19843 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
19845 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
19846 (setq gnus-group-line-format
19847 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
19850 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
19851 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
19853 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
19854 mode-line variables.
19856 @node Positioning Point
19857 @subsection Positioning Point
19859 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
19860 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
19861 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
19863 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
19865 @findex gnus-goto-colon
19866 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
19867 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
19869 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
19870 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
19871 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
19876 @subsection Tabulation
19878 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
19879 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
19880 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
19881 about lining up the following text afterwards.
19883 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs--@samp{%=}. There are two
19884 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
19886 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19887 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
19888 This is the soft tabulator.
19890 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19891 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
19892 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
19895 @node Wide Characters
19896 @subsection Wide Characters
19898 Proportional fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
19899 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
19900 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
19902 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
19903 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
19904 these countries, that's not true.
19906 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
19907 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
19908 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
19909 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
19913 @node Window Layout
19914 @section Window Layout
19915 @cindex window layout
19917 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
19919 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
19920 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
19921 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
19922 @code{t} by default.
19924 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
19925 glitches. Use at your own peril.
19927 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
19928 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
19929 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
19932 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
19933 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
19934 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19938 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
19939 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
19940 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
19941 possible names is listed below.
19943 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
19944 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
19947 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19951 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
19952 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
19953 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
19954 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
19955 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
19956 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
19957 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
19958 size spec per split.
19960 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
19961 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
19962 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
19963 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
19964 present) gets focus.
19966 Here's a more complicated example:
19969 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
19970 (summary 0.25 point)
19971 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
19975 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
19976 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
19977 occupy, not a percentage.
19979 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
19980 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
19981 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
19982 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
19983 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
19986 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
19989 (article (horizontal 1.0
19994 (summary 0.25 point)
19999 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
20000 @code{horizontal} thingie?
20002 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
20003 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
20004 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
20005 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
20006 the screen is to be given to this strip.
20008 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
20009 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
20010 lines from the splits.
20012 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
20016 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
20017 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
20018 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
20019 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
20020 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
20021 size = number | frame-params
20022 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
20025 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
20026 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
20027 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
20028 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
20030 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
20031 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
20032 @cindex window height
20033 @cindex window width
20034 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
20035 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
20036 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
20037 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
20038 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
20039 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
20041 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
20042 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
20043 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
20044 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
20046 @findex gnus-configure-frame
20047 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
20048 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
20049 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
20050 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
20051 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
20052 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
20053 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
20054 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
20055 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
20056 configuration list.
20059 (gnus-configure-frame
20063 (article 0.3 point))
20071 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
20072 @code{frame} split:
20075 (gnus-configure-frame
20078 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
20080 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
20081 (user-position . t)
20082 (left . -1) (top . 1))
20087 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
20088 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
20089 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
20090 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
20091 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
20092 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
20093 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
20094 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
20096 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
20097 be found in its default value.
20099 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
20100 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
20101 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
20105 (message (horizontal 1.0
20106 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
20108 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
20113 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
20114 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
20115 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
20120 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
20121 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
20122 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
20123 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
20124 (name . "Message"))
20125 (message 1.0 point))))
20128 @findex gnus-add-configuration
20129 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
20130 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
20131 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
20132 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
20135 (gnus-add-configuration
20136 '(article (vertical 1.0
20138 (summary .25 point)
20142 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
20143 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
20144 Gnus has been loaded.
20146 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
20147 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
20148 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
20149 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
20150 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
20152 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
20153 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
20154 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
20157 @subsection Example Window Configurations
20161 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
20162 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
20177 (gnus-add-configuration
20180 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20182 (summary 0.16 point)
20185 (gnus-add-configuration
20188 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20189 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
20195 @node Faces and Fonts
20196 @section Faces and Fonts
20201 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
20202 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
20203 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
20208 @section Compilation
20209 @cindex compilation
20210 @cindex byte-compilation
20212 @findex gnus-compile
20214 Remember all those line format specification variables?
20215 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
20216 on. By default, T-gnus will use the byte-compiled codes of these
20217 variables and we can keep a slow-down to a minimum. However, if you set
20218 @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} to @code{nil} (@code{t} by default),
20219 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
20220 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
20221 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
20224 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
20225 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
20226 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
20227 you'll get top speed again. Note that T-gnus will not save these
20228 compiled specs in the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
20231 @item gnus-compile-user-specs
20232 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
20233 If it is non-nil, the user-defined format specs will be byte-compiled
20234 automatically. The default value of this variable is @code{t}. It has
20235 an effect on the values of @code{gnus-*-line-format-spec}.
20240 @section Mode Lines
20243 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
20244 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
20245 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
20246 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
20247 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
20248 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
20249 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
20252 @cindex display-time
20254 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
20255 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
20256 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
20257 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
20258 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
20259 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
20260 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
20261 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
20264 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
20266 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
20267 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
20269 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
20270 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
20271 (length display-time-string)))))
20274 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
20275 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
20276 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
20277 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
20278 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
20281 @node Highlighting and Menus
20282 @section Highlighting and Menus
20284 @cindex highlighting
20287 @vindex gnus-visual
20288 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
20289 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
20290 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
20293 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
20294 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
20297 @item group-highlight
20298 Do highlights in the group buffer.
20299 @item summary-highlight
20300 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
20301 @item article-highlight
20302 Do highlights in the article buffer.
20304 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
20306 Create menus in the group buffer.
20308 Create menus in the summary buffers.
20310 Create menus in the article buffer.
20312 Create menus in the browse buffer.
20314 Create menus in the server buffer.
20316 Create menus in the score buffers.
20318 Create menus in all buffers.
20321 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
20322 buffers, you could say something like:
20325 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
20328 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
20331 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
20334 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
20335 in all Gnus buffers.
20337 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
20340 @item gnus-mouse-face
20341 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
20342 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
20343 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
20347 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
20351 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
20352 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
20353 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
20355 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
20356 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
20357 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
20359 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
20360 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
20361 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
20363 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
20364 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
20365 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
20367 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
20368 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
20369 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
20371 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
20372 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
20373 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
20384 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
20385 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
20386 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
20387 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
20388 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
20392 @vindex gnus-carpal
20393 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
20394 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
20395 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
20400 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
20401 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
20402 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
20404 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
20405 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
20406 Face used on buttons.
20408 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
20409 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
20410 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
20412 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
20413 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
20414 Buttons in the group buffer.
20416 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
20417 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
20418 Buttons in the summary buffer.
20420 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
20421 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
20422 Buttons in the server buffer.
20424 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
20425 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
20426 Buttons in the browse buffer.
20429 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
20430 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
20431 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
20439 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
20440 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
20441 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
20442 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
20443 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
20445 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
20446 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
20447 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
20449 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
20450 been idle for thirty minutes:
20453 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
20456 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
20460 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
20463 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
20464 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
20465 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
20467 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
20468 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
20469 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
20470 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
20472 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
20473 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
20474 @var{idle} minutes.
20476 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
20477 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
20480 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
20481 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
20482 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
20484 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
20485 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
20486 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
20487 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
20489 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
20490 your @file{.gnus.el} file:
20492 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
20494 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
20497 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
20498 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
20499 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
20500 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
20501 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
20502 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
20503 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
20504 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
20505 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
20506 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
20507 @file{.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
20509 @findex gnus-demon-init
20510 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
20511 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
20512 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
20513 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
20514 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
20516 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
20517 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
20518 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
20527 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
20528 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
20530 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
20531 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
20532 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
20533 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
20536 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
20537 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
20538 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
20539 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
20541 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
20542 this will make spam disappear.
20544 There are some variables to customize, of course:
20547 @item gnus-use-nocem
20548 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
20549 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
20552 @item gnus-nocem-groups
20553 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
20554 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
20555 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
20556 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
20558 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
20559 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
20560 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
20561 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
20562 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
20563 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
20565 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
20566 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
20568 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
20569 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
20570 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
20571 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
20572 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
20573 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
20574 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
20575 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
20576 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
20577 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
20579 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
20580 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
20583 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
20586 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
20587 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
20590 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
20593 The specs are applied left-to-right.
20596 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
20597 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
20599 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
20600 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
20601 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
20602 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
20604 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
20605 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
20608 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
20610 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
20618 This might be dangerous, though.
20620 @item gnus-nocem-directory
20621 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
20622 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
20623 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
20625 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
20626 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
20627 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
20628 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
20629 might then see old spam.
20631 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
20632 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
20633 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
20634 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
20635 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
20638 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20639 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20640 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
20641 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
20645 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
20646 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
20647 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
20648 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
20655 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
20656 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
20657 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
20659 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
20660 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
20661 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
20662 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
20663 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
20664 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
20665 @code{undo} function.
20667 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
20668 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
20669 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
20670 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
20671 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
20672 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
20673 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
20674 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
20675 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
20676 never be totally undoable.
20678 @findex gnus-undo-mode
20679 @vindex gnus-use-undo
20681 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
20682 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
20683 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
20684 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
20688 @node Predicate Specifiers
20689 @section Predicate Specifiers
20690 @cindex predicate specifiers
20692 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
20693 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
20694 to type all that much.
20696 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
20701 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
20702 gnus-article-unread-p)
20705 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
20706 functions all take one parameter.
20708 @findex gnus-make-predicate
20709 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
20710 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
20711 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
20716 @section Moderation
20719 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
20720 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
20721 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
20724 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
20728 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
20731 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
20733 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
20738 You split your incoming mail by matching on
20739 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
20740 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
20743 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
20744 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
20747 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
20748 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
20752 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
20755 (setq gnus-moderated-list
20756 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
20760 @node Image Enhancements
20761 @section Image Enhancements
20763 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21, is able to display pictures and stuff, so
20764 Gnus has taken advantage of that.
20767 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
20768 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
20769 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
20770 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
20783 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
20784 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
20785 over your shoulder as you read news.
20787 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
20796 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
20797 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
20798 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
20799 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
20800 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
20801 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
20802 @code{GIF} formats.
20805 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
20806 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases,
20807 point your Web browser at
20808 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
20810 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
20811 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
20813 To enable displaying picons, simply make sure that
20814 @code{gnus-picon-databases} points to the directory containing the
20817 The following variables offer control over where things are located.
20821 @item gnus-picon-databases
20822 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
20823 The location of the picons database. This is a list of directories
20824 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
20825 subdirectories. Defaults to @code{("/usr/lib/picon"
20826 "/usr/local/faces")}.
20828 @item gnus-picon-news-directories
20829 @vindex gnus-picon-news-directories
20830 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
20831 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
20833 @item gnus-picon-user-directories
20834 @vindex gnus-picon-user-directories
20835 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for user
20836 faces. @code{("users" "usenix" "local" "misc")} is the default.
20838 @item gnus-picon-domain-directories
20839 @vindex gnus-picon-domain-directories
20840 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
20841 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
20842 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
20844 @item gnus-picon-file-types
20845 @vindex gnus-picon-file-types
20846 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
20847 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your Emacs.
20852 @subsection Smileys
20857 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
20862 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
20863 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
20865 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
20866 @file{.gnus.el} file:
20869 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
20872 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{8-)}, @samp{:-(} and
20873 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
20874 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
20875 text and maps that to file names.
20877 @vindex smiley-regexp-alist
20878 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist}
20879 variable. The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched;
20880 the second element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by
20881 the picture; and the third element is the name of the file to be
20884 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
20889 @item smiley-data-directory
20890 @vindex smiley-data-directory
20891 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
20893 @item gnus-smiley-file-types
20894 @vindex gnus-smiley-file-types
20895 List of suffixes on smiley file names to try.
20904 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
20905 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
20906 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
20910 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
20911 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
20912 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
20913 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
20921 Decoding an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
20922 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
20923 have @samp{compface} installed on your system. If either is true,
20924 Gnus will default to displaying @code{X-Face} headers.
20926 The variable that controls this is the
20927 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
20928 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
20929 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
20930 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
20931 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
20933 The default action under Emacs 20 is to fork off the @code{display}
20934 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For
20935 the @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
20936 like @code{compface} or @code{faces-xface} on a GNU/Linux system.} to
20939 Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image support, the default
20940 action is to display the face before the @code{From} header. (It's
20941 nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support---that
20942 will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native @code{X-Face}
20943 support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
20944 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
20945 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
20946 like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.})
20948 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
20951 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
20952 easier insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages.
20954 @findex gnus-random-x-face
20955 @vindex gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command
20956 @vindex gnus-x-face-directory
20957 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
20958 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
20959 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
20960 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
20961 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
20962 header data as a string.
20964 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
20965 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
20966 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
20967 randomly generated data.
20969 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
20970 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command
20971 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
20972 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
20973 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
20975 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
20976 like the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
20979 (setq message-required-news-headers
20980 (nconc message-required-news-headers
20981 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
20984 Using the last function would be something like this:
20987 (setq message-required-news-headers
20988 (nconc message-required-news-headers
20989 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
20990 (gnus-x-face-from-file
20991 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
20996 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
20999 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21000 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21001 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
21002 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
21003 unusual directory structure.
21005 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21006 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21007 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
21008 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
21010 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21011 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21012 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
21013 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
21014 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
21015 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
21017 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21018 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21019 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
21024 @subsubsection Toolbar
21028 @item gnus-use-toolbar
21029 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
21030 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
21031 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
21032 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
21034 @item gnus-group-toolbar
21035 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
21036 The toolbar in the group buffer.
21038 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
21039 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
21040 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
21042 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21043 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21044 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
21055 @node Fuzzy Matching
21056 @section Fuzzy Matching
21057 @cindex fuzzy matching
21059 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
21060 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
21062 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
21063 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
21064 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
21066 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
21067 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
21068 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
21069 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
21070 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
21073 @node Thwarting Email Spam
21074 @section Thwarting Email Spam
21078 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21080 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
21081 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
21082 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
21083 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
21084 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
21085 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
21086 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
21087 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
21090 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
21091 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
21092 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
21093 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
21094 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
21095 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
21097 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
21100 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
21101 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
21102 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
21103 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
21104 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
21105 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
21108 @node The problem of spam
21109 @subsection The problem of spam
21111 @cindex spam filtering approaches
21112 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
21114 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21116 First, some background on spam.
21118 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
21119 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it exists
21120 because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail, so only
21121 a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to make it
21122 worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most common
21123 spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for further
21124 spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers}, but terms like
21125 @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, and @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
21127 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
21128 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
21129 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
21130 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
21131 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
21132 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
21133 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
21134 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
21135 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
21138 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering. If you get 200
21139 spam messages per day from @samp{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you
21140 block @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about
21141 @samp{VIAGRA}, you discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the
21142 message. This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate
21143 e-mail. For instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest
21144 has been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it
21145 @strong{contained} words that were common in spam messages.
21146 Nevertheless, in isolated cases, with great care, direct filtering of
21147 mail can be useful.
21149 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
21150 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
21151 @code{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @samp{X} in
21152 China, Ghana, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
21153 @code{N} systems enter @samp{X} or the spam e-mail from @samp{X} into
21154 a database. The criteria for spam detection vary - it may be the
21155 number of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When
21156 a user of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a
21157 message is spam, he consults one of those @code{N} systems.
21159 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
21160 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
21161 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
21162 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
21163 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
21164 sending spam, and their web sites have been shut down for some time
21165 because of the incident.
21167 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
21168 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
21169 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
21170 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
21171 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
21172 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
21173 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
21174 to store the database of spam analyses.
21176 @node Anti-Spam Basics
21177 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
21181 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21183 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
21184 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
21186 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
21187 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
21188 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
21189 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
21190 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
21191 part of the mail address.)
21194 (setq message-default-news-headers
21195 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
21198 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
21199 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21204 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
21205 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
21206 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
21212 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
21213 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
21214 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
21215 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
21217 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @sc{smtp} server
21218 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
21219 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
21220 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
21221 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
21222 your fancy split rule in this way:
21227 (to "larsi" "misc")
21231 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
21232 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
21233 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
21234 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
21235 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
21237 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
21238 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
21239 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
21240 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
21241 cosmic balance somewhat.
21243 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
21244 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
21245 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
21246 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
21251 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
21252 @cindex SpamAssassin
21253 @cindex Vipul's Razor
21256 The days where the hints in the previous section was sufficient in
21257 avoiding spam is coming to an end. There are many tools out there
21258 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
21259 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
21260 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
21261 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
21262 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
21264 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
21265 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
21266 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
21267 Specifiers}) follows.
21271 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
21274 :postscript "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
21277 Once you managed to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
21278 the mail contain e.g. a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
21279 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
21282 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
21286 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21289 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
21290 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
21294 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
21295 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
21296 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
21297 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
21300 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
21302 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
21304 (let ((buf (or (get-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
21305 (get-buffer " *nnml move*"))))
21307 (progn (message "Oops, cannot find message buffer") nil)
21309 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
21310 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
21314 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
21315 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
21316 spam. And here is the nifty function:
21319 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
21320 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
21322 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
21323 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
21324 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
21328 @subsection Hashcash
21331 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
21332 costly for each message they send. This has the obvious drawback that
21333 you cannot rely on that everyone in the world uses this technique,
21334 since it is not part of the Internet standards, but it may be useful
21335 in smaller communities.
21337 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
21338 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
21339 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
21340 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
21341 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
21342 instead requires that everyone you communicate with supports the
21343 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
21344 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
21345 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
21346 one of them separately.
21349 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
21350 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
21351 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:}
21352 header. For more details, and for the external application
21353 @code{hashcash} you need to install to use this feature, see
21354 @uref{http://www.cypherspace.org/~adam/hashcash/}. Even more
21355 information can be found at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
21357 If you wish to call hashcash for each message you send, say something
21361 (require 'hashcash)
21362 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'mail-add-payment)
21365 The @code{hashcash.el} library can be found at
21366 @uref{http://users.actrix.gen.nz/mycroft/hashcash.el}, or in the Gnus
21367 development contrib directory.
21369 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
21373 @item hashcash-default-payment
21374 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
21375 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
21376 should consist of. By default this is 0, meaning nothing will be
21377 done. Suggested useful values include 17 to 29.
21379 @item hashcash-payment-alist
21380 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
21381 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
21382 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(ADDR AMOUNT)} cells,
21383 where ADDR is the receiver (email address or newsgroup) and AMOUNT is
21384 the number of bits in the collision that is needed. It can also
21385 contain @samp{(ADDR STRING AMOUNT)} cells, where the STRING is the
21386 string to use (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
21390 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed.
21394 Currently there is no built in functionality in Gnus to verify
21395 hashcash cookies, it is expected that this is performed by your hand
21396 customized mail filtering scripts. Improvements in this area would be
21397 a useful contribution, however.
21399 @node Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
21400 @subsection Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
21401 @cindex spam filtering
21404 The idea behind @code{spam.el} is to have a control center for spam detection
21405 and filtering in Gnus. To that end, @code{spam.el} does two things: it
21406 filters incoming mail, and it analyzes mail known to be spam or ham.
21407 @emph{Ham} is the name used throughout @code{spam.el} to indicate
21410 So, what happens when you load @code{spam.el}? First of all, you get
21411 the following keyboard commands:
21421 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
21422 @code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}.
21424 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{$} mark.
21425 Whenever you see a spam article, make sure to mark its summary line
21426 with @kbd{M-d} before leaving the group. This is done automatically
21427 for unread articles in @emph{spam} groups.
21433 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
21434 @code{spam-bogofilter-score}.
21436 You must have Bogofilter installed for that command to work properly.
21442 Also, when you load @code{spam.el}, you will be able to customize its
21443 variables. Try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{spam} variable
21446 The concepts of ham processors and spam processors are very important.
21447 Ham processors and spam processors for a group can be set with the
21448 @code{spam-process} group parameter, or the
21449 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. Ham processors take
21450 mail known to be non-spam (@emph{ham}) and process it in some way so
21451 that later similar mail will also be considered non-spam. Spam
21452 processors take mail known to be spam and process it so similar spam
21453 will be detected later.
21455 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
21456 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
21457 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
21458 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
21459 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
21460 by customizing the corresponding variable
21461 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
21462 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
21463 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
21464 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
21465 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
21466 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
21467 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
21470 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
21471 they get the @samp{$} mark when you enter the group. You must review
21472 these messages from time to time and remove the @samp{$} mark for
21473 every message that is not spam after all. To remove the @samp{$}
21474 mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to "unread" the article, or @kbd{d} for
21475 declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a group, all
21476 spam-marked (@samp{$}) articles are sent to a spam processor which
21477 will study them as spam samples.
21479 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
21480 @code{spam-ham-marks} gets overridden below, marks @samp{R} and
21481 @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
21482 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
21483 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
21484 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
21485 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
21486 should then adjust the @code{spam-ham-marks} variable.
21488 @defvar spam-ham-marks
21489 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
21490 consider ham. By default, the list contains the deleted, read,
21491 killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks.
21494 @defvar spam-spam-marks
21495 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
21496 consider spam. By default, the list contains only the spam mark.
21499 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
21500 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
21501 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
21502 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
21503 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
21504 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{$},
21507 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
21508 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
21509 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
21510 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
21511 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
21512 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
21513 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
21514 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with
21515 @code{customize-variable gnus-ham-process-destinations}). The ultimate
21516 location is a group name. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
21517 parameter is not set, spam articles are only expired.
21519 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
21520 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
21522 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
21523 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
21524 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
21525 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
21526 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
21527 customize this variable with @code{customize-variable
21528 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). The ultimate location is a group
21529 name. If the @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set,
21530 the spam articles are only expired.
21532 To use the @code{spam.el} facilities for incoming mail filtering, you
21533 must add the following to your fancy split list
21534 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}:
21540 Note that the fancy split may be called @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
21541 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on whether you use the nnmail or
21542 nnimap back ends to retrieve your mail.
21544 The @code{spam-split} function will process incoming mail and send the
21545 mail considered to be spam into the group name given by the variable
21546 @code{spam-split-group}. By default that group name is @samp{spam},
21547 but you can customize it.
21549 @emph{Note for IMAP users}
21551 The boolean variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body} needs to be
21552 set, if you want to split based on the whole message instead of just
21553 the headers. By default, the nnimap backend will only retrieve the
21554 message headers. If you use spam-check-bogofilter, spam-check-ifile,
21555 or spam-check-stat (the splitters that can benefit from the full
21556 message body), you should set this variable. It is not set by default
21557 because it will slow IMAP down.
21559 @xref{Splitting in IMAP}.
21561 @emph{TODO: Currently, spam.el only supports insertion of articles
21562 into a backend. There is no way to tell spam.el that an article is no
21563 longer spam or ham.}
21565 @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
21566 statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
21569 The following are the methods you can use to control the behavior of
21570 @code{spam-split} and their corresponding spam and ham processors:
21573 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
21574 * BBDB Whitelists::
21576 * Regular Expressions Header Matching::
21578 * ifile spam filtering::
21579 * spam-stat spam filtering::
21580 * Extending the spam elisp package::
21583 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
21584 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
21585 @cindex spam filtering
21586 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
21587 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
21590 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
21592 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use blacklists when
21593 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist
21594 will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit
21595 filter, meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to
21600 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
21602 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists when
21603 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the
21604 whitelist will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
21605 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the whitelist, their
21606 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
21610 @defvar spam-use-whitelist-exclusive
21612 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists as an
21613 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
21614 unless the sender is in the whitelist. Use with care.
21618 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
21620 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21621 customizing the group parameters or the
21622 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21623 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21624 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
21628 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
21630 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21631 customizing the group parameters or the
21632 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21633 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21634 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
21635 whitelist. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
21636 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21640 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
21641 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
21642 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
21643 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
21644 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
21646 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
21647 legitimate. All messages from whitelisted addresses are considered
21648 non-spam. Also see @ref{BBDB Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the
21649 Emacs regular expression syntax.
21651 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
21652 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
21653 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
21654 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
21655 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
21656 @file{blacklist} respectively.
21658 @node BBDB Whitelists
21659 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
21660 @cindex spam filtering
21661 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
21662 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
21665 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
21667 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
21668 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted
21669 addresses, without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded
21670 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Messages whose senders are
21671 not in the BBDB will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
21672 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the BBDB, their
21673 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
21677 @defvar spam-use-BBDB-exclusive
21679 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use the BBDB as an
21680 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
21681 unless the sender is in the BBDB. Use with care. Only sender
21682 addresses in the BBDB will be allowed through; all others will be
21683 classified as spammers.
21687 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
21689 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21690 customizing the group parameters or the
21691 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21692 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21693 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
21694 BBDB. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
21695 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21700 @subsubsection Blackholes
21701 @cindex spam filtering
21702 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
21705 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
21707 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
21708 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
21709 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
21710 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
21711 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
21712 contains outdated servers.
21714 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
21715 @code{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
21716 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to nil. It is not recommended at this
21717 time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to nil despite the possible
21718 performance improvements, because some users may be unable to use it,
21719 but you can try it and see if it works for you.
21723 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
21725 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
21729 @defvar spam-blackhole-good-server-regex
21731 A regular expression for IPs that should not be checked against the
21732 blackhole server list. When set to nil, it has no effect.
21736 @defvar spam-use-dig
21738 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
21739 The default setting of @code{t} is recommended.
21743 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
21744 ham processor for blackholes.
21746 @node Regular Expressions Header Matching
21747 @subsubsection Regular Expressions Header Matching
21748 @cindex spam filtering
21749 @cindex regular expressions header matching, spam filtering
21752 @defvar spam-use-regex-headers
21754 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus check the
21755 message headers against lists of regular expressions when you set this
21756 option. The variables @code{spam-regex-headers-spam} and
21757 @code{spam-regex-headers-ham} hold the list of regular expressions.
21758 Gnus will check against the message headers to determine if the
21759 message is spam or ham, respectively.
21763 @defvar spam-regex-headers-spam
21765 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
21766 the message, positively identify it as spam.
21770 @defvar spam-regex-headers-ham
21772 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
21773 the message, positively identify it as ham.
21777 Regular expression header checks are done only on incoming mail.
21778 There is no specific spam or ham processor for regular expressions.
21781 @subsubsection Bogofilter
21782 @cindex spam filtering
21783 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
21786 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
21788 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
21791 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{$} mark for spam
21792 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
21793 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
21794 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
21795 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
21796 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
21798 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on an internal
21799 threshold, set at compilation time. That threshold can't be
21802 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
21803 processing will be turned off.
21805 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
21809 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
21811 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
21812 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
21813 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
21814 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
21815 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
21816 installation documents for details.
21818 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
21822 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
21823 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21824 customizing the group parameters or the
21825 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21826 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
21827 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
21830 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
21831 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21832 customizing the group parameters or the
21833 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21834 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
21835 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
21836 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
21837 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21840 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
21842 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
21843 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
21844 database directory.
21848 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to ifile in intent and
21849 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
21850 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
21851 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
21852 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
21853 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
21855 @node ifile spam filtering
21856 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
21857 @cindex spam filtering
21858 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
21861 @defvar spam-use-ifile
21863 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use ifile, a
21864 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
21868 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
21870 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
21871 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
21872 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
21876 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
21878 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
21879 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
21880 the default value of @samp{spam}.
21883 @defvar spam-ifile-database-path
21885 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
21886 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
21890 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
21891 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
21892 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
21893 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
21896 @node spam-stat spam filtering
21897 @subsubsection spam-stat spam filtering
21898 @cindex spam filtering
21899 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
21903 @xref{Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat}.
21905 @defvar spam-use-stat
21907 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use
21908 spam-stat.el, an Emacs Lisp statistical analyzer.
21912 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
21913 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21914 customizing the group parameters or the
21915 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21916 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
21917 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
21920 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
21921 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21922 customizing the group parameters or the
21923 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21924 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
21925 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
21926 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
21927 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21930 This enables spam.el to cooperate with spam-stat.el. spam-stat.el
21931 provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database, which unlike ifile or
21932 Bogofilter does not require external programs. A spam and a ham
21933 processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for @code{spam-split}
21936 @node Extending the spam elisp package
21937 @subsubsection Extending the spam elisp package
21938 @cindex spam filtering
21939 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
21940 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
21942 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
21943 incoming mail, provide the following:
21951 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
21952 "True if blackbox should be used.")
21957 (spam-use-blackbox . spam-check-blackbox)
21959 to @code{spam-list-of-checks}.
21964 Write the @code{spam-check-blackbox} function. It should return
21965 @samp{nil} or @code{spam-split-group}. See the existing
21966 @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can do.
21969 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
21976 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
21977 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
21980 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
21981 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
21982 Only applicable to spam groups.")
21984 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
21985 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
21986 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
21994 (defun spam-blackbox-register-spam-routine ()
21995 (spam-generic-register-routine
21996 ;; the spam function
21998 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
21999 (when (stringp from)
22000 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer from))))
22001 ;; the ham function
22004 (defun spam-blackbox-register-ham-routine ()
22005 (spam-generic-register-routine
22006 ;; the spam function
22008 ;; the ham function
22010 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
22011 (when (stringp from)
22012 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender from))))))
22015 Write the @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender} and
22016 @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer} functions. You can add
22017 more complex code than fetching the message sender, but keep in mind
22018 that retrieving the whole message takes significantly longer than the
22019 sender through @code{spam-fetch-field-from-fast}, because the message
22020 senders are kept in memory by Gnus.
22025 @node Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
22026 @subsection Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
22027 @cindex Paul Graham
22028 @cindex Graham, Paul
22029 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
22030 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
22031 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
22033 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
22034 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
22035 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
22036 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
22037 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
22038 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
22039 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
22040 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
22041 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
22044 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
22045 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
22046 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
22047 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
22048 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
22049 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
22050 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
22051 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
22053 Gnus supports this kind of filtering. But it needs some setting up.
22054 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
22055 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
22056 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
22057 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
22060 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
22061 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
22062 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
22065 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22066 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22068 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
22069 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
22070 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
22071 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
22072 need several hundred emails in both collections.
22074 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
22075 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
22076 per mail. Use the following:
22078 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
22079 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
22080 is treated as one spam mail.
22083 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
22084 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
22085 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
22088 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
22089 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds
22090 the the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
22091 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
22092 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds the the group
22093 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
22095 When you are using IMAP, you won't have the mails available locally,
22096 so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent to cache
22097 the articles. Then you can use directories such as
22098 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
22099 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
22102 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics -- the
22103 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
22104 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
22105 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
22108 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
22109 reset the dictionary.
22111 @defun spam-stat-reset
22112 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
22115 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
22116 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
22117 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
22118 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
22119 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
22120 only non-spam mails.
22122 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
22123 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
22124 to update the dictionary incrementally.
22127 @defun spam-stat-save
22128 Save the dictionary.
22131 @defvar spam-stat-file
22132 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
22133 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
22136 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
22137 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
22139 In order to use @code{spam-stat} to split your mail, you need to add the
22140 following to your @file{~/.gnus} file:
22143 (require 'spam-stat)
22147 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
22150 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
22151 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
22152 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
22153 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
22155 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
22156 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
22157 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
22158 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
22161 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22162 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22166 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
22167 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
22170 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
22171 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
22172 expression are considered potential spam.
22175 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22176 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22177 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22181 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
22182 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
22183 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
22184 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
22185 mails, when creating the dictionary!
22188 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22189 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22190 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22194 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
22195 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
22196 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
22197 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
22198 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
22202 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22203 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
22204 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22205 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22210 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22211 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22213 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
22215 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
22216 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
22217 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22220 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
22221 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
22222 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22225 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
22226 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
22227 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
22228 already been processed as non-spam.
22231 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
22232 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
22233 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
22234 been processed as spam.
22237 @defun spam-stat-save
22238 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
22239 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22242 @defun spam-stat-load
22243 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
22244 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22247 @defun spam-stat-score-word
22248 Return the spam score for a word.
22251 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
22252 Return the spam score for a buffer.
22255 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
22256 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
22257 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
22260 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
22261 following in your @file{~/.gnus} file:
22264 (require 'spam-stat)
22268 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
22271 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22272 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22273 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22274 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22275 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22276 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22277 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22278 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22279 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22280 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22281 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22282 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22283 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22284 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22287 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
22290 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22291 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22292 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22293 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
22294 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22295 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22298 @node Various Various
22299 @section Various Various
22305 @item gnus-home-directory
22306 @vindex gnus-home-directory
22307 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
22308 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
22310 @item gnus-directory
22311 @vindex gnus-directory
22312 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
22313 this variable, which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment
22314 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
22316 Note that gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
22317 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
22318 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
22319 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
22321 @item gnus-default-directory
22322 @vindex gnus-default-directory
22323 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
22324 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
22325 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
22326 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
22327 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
22328 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
22331 @vindex gnus-verbose
22332 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
22333 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
22334 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
22335 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
22336 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
22338 @item gnus-verbose-backends
22339 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
22340 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
22341 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
22343 @item nnheader-max-head-length
22344 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
22345 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
22346 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
22347 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
22348 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
22349 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
22350 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
22351 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
22352 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
22354 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
22355 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
22356 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
22357 read when doing the operation described above.
22359 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22360 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22362 @cindex invalid characters in file names
22363 @cindex characters in file names
22364 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
22365 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
22366 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
22369 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22373 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
22374 Windows (phooey) systems.
22376 @item gnus-hidden-properties
22377 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
22378 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
22379 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
22380 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
22382 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
22383 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
22384 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
22385 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
22386 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
22388 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
22389 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
22390 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
22392 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
22393 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
22395 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
22396 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
22397 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
22398 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
22401 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
22409 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
22410 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
22412 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
22414 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
22420 Not because of victories @*
22423 but for the common sunshine,@*
22425 the largess of the spring.
22429 but for the day's work done@*
22430 as well as I was able;@*
22431 not for a seat upon the dais@*
22432 but at the common table.@*
22437 @chapter Appendices
22440 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
22441 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
22442 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
22443 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
22444 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
22445 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
22446 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
22447 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
22448 * Frequently Asked Questions::
22455 @cindex Installing under XEmacs
22457 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
22458 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
22459 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{w3}, @samp{mh-e},
22460 @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{rmail}, @samp{eterm}, @samp{mail-lib},
22461 @samp{xemacs-base}, @samp{sh-script} and @samp{fsf-compat}. The
22462 @samp{misc-games} package is required for Morse decoding.
22469 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
22470 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
22472 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
22473 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
22474 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
22475 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
22476 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
22478 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
22479 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
22480 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
22481 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
22482 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
22483 appropriate name, don't you think?)
22485 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
22486 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
22487 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
22488 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
22491 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
22492 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
22493 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
22494 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
22495 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
22496 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
22497 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
22498 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
22499 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
22503 @node Gnus Versions
22504 @subsection Gnus Versions
22506 @cindex September Gnus
22508 @cindex Quassia Gnus
22509 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
22513 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
22514 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
22515 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
22517 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
22518 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
22520 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
22521 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
22523 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
22524 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
22526 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
22527 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
22530 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
22532 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
22533 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
22534 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
22535 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
22536 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
22537 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
22540 @node Other Gnus Versions
22541 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
22544 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
22545 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
22546 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
22547 @sc{mime} capabilities.
22549 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
22550 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
22551 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
22552 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
22559 What's the point of Gnus?
22561 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
22562 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
22563 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
22564 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
22565 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
22566 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
22567 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
22568 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
22569 keep track of millions of people who post?
22571 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
22572 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
22573 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
22574 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
22575 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
22576 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
22577 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
22578 every one of you to explore and invent.
22580 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
22581 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
22584 @node Compatibility
22585 @subsection Compatibility
22587 @cindex compatibility
22588 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
22589 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
22590 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
22595 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
22599 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
22602 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
22605 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
22606 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
22607 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
22608 important variables have their values copied into their global
22609 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
22610 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
22612 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
22613 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
22614 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
22615 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
22616 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
22620 @cindex highlighting
22621 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
22622 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
22623 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
22624 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
22625 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
22626 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
22629 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
22630 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
22631 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
22632 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
22634 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
22635 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
22636 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
22637 to stop doing it the old way.
22639 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
22641 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
22643 @cindex reporting bugs
22645 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
22646 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
22647 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
22649 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
22650 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
22651 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
22652 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
22657 @subsection Conformity
22659 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
22660 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
22668 There are no known breaches of this standard.
22672 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
22674 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
22675 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
22676 We do have some breaches to this one.
22682 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
22683 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
22684 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
22685 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
22686 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
22691 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
22692 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
22693 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
22694 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
22696 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
22698 All the various @sc{mime} RFCs are supported.
22700 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
22701 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
22703 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
22706 RFC 1991 is the original PGP message specification, published as a
22707 Information RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now called Open PGP, and
22708 put on the Standards Track. Both document a non-@sc{mime} aware PGP
22709 format. Gnus supports both encoding (signing and encryption) and
22710 decoding (verification and decryption).
22712 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
22713 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
22714 1991) describes the @sc{mime}-wrapping around the RF 1991/2440 format.
22715 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
22717 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
22718 RFC 2633 describes the @sc{s/mime} format.
22720 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
22721 RFC 1730 is @sc{imap} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060 (@sc{imap} 4
22722 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5 authentication for @sc{imap}. RFC
22723 2086 describes access control lists (ACLs) for @sc{imap}. RFC 2359
22724 describes a @sc{imap} protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper
22725 TLS integration (STARTTLS) with @sc{imap}. RFC 1731 describes the
22726 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @sc{imap}.
22730 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
22731 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
22736 @subsection Emacsen
22742 Gnus should work on :
22750 XEmacs 21.1.1 and up.
22754 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
22755 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
22756 Emacs versions. However, T-gnus does support ``Mule 2.3 based on Emacs
22757 19.34'' and possibly the versions of XEmacs prior to 21.1.1, e.g. 20.4.
22758 See the file ``README'' in the T-gnus distribution for more details.
22760 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
22761 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
22762 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
22766 @node Gnus Development
22767 @subsection Gnus Development
22769 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
22770 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
22771 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
22772 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
22773 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
22774 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
22775 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
22776 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
22778 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
22779 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
22780 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
22781 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
22782 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
22785 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
22786 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
22787 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
22788 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
22789 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
22791 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
22792 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
22793 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
22794 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
22795 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
22796 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
22797 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
22798 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
22799 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
22800 can't be assumed to do so.
22805 @subsection Contributors
22806 @cindex contributors
22808 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
22809 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
22810 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
22811 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
22812 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
22813 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
22814 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
22815 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
22816 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
22817 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
22819 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
22825 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
22828 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
22829 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
22830 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
22831 functionality and stuff.
22834 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
22835 well as numerous other things).
22838 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
22841 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
22844 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
22847 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
22850 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
22851 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
22854 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
22857 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
22858 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
22861 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
22864 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
22867 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
22870 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
22873 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
22874 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
22877 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
22880 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
22883 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
22886 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
22890 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
22893 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
22896 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
22899 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
22900 well as autoconf support.
22904 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
22905 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
22907 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
22916 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
22920 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
22930 Alexei V. Barantsev,
22945 Massimo Campostrini,
22950 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
22951 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
22955 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
22958 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
22964 Michael Welsh Duggan,
22969 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
22973 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
22981 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
22983 Michelangelo Grigni,
22987 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
22989 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
22991 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
22998 François Felix Ingrand,
22999 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
23000 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
23002 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
23013 Peter Skov Knudsen,
23014 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
23016 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
23017 Thor Kristoffersen,
23020 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
23038 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
23039 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
23046 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
23051 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
23055 John McClary Prevost,
23061 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
23066 Christian von Roques,
23069 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
23076 Philippe Schnoebelen,
23078 Randal L. Schwartz,
23092 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
23097 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
23113 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
23118 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
23119 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
23120 (550kB and counting).
23122 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
23125 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
23126 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
23130 @subsection New Features
23131 @cindex new features
23134 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
23135 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
23136 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
23137 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
23138 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
23141 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
23142 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
23143 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
23146 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
23148 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
23153 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
23154 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
23157 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
23158 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
23161 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
23164 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
23165 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
23166 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
23169 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
23170 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
23171 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
23172 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
23175 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
23176 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23179 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
23180 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
23181 (@pxref{The Active File}).
23184 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
23185 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
23188 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
23189 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
23190 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
23193 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
23194 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
23195 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
23198 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus.el}) to avoid cluttering up
23199 the @file{.emacs} file.
23202 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
23203 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
23206 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
23207 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
23210 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
23211 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23214 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
23215 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
23218 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
23219 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
23222 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
23225 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
23226 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
23229 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
23230 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
23233 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
23234 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
23237 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
23240 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
23241 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
23244 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
23248 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
23252 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
23253 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
23256 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
23262 @node September Gnus
23263 @subsubsection September Gnus
23267 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
23271 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
23276 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
23277 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
23281 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
23282 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
23286 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
23290 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
23291 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
23294 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
23298 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
23301 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
23304 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
23307 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
23311 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
23312 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
23315 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
23319 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
23323 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
23327 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
23331 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
23334 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
23335 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
23338 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
23342 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
23343 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
23346 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
23349 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
23350 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
23351 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
23354 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
23358 The Gnus cache is much faster.
23361 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
23365 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
23366 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
23369 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
23370 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
23373 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
23374 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
23377 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
23378 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
23379 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
23382 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
23383 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
23386 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
23389 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
23392 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
23395 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
23398 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
23399 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
23402 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
23406 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
23409 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
23414 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
23417 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
23421 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23424 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
23428 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
23431 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
23434 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
23435 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
23438 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
23439 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
23443 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
23444 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
23447 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
23451 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
23452 buffer to allow easier treatment.
23455 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
23458 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
23462 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
23466 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
23467 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
23470 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
23474 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
23475 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
23478 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
23479 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
23482 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
23486 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
23489 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
23492 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
23498 @subsubsection Red Gnus
23500 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
23504 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
23511 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
23514 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
23515 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
23518 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
23519 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
23523 Article washing status can be displayed in the
23524 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
23527 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
23530 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
23531 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
23534 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
23538 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
23539 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
23543 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
23544 Server Internals}).
23547 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
23551 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
23554 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
23555 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
23558 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
23559 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
23560 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
23563 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
23564 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
23567 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
23568 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
23571 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
23575 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
23576 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
23579 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
23580 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
23583 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
23587 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
23590 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
23594 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
23595 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
23598 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
23599 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
23602 A new command for reading collections of documents
23603 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
23604 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
23607 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
23611 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
23612 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
23615 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
23616 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
23617 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
23620 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
23621 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
23625 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
23629 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
23633 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
23638 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
23642 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
23646 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
23647 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
23650 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
23656 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
23658 New features in Gnus 5.6:
23663 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
23664 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
23665 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
23668 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
23669 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
23670 group, which is created automatically.
23673 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
23677 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
23680 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
23681 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
23684 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
23688 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
23691 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
23692 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
23695 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
23698 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
23699 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
23702 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
23703 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
23706 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
23707 control over simplification.
23710 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
23713 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
23717 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
23720 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
23723 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
23724 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
23725 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
23728 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
23729 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
23732 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
23736 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
23737 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
23740 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
23741 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
23744 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
23748 A history of where mails have been split is available.
23751 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
23754 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
23755 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
23758 A new function for citing in Message has been
23759 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
23762 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
23765 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
23769 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
23770 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
23773 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
23774 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
23777 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
23780 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
23784 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
23785 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
23787 New features in Gnus 5.8:
23792 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
23793 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
23795 If you used procmail like in
23798 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
23799 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
23800 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
23801 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
23804 this now has changed to
23808 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
23812 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
23813 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
23816 Gnus is now a @sc{mime}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
23817 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
23820 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
23821 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
23824 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
23825 called to position point.
23828 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
23829 summary buffers and @sc{nov} files.
23832 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
23833 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
23836 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
23837 subtly different manner.
23840 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
23841 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
23842 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
23845 Gnus can now read @sc{imap} mail via @code{nnimap}.
23853 @section The Manual
23857 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
23858 either @code{texi2dvi}
23860 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
23861 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
23863 to get what you hold in your hands now.
23865 The following conventions have been used:
23870 This is a @samp{string}
23873 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
23876 This is a @file{file}
23879 This is a @code{symbol}
23883 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
23887 (setq flargnoze "yes")
23890 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
23893 (setq flumphel 'yes)
23896 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
23897 ever get them confused.
23901 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
23902 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
23903 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
23904 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
23905 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
23906 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
23907 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
23913 @node On Writing Manuals
23914 @section On Writing Manuals
23916 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
23917 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
23918 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
23919 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
23920 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
23921 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
23924 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
23925 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
23926 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
23929 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
23930 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
23935 @section Terminology
23937 @cindex terminology
23942 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
23943 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
23944 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
23945 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
23946 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
23950 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
23951 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
23952 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
23953 not posting, and replying is not following up.
23957 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
23961 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
23966 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
23967 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
23968 commonly fetched via the protocol NNTP, whereas mail messages could be
23969 read from a file on the local disk. The internal architecture of Gnus
23970 thus comprises a `front end' and a number of `back ends'. Internally,
23971 when you enter a group (by hitting @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke
23972 a function in the front end in Gnus. The front end then `talks' to a
23973 back end and says things like ``Give me the list of articles in the foo
23974 group'' or ``Show me article number 4711''.
23976 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back end
23977 accesses news via NNTP, the @code{nnimap} back end accesses mail via
23978 IMAP) or a file format and directory layout (the @code{nnspool} back end
23979 accesses news via the common `spool directory' format, the @code{nnml}
23980 back end access mail via a file format and directory layout that's
23983 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
23984 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
23985 access the articles.
23987 However, sometimes the term `back end' is also used where `server'
23988 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term `select
23989 method' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
23994 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
23995 default, way of getting news.
23999 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
24000 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
24005 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
24006 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
24010 A message that has been posted as news.
24013 @cindex mail message
24014 A message that has been mailed.
24018 A mail message or news article
24022 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
24027 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
24032 A line from the head of an article.
24036 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
24037 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
24041 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
24042 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
24043 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
24044 normal @sc{head} format.
24048 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
24049 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
24050 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
24051 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
24052 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
24053 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
24055 @item killed groups
24056 @cindex killed groups
24057 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
24058 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
24060 @item zombie groups
24061 @cindex zombie groups
24062 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
24065 @cindex active file
24066 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
24067 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
24068 is rather large, as you might surmise.
24071 @cindex bogus groups
24072 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
24073 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
24074 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
24077 @cindex activating groups
24078 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
24079 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
24080 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
24084 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
24086 @item select method
24087 @cindex select method
24088 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
24091 @item virtual server
24092 @cindex virtual server
24093 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
24094 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
24095 whole is a virtual server.
24099 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
24100 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
24103 @item ephemeral groups
24104 @cindex ephemeral groups
24105 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
24106 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
24107 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
24110 @cindex solid groups
24111 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
24112 group buffer are solid groups.
24114 @item sparse articles
24115 @cindex sparse articles
24116 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
24117 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
24121 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
24122 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
24126 @cindex thread root
24127 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
24128 articles in the thread.
24132 An article that has responses.
24136 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
24140 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
24141 specified by RFC 1153.
24147 @node Customization
24148 @section Customization
24149 @cindex general customization
24151 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
24152 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
24153 for some quite common situations.
24156 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
24157 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
24158 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
24159 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
24163 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
24164 @subsection Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
24166 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
24167 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
24168 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
24172 @item gnus-read-active-file
24173 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
24174 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
24175 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24176 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
24177 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
24179 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
24180 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
24181 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
24182 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
24186 @node Slow Terminal Connection
24187 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
24189 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
24190 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
24191 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
24195 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
24196 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
24197 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
24198 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
24199 horizontal and vertical recentering.
24201 @item gnus-visible-headers
24202 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
24203 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
24204 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
24205 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
24207 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
24209 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
24210 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
24211 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
24214 @item gnus-use-full-window
24215 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
24216 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
24217 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
24218 want to read them anyway.
24220 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
24221 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
24225 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
24226 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
24227 lines, which might save some time.
24231 @node Little Disk Space
24232 @subsection Little Disk Space
24235 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
24236 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
24240 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
24241 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
24242 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24243 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24246 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
24247 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
24248 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24249 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24252 @item gnus-save-killed-list
24253 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
24254 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
24255 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
24256 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
24262 @subsection Slow Machine
24263 @cindex slow machine
24265 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
24266 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
24268 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24269 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
24271 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
24272 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
24273 summary buffer faster.
24277 @node Troubleshooting
24278 @section Troubleshooting
24279 @cindex troubleshooting
24281 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
24289 Make sure your computer is switched on.
24292 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
24293 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
24297 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
24298 like @samp{T-gnus 6.15.* (based on Oort Gnus v0.*; for SEMI 1.1*, FLIM
24299 1.1*)} you have the right files loaded. If, on the other hand, you get
24300 something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp flee}, you have some old
24301 @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
24304 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
24308 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
24309 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
24310 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
24311 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
24312 something like that.
24315 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
24318 @cindex reporting bugs
24320 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
24322 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
24323 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
24324 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
24325 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
24327 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
24328 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
24329 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
24330 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
24333 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
24334 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
24335 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
24336 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
24337 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
24338 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
24340 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
24341 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
24342 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
24346 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
24347 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
24350 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
24351 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
24352 edebug. Debugging lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
24353 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
24354 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
24355 you discover some weird behaviour when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
24356 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
24357 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
24358 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
24359 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
24360 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
24361 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
24362 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
24363 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
24368 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate a elisp error but
24369 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
24370 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press C-j when things are
24371 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
24372 helps isolating the real problem areas). A fancier approach is to use
24373 the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is (or should be) fully
24374 documented elsewhere, but to get you started there are a few steps
24375 that need to be followed. First, instrument the part of Gnus you are
24376 interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package RET
24377 gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-packagre RET message}. Then perform
24378 the operation that is slow and press @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will
24379 then see which operations that takes time, and can debug them further.
24380 If the entire operation takes much longer than the time spent in the
24381 slowest function in the profiler output, you probably profiled the
24382 wrong part of Gnus. To reset profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x
24383 elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove
24384 profiling, but given the complexities and dynamic code generation in
24385 Gnus, it might not always work perfectly.
24387 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
24388 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
24390 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
24391 @cindex ding mailing list
24392 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
24393 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
24397 @node Gnus Reference Guide
24398 @section Gnus Reference Guide
24400 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
24401 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
24402 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
24403 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
24406 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
24407 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
24408 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
24409 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
24410 and general methods of operation.
24413 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
24414 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
24415 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
24416 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
24417 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
24418 * Group Info:: The group info format.
24419 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
24420 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
24421 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
24425 @node Gnus Utility Functions
24426 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
24427 @cindex Gnus utility functions
24428 @cindex utility functions
24430 @cindex internal variables
24432 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
24433 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
24434 Below is a list of the most common ones.
24438 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
24439 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
24440 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
24442 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
24443 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
24444 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
24446 @item gnus-group-real-name
24447 @findex gnus-group-real-name
24448 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
24451 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
24452 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
24453 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
24454 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
24456 @item gnus-get-info
24457 @findex gnus-get-info
24458 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
24460 @item gnus-group-unread
24461 @findex gnus-group-unread
24462 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
24466 @findex gnus-active
24467 The active entry for @var{group}.
24469 @item gnus-set-active
24470 @findex gnus-set-active
24471 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
24473 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
24474 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
24475 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
24478 @item gnus-continuum-version
24479 @findex gnus-continuum-version
24480 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
24481 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
24484 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
24485 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
24486 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
24488 @item gnus-news-group-p
24489 @findex gnus-news-group-p
24490 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
24492 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
24493 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
24494 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
24496 @item gnus-server-to-method
24497 @findex gnus-server-to-method
24498 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
24500 @item gnus-server-equal
24501 @findex gnus-server-equal
24502 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
24504 @item gnus-group-native-p
24505 @findex gnus-group-native-p
24506 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
24508 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
24509 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
24510 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
24512 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
24513 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
24514 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
24516 @item group-group-find-parameter
24517 @findex group-group-find-parameter
24518 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
24519 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
24521 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
24522 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
24523 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
24525 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
24526 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
24527 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
24529 @item gnus-check-backend-function
24530 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
24531 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
24532 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
24535 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
24539 @item gnus-read-method
24540 @findex gnus-read-method
24541 Prompts the user for a select method.
24546 @node Back End Interface
24547 @subsection Back End Interface
24549 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
24550 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
24551 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
24552 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
24553 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
24554 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
24556 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
24557 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
24558 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
24559 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
24560 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
24561 been opened, the function should fail.
24563 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
24564 name. Take this example:
24568 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
24569 (nntp-port-number 4324))
24572 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
24573 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
24575 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
24576 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
24577 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
24579 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
24580 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
24581 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
24583 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
24584 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
24585 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
24586 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
24587 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
24588 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
24591 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
24592 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
24593 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
24594 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
24597 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
24598 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
24599 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
24600 possible for later articles to `re-use' older article numbers without
24601 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
24602 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
24603 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
24604 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
24605 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
24606 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
24608 The previous paragraph already mentions all the `hard' restrictions that
24609 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
24610 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
24611 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
24612 the `no-reuse' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
24613 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
24614 of numbers as long as possible.
24616 Note that by convention, backends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
24617 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
24618 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
24620 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
24623 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
24626 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
24627 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
24628 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
24629 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
24630 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
24631 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
24635 @node Required Back End Functions
24636 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
24640 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
24642 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
24643 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
24644 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
24645 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
24647 The result data should either be HEADs or @sc{nov} lines, and the result
24648 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
24649 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
24650 of HEADs and @sc{nov} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
24652 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
24653 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
24654 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
24655 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
24656 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
24657 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
24658 number, do maximum fetches.
24660 Here's an example HEAD:
24663 221 1056 Article retrieved.
24664 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
24665 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
24666 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
24667 Subject: Re: Something very droll
24668 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
24669 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
24671 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
24672 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
24673 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
24677 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
24678 these in the data buffer.
24680 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
24684 head = error / valid-head
24685 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
24686 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
24687 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
24688 header = <text> eol
24691 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
24692 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
24696 nov-buffer = *nov-line
24697 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
24698 field = <text except TAB>
24701 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
24705 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
24707 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
24708 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
24710 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
24711 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
24712 server. In fact, it should do so.
24714 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
24715 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
24718 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
24720 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
24721 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
24724 There should be no data returned.
24727 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
24729 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
24730 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
24731 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
24732 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
24734 There should be no data returned.
24737 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
24739 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
24740 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
24741 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
24742 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
24744 There should be no data returned.
24747 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
24749 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
24751 There should be no data returned.
24754 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
24756 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
24757 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
24758 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
24759 it would be nice if that were possible.
24761 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
24762 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
24763 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
24764 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
24765 into its article buffer.
24767 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
24768 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
24769 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
24770 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
24771 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
24772 on successful article retrieval.
24775 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
24777 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
24778 making @var{group} the current group.
24780 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
24783 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
24786 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
24789 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
24790 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
24791 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
24792 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
24793 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
24794 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
24795 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
24796 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
24797 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
24801 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
24802 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
24803 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
24807 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
24809 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
24810 a no-op on most back ends.
24812 There should be no data returned.
24815 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
24817 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
24820 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
24823 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
24824 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
24827 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
24828 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
24829 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
24830 and the highest as 0.
24833 active-file = *active-line
24834 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
24836 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
24839 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
24840 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
24841 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
24844 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
24846 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
24847 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
24848 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
24849 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
24850 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
24851 clear if the posting could not be completed.
24853 There should be no result data from this function.
24858 @node Optional Back End Functions
24859 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
24863 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
24865 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
24866 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
24867 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
24869 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
24870 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
24871 former is in the same format as the data from
24872 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
24873 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
24876 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
24880 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
24882 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
24883 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all the
24884 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
24885 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
24886 should return a non-nil value.
24888 There should be no result data from this function.
24891 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
24893 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
24894 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
24895 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
24896 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
24897 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
24898 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
24899 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
24900 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
24902 There should be no result data from this function.
24905 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
24907 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
24908 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
24909 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
24910 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
24911 propagate the mark information to the server.
24913 @var{action} is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
24916 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
24919 @var{range} is a range of articles you wish to update marks on.
24920 @var{action} is @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove
24921 marks (preserving all marks not mentioned). @var{mark} is a list of
24922 marks; where each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are
24923 @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
24924 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
24925 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
24926 possible, not limit itself to these.
24928 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
24929 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
24930 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
24931 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
24933 An example action list:
24936 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
24937 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
24938 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
24941 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
24942 mark on (currently not used for anything).
24944 There should be no result data from this function.
24946 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
24948 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
24949 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
24950 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
24951 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
24952 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
24954 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
24955 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
24956 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
24959 There should be no result data from this function.
24962 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
24964 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
24965 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
24966 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query the
24967 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
24968 to be heeded---if the back end decides that it is too much work just
24969 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
24970 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
24972 There should be no result data from this function.
24975 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
24977 The result data from this function should be a description of
24981 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
24983 description = <text>
24986 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
24988 The result data from this function should be the description of all
24989 groups available on the server.
24992 description-buffer = *description-line
24996 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
24998 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
24999 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
25000 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
25001 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
25002 in the active buffer format.
25004 It is okay for this function to return `too many' groups; some back ends
25005 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
25006 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
25007 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
25008 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
25009 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
25010 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
25013 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
25015 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
25017 There should be no return data.
25020 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
25022 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
25023 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
25024 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
25025 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
25026 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
25029 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
25032 There should be no result data returned.
25035 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
25038 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
25039 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
25041 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
25042 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
25043 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
25044 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
25045 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
25046 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
25048 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
25049 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
25052 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
25053 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
25055 The group should exist before the backend is asked to accept the
25056 article for that group.
25058 There should be no data returned.
25061 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
25063 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
25064 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
25065 this function in short order.
25067 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
25068 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
25070 There should be no data returned.
25073 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
25075 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
25076 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
25078 There should be no data returned.
25081 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
25083 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
25084 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
25085 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
25087 There should be no data returned.
25090 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
25092 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
25093 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
25095 There should be no data returned.
25100 @node Error Messaging
25101 @subsubsection Error Messaging
25103 @findex nnheader-report
25104 @findex nnheader-get-report
25105 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
25106 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
25107 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
25108 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
25109 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
25110 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
25113 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
25115 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
25118 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
25119 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
25120 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
25121 takes one argument---the server symbol.
25123 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
25124 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
25125 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
25128 @node Writing New Back Ends
25129 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
25131 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
25132 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
25133 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
25134 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
25135 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
25138 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
25139 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
25140 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
25142 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
25143 package called @code{nnoo}.
25145 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
25146 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
25152 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
25153 parameters. For instance:
25156 (nnoo-declare nndir
25160 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
25161 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
25164 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
25165 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
25166 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
25168 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
25169 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
25170 a function in those back ends.
25173 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25174 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25175 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25178 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
25179 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
25180 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
25182 @item nnoo-define-basics
25183 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
25187 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25191 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
25192 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
25193 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
25195 @item nnoo-map-functions
25196 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
25197 functions from the parent back ends.
25200 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25201 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25202 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
25205 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
25206 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
25207 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
25208 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
25211 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
25212 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
25213 haven't already been defined.
25219 nnmh-request-newgroups)
25223 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
25224 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
25225 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
25230 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
25233 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
25234 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
25238 (require 'nnheader)
25242 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
25244 (nnoo-declare nndir
25247 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25248 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25249 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25251 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
25252 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
25255 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
25257 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
25258 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
25259 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
25261 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
25262 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
25264 ;;; Interface functions.
25266 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25268 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
25269 (setq nndir-directory
25270 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
25272 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
25273 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
25274 (push `(nndir-current-group
25275 ,(file-name-nondirectory
25276 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25278 (push `(nndir-top-directory
25279 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25281 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
25283 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25284 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25285 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25286 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
25287 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
25291 nnmh-status-message
25293 nnmh-request-newgroups))
25299 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25300 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25302 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
25303 @findex gnus-declare-backend
25304 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
25305 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
25306 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
25308 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
25309 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
25314 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
25317 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
25319 The abilities can be:
25323 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
25325 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
25327 This back end supports both mail and news.
25329 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
25332 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
25333 articles and groups.
25335 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
25336 true for almost all back ends.
25337 @item prompt-address
25338 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
25339 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
25340 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
25344 @node Mail-like Back Ends
25345 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
25347 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
25348 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
25349 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
25350 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
25353 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
25354 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
25355 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
25358 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
25359 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
25362 This function takes four parameters.
25366 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
25369 @item exit-function
25370 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
25372 @item temp-directory
25373 Where the temporary files should be stored.
25376 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
25377 performed for one group only.
25380 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
25381 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
25382 find the article number assigned to this article.
25384 The function also uses the following variables:
25385 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
25386 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
25387 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
25388 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
25392 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
25393 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
25397 @node Score File Syntax
25398 @subsection Score File Syntax
25400 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
25401 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
25402 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
25404 Here's a typical score file:
25408 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
25415 BNF definition of a score file:
25418 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
25419 element = rule / atom
25420 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
25421 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
25422 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
25423 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
25425 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
25426 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
25427 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
25428 date-header = "date"
25429 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25430 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25431 score = "nil" / <integer>
25432 date = "nil" / <natural number>
25433 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
25434 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
25435 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
25436 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
25437 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25438 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25439 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
25440 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25441 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
25442 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
25443 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
25444 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
25445 exclude-files / read-only / touched
25446 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
25447 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
25448 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
25449 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
25450 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
25451 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
25452 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
25453 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
25454 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
25455 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
25456 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
25457 eval = "eval" space <form>
25458 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
25461 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
25464 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
25465 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
25466 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
25467 one looong line, then that's ok.
25469 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
25470 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
25474 @subsection Headers
25476 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
25477 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
25478 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
25479 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
25481 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
25482 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
25483 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
25484 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
25485 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
25486 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
25487 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
25489 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
25490 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
25491 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
25492 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
25493 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
25495 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
25496 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
25502 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
25503 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
25505 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
25506 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
25507 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
25508 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
25510 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
25514 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
25517 is transformed into
25520 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
25523 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
25524 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
25527 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
25530 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
25531 is slightly tricky:
25534 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
25540 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
25543 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
25549 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
25556 and is equal to the previous range.
25558 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
25559 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
25560 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
25564 range = simple-range / normal-range
25565 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
25566 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
25567 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
25568 number *[ " " contents ]
25571 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
25572 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
25573 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
25574 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
25575 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
25580 @subsection Group Info
25582 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
25583 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
25584 describes the group.
25586 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
25587 second is a more complex one:
25590 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
25592 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
25593 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
25595 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
25598 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
25599 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
25600 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
25601 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
25602 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
25603 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
25604 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
25605 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
25606 this section is about.
25608 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
25609 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
25610 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
25612 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
25615 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
25616 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
25617 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25618 group = quote <string> quote
25619 ralevel = rank / level
25620 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
25621 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
25622 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
25624 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
25625 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
25626 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
25627 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
25630 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
25631 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
25634 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
25635 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
25638 @item gnus-info-group
25639 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
25640 @findex gnus-info-group
25641 @findex gnus-info-set-group
25642 Get/set the group name.
25644 @item gnus-info-rank
25645 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
25646 @findex gnus-info-rank
25647 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
25648 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
25650 @item gnus-info-level
25651 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
25652 @findex gnus-info-level
25653 @findex gnus-info-set-level
25654 Get/set the group level.
25656 @item gnus-info-score
25657 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
25658 @findex gnus-info-score
25659 @findex gnus-info-set-score
25660 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
25662 @item gnus-info-read
25663 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
25664 @findex gnus-info-read
25665 @findex gnus-info-set-read
25666 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
25668 @item gnus-info-marks
25669 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
25670 @findex gnus-info-marks
25671 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
25672 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
25674 @item gnus-info-method
25675 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
25676 @findex gnus-info-method
25677 @findex gnus-info-set-method
25678 Get/set the group select method.
25680 @item gnus-info-params
25681 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
25682 @findex gnus-info-params
25683 @findex gnus-info-set-params
25684 Get/set the group parameters.
25687 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
25688 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
25690 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
25691 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
25692 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
25693 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
25696 @node Extended Interactive
25697 @subsection Extended Interactive
25698 @cindex interactive
25699 @findex gnus-interactive
25701 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
25702 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
25703 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
25706 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
25707 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
25712 The best thing to do would have been to implement
25713 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
25714 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
25715 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
25716 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
25717 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
25718 @code{interactive}.
25720 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
25725 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
25726 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
25730 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
25731 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
25732 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
25735 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
25739 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
25743 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
25749 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
25750 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
25754 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
25755 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
25756 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
25758 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
25759 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
25760 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
25761 Gnus, that's very useful.
25763 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
25764 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
25765 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
25766 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
25767 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
25768 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
25769 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
25770 following function:
25773 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
25777 (,function ,@@args))
25781 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
25782 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
25783 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
25786 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
25787 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
25788 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
25790 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
25791 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
25792 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
25795 @node Various File Formats
25796 @subsection Various File Formats
25799 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
25800 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
25804 @node Active File Format
25805 @subsubsection Active File Format
25807 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
25808 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
25811 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
25814 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
25815 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
25816 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
25817 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
25818 no.general 1000 900 y
25821 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
25824 active = *group-line
25825 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
25826 group = <non-white-space string>
25828 high-number = <non-negative integer>
25829 low-number = <positive integer>
25830 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
25833 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
25834 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
25837 @node Newsgroups File Format
25838 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
25840 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
25841 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
25842 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
25845 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
25846 Here's the definition:
25850 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
25851 group = <non-white-space string>
25853 description = <string>
25858 @node Emacs for Heathens
25859 @section Emacs for Heathens
25861 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
25862 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
25863 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
25864 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
25865 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
25866 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
25867 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
25871 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
25872 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
25877 @subsection Keystrokes
25881 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
25884 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
25887 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
25888 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
25889 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
25890 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
25891 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
25892 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
25894 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
25895 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
25896 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
25897 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
25898 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
25899 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
25900 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
25902 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
25903 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
25904 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
25905 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
25906 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
25907 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
25908 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
25910 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
25911 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
25912 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
25913 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
25914 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
25920 @subsection Emacs Lisp
25922 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
25923 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
25924 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
25925 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
25927 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
25928 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
25929 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
25930 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
25931 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
25932 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
25933 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
25936 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
25937 write the following:
25940 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
25943 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
25944 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
25945 you can go and fill your @file{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
25948 If you have put that thing in your @file{.emacs} file, it will be read
25949 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
25950 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
25951 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
25952 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
25954 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
25955 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
25956 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
25960 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
25964 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
25967 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
25968 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
25971 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
25974 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
25975 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
25978 @include gnus-faq.texi
25998 @c Local Variables:
26000 @c coding: iso-8859-1
26002 % LocalWords: BNF mucho detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
26003 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
26004 % LocalWords: nnmbox newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
26005 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
26006 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref