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4 @settitle T-gnus 6.15 Manual
10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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266 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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275 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
276 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
279 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
280 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
281 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
282 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
283 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
284 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
285 License'' in the Emacs manual.
287 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
288 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
289 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
291 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
292 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
293 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
294 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
302 This file documents gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
304 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
306 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
307 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
308 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
309 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
310 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
311 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
312 License'' in the Emacs manual.
314 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
315 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
316 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
318 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
319 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
320 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
321 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
327 @title T-gnus 6.15 Manual
329 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
332 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
333 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
335 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
336 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
337 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
338 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
339 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
340 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
341 License'' in the Emacs manual.
343 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
344 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
345 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
347 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
348 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
349 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
350 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
359 @top The gnus Newsreader
363 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using gnus. The news
364 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
365 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
368 T-gnus provides MIME features based on SEMI API. So T-gnus supports
369 your right to read strange messages including big images or other
370 various kinds of formats. T-gnus also supports
371 internationalization/localization and multiscript features based on MULE
372 API. So T-gnus does not discriminate various language communities.
373 Oh, if you are a Klingon, please wait Unicode Next Generation.
375 This manual corresponds to T-gnus 6.15.
386 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
387 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
389 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
390 being accused of plagiarism:
392 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
393 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
394 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
395 can even read news with it!
397 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
398 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
399 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend gnus to make it behave
400 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
401 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
407 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
408 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
409 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
410 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
411 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
412 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
413 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
414 * Various:: General purpose settings.
415 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
416 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
417 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
418 * Key Index:: Key Index.
421 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
425 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
426 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
427 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
428 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
429 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
430 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
431 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
432 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
433 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
434 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
435 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
439 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
440 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
441 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
445 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
446 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
447 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
448 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
449 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
450 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
451 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
452 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
453 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
454 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
455 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
456 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
457 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
458 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
459 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
460 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
461 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
465 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
466 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
467 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
471 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
472 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
473 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
474 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
475 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
479 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
480 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
481 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
482 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
486 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
487 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
488 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
489 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
490 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
491 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
492 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
493 * Threading:: How threads are made.
494 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
495 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
496 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
497 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
498 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
499 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
500 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
501 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
502 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
503 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
504 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
505 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
506 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
507 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
508 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
509 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
510 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
511 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
512 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
513 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
514 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
516 Summary Buffer Format
518 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
519 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
520 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
521 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
525 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
526 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
528 Reply, Followup and Post
530 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
531 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
532 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
533 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
537 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
538 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
539 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
540 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
541 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
542 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
546 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
547 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
549 Customizing Threading
551 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
552 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
553 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
554 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
558 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
559 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
560 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
561 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
562 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
563 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
567 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
568 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
569 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
573 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
574 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
575 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
576 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
577 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
578 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
579 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
580 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
582 Alternative Approaches
584 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
585 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
587 Various Summary Stuff
589 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
590 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
591 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
592 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
596 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
597 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
598 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
599 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
600 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
604 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
605 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
606 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
607 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
608 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
609 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
610 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
611 * Using GPG:: How to use GPG and MML to sign and encrypt messages
615 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
616 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
617 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
618 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
619 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
620 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
621 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
625 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
626 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
627 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
628 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
629 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
630 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
631 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
635 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
636 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
640 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
641 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
642 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
643 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
644 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
645 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
646 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
647 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
648 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
649 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
650 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
651 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
652 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
656 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
657 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
658 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
660 Choosing a Mail Backend
662 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
663 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
664 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
665 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
666 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
667 * Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
671 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
672 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
673 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
674 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
675 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
676 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
680 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
681 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
682 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
683 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
684 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
685 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
689 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
693 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
694 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
695 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
699 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
700 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
701 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
705 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
706 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
710 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
711 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
712 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
713 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
714 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
715 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
716 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
717 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
718 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
719 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
723 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
724 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
725 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
729 * Group Agent Commands::
730 * Summary Agent Commands::
731 * Server Agent Commands::
735 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
736 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
737 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
738 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
739 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
740 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
741 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
742 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
743 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
744 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
745 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
746 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
747 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
748 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
749 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
750 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
754 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
755 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
756 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
757 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
761 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
762 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
763 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
767 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
768 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
769 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
770 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
771 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
772 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
773 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
774 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
775 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
776 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
777 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
778 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
779 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
780 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
781 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
782 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
783 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
784 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
788 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
789 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
790 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
791 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
792 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
796 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
797 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
798 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
799 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
803 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
804 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
805 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
806 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
807 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
811 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
812 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
813 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
814 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
815 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
816 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
817 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
818 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
822 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
823 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
824 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
825 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
826 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
827 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
828 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
829 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
830 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
834 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
835 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
836 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
837 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
838 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
842 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
843 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
844 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
845 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
849 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
850 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
851 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
852 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
853 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
854 * Group Info:: The group info format.
855 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
856 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
857 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
861 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
862 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
863 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
864 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
865 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
866 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
870 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
871 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
875 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
876 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
882 @chapter Starting gnus
887 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting gnus
888 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
891 @findex gnus-other-frame
892 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
893 If you want to start gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
894 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
896 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
897 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
898 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
900 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
901 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
904 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
905 * The First Time:: What does gnus do the first time you start it?
906 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
907 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one gnus active at a time.
908 * Fetching a Group:: Starting gnus just to read a group.
909 * New Groups:: What is gnus supposed to do with new groups?
910 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
911 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
912 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
913 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
914 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
918 @node Finding the News
919 @section Finding the News
922 @vindex gnus-select-method
924 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where gnus should look for
925 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
926 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
927 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
930 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
931 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
934 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
937 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
940 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
943 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
944 certainly be much faster.
946 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
948 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
949 If this variable is not set, gnus will take a look at the
950 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
951 gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
952 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
953 that fails as well, gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
955 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
956 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
957 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
958 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
960 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
961 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
962 You can also make gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
963 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
964 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), gnus will let you choose between the servers
965 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
966 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
967 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
968 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
971 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
973 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
974 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
975 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
976 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
977 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
978 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
980 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
982 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
983 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
984 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
985 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
986 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
987 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
990 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
991 would typically set this variable to
994 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
999 @section The First Time
1000 @cindex first time usage
1002 If no startup files exist, gnus will try to determine what groups should
1003 be subscribed by default.
1005 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1006 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, gnus
1007 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1008 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1011 Since she hasn't, gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1012 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1013 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1015 You'll also be subscribed to the gnus documentation group, which should
1016 help you with most common problems.
1018 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, gnus will just
1019 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1023 @node The Server is Down
1024 @section The Server is Down
1025 @cindex server errors
1027 If the default server is down, gnus will understandably have some
1028 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1029 the news groups, you may want to start gnus anyway.
1031 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1032 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1033 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1034 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1035 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1036 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1037 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1039 @findex gnus-no-server
1040 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1042 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1043 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1044 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start gnus. That might come in handy
1045 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1046 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1047 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1048 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1052 @section Slave Gnusae
1055 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one gnus at the
1056 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1057 are using the two different gnusae to read from two different servers),
1058 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1060 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1061 @code{.newsrc} file.
1063 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the gnus
1064 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1065 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1066 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1067 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1068 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1069 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1071 Anyway, you start one gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1072 however you do it). Each subsequent slave gnusae should be started with
1073 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1074 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1075 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master gnus
1076 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1077 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1078 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1080 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1081 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
1084 @node Fetching a Group
1085 @section Fetching a Group
1086 @cindex fetching a group
1088 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1089 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1090 group and I don't care whether gnus has been started or not''. This is
1091 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1092 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1093 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1099 @cindex subscription
1101 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1102 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1103 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1104 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1105 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1106 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1107 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1108 @code{always}, then gnus will query the backends for new groups even
1109 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1112 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1113 * Subscription Methods:: What gnus should do with new groups.
1114 * Filtering New Groups:: Making gnus ignore certain new groups.
1118 @node Checking New Groups
1119 @subsection Checking New Groups
1121 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1122 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1123 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1124 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, gnus will ask the
1125 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1126 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1127 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1128 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1129 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1130 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1132 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1133 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1134 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1135 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1136 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1137 work. I could write a function to make gnus guess whether the server
1138 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1139 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1140 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1141 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1142 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1144 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, gnus will
1145 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1146 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1147 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1148 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1149 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1152 @node Subscription Methods
1153 @subsection Subscription Methods
1155 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1156 What gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1157 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1159 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1160 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1162 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1166 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1167 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1168 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1169 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1170 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1172 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1173 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1174 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1175 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1177 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1178 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1179 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1181 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1182 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1183 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1184 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1185 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1186 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1187 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1188 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1189 up. Or something like that.
1191 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1192 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1193 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that gnus will ask
1194 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1195 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1197 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1198 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1199 Kill all new groups.
1201 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1202 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1203 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1204 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1205 topic parameter that looks like
1211 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1214 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1219 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1220 A closely related variable is
1221 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1222 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will ask you in a
1223 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1224 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1227 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1228 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1229 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1230 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1233 @node Filtering New Groups
1234 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1236 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1237 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1238 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1241 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1244 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1245 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1246 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1247 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1248 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1249 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1250 subscribing these groups.
1251 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1252 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1254 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1255 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1256 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1257 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1258 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1259 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1260 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1261 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1263 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1264 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1265 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1266 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1267 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1268 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1269 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1270 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1271 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
1272 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
1274 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1275 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1278 @node Changing Servers
1279 @section Changing Servers
1280 @cindex changing servers
1282 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1283 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1284 very flaky and you want to use another.
1286 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1287 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1291 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1292 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1293 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1294 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1297 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1298 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1299 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1300 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1302 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1303 @findex gnus-change-server
1304 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1305 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1306 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1307 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1308 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1310 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1311 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1312 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1313 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1314 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1316 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1317 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1318 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1319 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1320 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1321 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1323 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1324 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1325 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1329 @section Startup Files
1330 @cindex startup files
1335 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1336 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1338 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1339 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1340 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1341 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1342 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1343 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1344 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1346 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1347 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1348 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1349 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1350 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1351 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1353 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1354 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1355 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1356 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1357 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from gnus faster.
1358 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1359 gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1360 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes gnus ignore the
1361 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1362 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1364 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1365 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1366 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1367 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1368 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1369 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1370 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1371 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1372 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1373 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1374 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1375 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1377 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1378 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1379 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1380 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1382 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1383 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1384 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1385 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1386 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1387 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1388 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1389 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1390 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1391 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1394 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1395 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1397 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1398 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1401 @vindex gnus-init-file
1402 When gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1403 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1404 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1405 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1406 @file{site-init} files with gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1407 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1408 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1409 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1410 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1416 @cindex dribble file
1419 Whenever you do something that changes the gnus data (reading articles,
1420 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1421 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1422 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1423 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1426 If gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1427 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1430 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1431 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, gnus won't create and
1432 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1434 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1435 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1436 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, gnus will dribble
1437 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1438 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1439 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
1441 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1442 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1443 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1446 @node The Active File
1447 @section The Active File
1449 @cindex ignored groups
1451 When gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1452 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1453 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1455 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1456 Before examining the active file, gnus deletes all lines that match the
1457 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1458 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make gnus
1459 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1460 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1461 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1464 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1465 @c if you set it to anything else.
1467 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1469 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1470 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent gnus from
1471 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1473 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1474 you actually subscribe to.
1476 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1477 variable to @code{nil} will probably make gnus slower, not faster. At
1478 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow gnus down
1479 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1481 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1482 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1483 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1484 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1485 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1486 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1488 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1489 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1490 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1493 If this variable is @code{nil}, gnus will ask for group info in total
1494 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1495 @sc{nntp} server, gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1496 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1497 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1498 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1500 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1501 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1503 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1504 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1506 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1507 secondary select methods.
1510 @node Startup Variables
1511 @section Startup Variables
1515 @item gnus-load-hook
1516 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1517 A hook run while gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1518 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1519 times you start gnus.
1521 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1522 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1523 A hook run after starting up gnus successfully.
1525 @item gnus-startup-hook
1526 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1527 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1529 @item gnus-started-hook
1530 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1531 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1534 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1535 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1536 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1537 generating the group buffer.
1539 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1540 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1541 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1542 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1543 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1544 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1545 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1546 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1548 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1549 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1550 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1551 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1552 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1553 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1555 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1556 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1557 Message displayed by gnus when no groups are available.
1559 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1560 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1561 If non-@code{nil}, play the gnus jingle at startup.
1563 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1564 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1565 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1566 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1572 @chapter Group Buffer
1573 @cindex group buffer
1575 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1576 is the first buffer shown when gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1577 long as gnus is active.
1581 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1582 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group.ps,height=9cm}}
1583 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1584 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1585 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1586 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1587 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1588 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1594 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1595 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1596 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1597 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1598 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1599 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1600 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1601 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1602 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1603 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1604 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1605 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1606 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1607 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1608 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1609 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1610 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1614 @node Group Buffer Format
1615 @section Group Buffer Format
1618 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1619 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1620 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1624 @node Group Line Specification
1625 @subsection Group Line Specification
1626 @cindex group buffer format
1628 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1629 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1631 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1634 25: news.announce.newusers
1635 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1640 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1641 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1642 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1643 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1645 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1646 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1647 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1648 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1649 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1650 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1652 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1654 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1655 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1656 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1657 never examined by gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1660 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1661 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1662 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1664 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1669 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1672 Whether the group is subscribed.
1675 Level of subscribedness.
1678 Number of unread articles.
1681 Number of dormant articles.
1684 Number of ticked articles.
1687 Number of read articles.
1690 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1691 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1694 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1697 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1706 Newsgroup description.
1709 @samp{m} if moderated.
1712 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1721 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1725 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1728 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1729 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1730 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1731 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1732 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1735 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1737 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1741 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1744 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1748 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1749 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1750 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1751 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1752 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1753 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1758 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1759 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1760 group, or a bogus native group.
1763 @node Group Modeline Specification
1764 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1765 @cindex group modeline
1767 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1768 The mode line can be changed by setting
1769 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1770 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1774 The native news server.
1776 The native select method.
1780 @node Group Highlighting
1781 @subsection Group Highlighting
1782 @cindex highlighting
1783 @cindex group highlighting
1785 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1786 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1787 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1788 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1789 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1791 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1795 (cond (window-system
1796 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1797 (defface my-group-face-1
1798 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1799 (defface my-group-face-2
1800 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1801 (defface my-group-face-3
1802 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1803 (defface my-group-face-4
1804 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1805 (defface my-group-face-5
1806 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1808 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1809 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1810 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1811 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1812 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1813 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1816 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1818 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1825 The number of unread articles in the group.
1829 Whether the group is a mail group.
1831 The level of the group.
1833 The score of the group.
1835 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1837 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1838 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1840 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1841 topic being inserted.
1844 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1845 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal gnus
1846 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1848 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1849 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1850 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1851 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1852 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1855 @node Group Maneuvering
1856 @section Group Maneuvering
1857 @cindex group movement
1859 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1860 expected, hopefully.
1866 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1867 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1868 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1874 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1875 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1876 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1880 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1881 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1885 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1886 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1890 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1891 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1892 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1896 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1897 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1898 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1901 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1907 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1908 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1909 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1914 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1915 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1916 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1920 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1921 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1922 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1925 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1926 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1927 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1928 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1932 @node Selecting a Group
1933 @section Selecting a Group
1934 @cindex group selection
1939 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1940 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1941 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1942 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1943 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1944 this command, gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1945 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1946 determines the number of articles gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1947 positive, gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1948 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
1950 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
1951 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
1952 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
1954 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
1955 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
1960 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1961 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1962 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1963 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1964 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1968 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1969 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1970 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1971 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1972 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1973 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1974 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1975 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
1976 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
1977 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
1980 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1981 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1982 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1983 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1984 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1987 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1988 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1989 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1990 doing any processing of its contents
1991 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1992 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1993 manner will have no permanent effects.
1997 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1998 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what gnus should consider
1999 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
2000 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, gnus will query the user
2001 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2002 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2003 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2004 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2007 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2008 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2009 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
2010 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2015 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
2016 full summary buffer.
2019 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
2022 Select the highest scored article in the group when entering the
2027 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function will
2028 be called to place point on a subject line, and/or select some article.
2029 Useful functions include:
2032 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-subject
2033 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article, but
2034 don't select the article.
2036 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-article
2037 Select the first unread article.
2039 @item gnus-summary-best-unread-article
2040 Select the highest-scored unread article.
2044 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2045 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
2046 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2050 @node Subscription Commands
2051 @section Subscription Commands
2052 @cindex subscription
2060 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2061 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2062 Toggle subscription to the current group
2063 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2069 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2070 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2071 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2072 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2078 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2079 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2080 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2086 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2087 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2090 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2091 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2092 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2093 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2094 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2100 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2101 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2105 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2106 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2109 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2110 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2111 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2112 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2113 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2114 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2115 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2116 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2117 @file{.newsrc} file.
2121 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2131 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2132 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2133 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2134 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2135 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2136 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2141 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2142 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2143 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2147 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2148 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2149 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2151 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2152 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2153 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2154 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2155 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2156 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2163 @section Group Levels
2167 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2168 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2169 can ask gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2170 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2171 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2173 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2179 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2180 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2181 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2182 prompted for a level.
2185 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2186 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2187 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2188 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2189 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2190 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2191 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2192 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2193 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2194 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2195 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2196 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2197 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2198 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2199 reasons of efficiency.
2201 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2202 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2204 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2205 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2206 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2207 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2208 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2209 groups are hidden, in a way.
2211 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2212 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2213 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2214 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2215 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2216 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2218 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2219 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2220 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2221 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2222 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2223 list of killed groups.)
2225 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2226 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2227 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2229 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2230 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2231 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2232 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2233 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2234 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2235 relevant valid ranges.
2237 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2238 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2239 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2240 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2241 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2242 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2245 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2246 one with the best level.
2248 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2249 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2250 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2253 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2254 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2255 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2256 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2259 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2260 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2261 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2262 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2264 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2265 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2266 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2267 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2268 to 5. The default is 6.
2272 @section Group Score
2277 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2278 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2279 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2282 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2283 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2284 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2285 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2286 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2287 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2288 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2289 least significant part.))
2291 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2292 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2293 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2294 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2295 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2296 action after each summary exit, you can add
2297 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2298 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2299 slow things down somewhat.
2302 @node Marking Groups
2303 @section Marking Groups
2304 @cindex marking groups
2306 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2307 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2308 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2309 bidding on those groups.
2311 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2312 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2313 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2321 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2322 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2328 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2329 Remove the mark from the current group
2330 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2334 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2335 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2339 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2340 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2344 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2345 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2349 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2350 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2351 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2354 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2356 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2357 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2358 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2359 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2360 the command to be executed.
2363 @node Foreign Groups
2364 @section Foreign Groups
2365 @cindex foreign groups
2367 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2368 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2369 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2370 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2377 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2378 @cindex making groups
2379 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2380 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2381 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2385 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2386 @cindex renaming groups
2387 Rename the current group to something else
2388 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2389 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2395 @findex gnus-group-customize
2396 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2400 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2401 @cindex renaming groups
2402 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2403 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2407 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2408 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2409 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2413 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2414 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2415 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2419 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2421 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2422 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2427 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2428 Make the gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2432 @cindex (ding) archive
2433 @cindex archive group
2434 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2435 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2436 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2437 Make a gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2438 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2439 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2440 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2444 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2446 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2447 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2448 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2449 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2453 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2455 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2456 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2457 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2461 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2462 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2464 Make a group based on some file or other
2465 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2466 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2467 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
2468 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
2469 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{nsmail} and @code{forward}.
2470 If you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2471 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2475 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2476 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2477 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2478 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2482 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2487 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2488 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2489 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2490 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2491 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
2492 @xref{Web Searches}.
2494 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
2495 to a particular group by using a match string like
2496 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
2499 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2500 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2501 This function will delete the current group
2502 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2503 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2504 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2505 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2506 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2510 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2511 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2512 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2516 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2517 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2518 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2521 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2524 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2525 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2526 gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2527 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2528 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2529 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2533 @node Group Parameters
2534 @section Group Parameters
2535 @cindex group parameters
2537 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2538 Here's an example group parameter list:
2541 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2545 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2546 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2547 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2548 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2550 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2551 is an alist of regexps and values.
2553 The following group parameters can be used:
2558 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2561 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2564 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2565 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2566 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2567 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2568 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2570 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2571 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2572 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2573 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2574 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2575 list address instead.
2577 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2581 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2584 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2587 It is totally ignored
2588 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2589 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2591 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2592 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2593 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2594 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2595 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2597 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2598 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2599 sending the message.
2601 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2605 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2606 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2607 of whether it has any unread articles.
2609 @item broken-reply-to
2610 @cindex broken-reply-to
2611 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2612 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2613 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2614 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2615 broken behavior. So there!
2619 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2620 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2624 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, gnus
2625 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2626 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2631 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2632 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2633 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2634 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2635 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2636 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2637 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2641 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2642 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2643 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2645 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2648 @cindex total-expire
2649 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2650 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2651 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2652 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2655 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2659 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2660 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2661 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2662 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2663 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2664 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2667 @cindex score file group parameter
2668 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2669 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2670 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2673 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2674 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2675 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2676 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2679 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2680 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2681 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2682 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2685 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2686 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2690 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2693 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2698 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2699 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2700 gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2704 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2705 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2706 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2708 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2710 @item ignored-charsets
2711 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-known iso-8859-1)}
2712 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2713 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2715 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2718 You can store additional posting style information for this group only
2719 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2720 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2721 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2722 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2724 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2725 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2726 like this in the group parameters:
2731 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2735 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2736 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2737 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2738 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2739 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2741 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2742 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2743 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2744 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2745 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2746 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2747 @code{eval}ed there.
2749 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2750 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2751 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2752 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2753 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2757 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2758 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2759 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2760 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2761 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2764 @node Listing Groups
2765 @section Listing Groups
2766 @cindex group listing
2768 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2776 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2777 List all groups that have unread articles
2778 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2779 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2780 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2781 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2788 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2789 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2790 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2791 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2792 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2793 unsubscribed groups).
2797 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2798 List all unread groups on a specific level
2799 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2800 with no unread articles.
2804 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2805 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2806 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2807 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2812 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2813 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2817 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2818 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2819 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2823 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2824 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2828 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2829 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2830 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2831 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2832 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2833 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2834 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2835 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2839 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2840 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2841 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2845 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2846 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2847 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2851 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
2852 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
2856 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
2857 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
2861 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
2862 List groups limited within the current selection
2863 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
2867 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
2868 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
2872 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
2873 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
2877 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2878 @cindex visible group parameter
2879 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2880 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2881 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2882 get the same effect.
2884 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2885 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2886 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2887 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2888 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2891 @node Sorting Groups
2892 @section Sorting Groups
2893 @cindex sorting groups
2895 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2896 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2897 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2898 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2899 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2900 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2905 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2906 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2907 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2909 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2910 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2911 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2913 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2914 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2915 Sort by group level.
2917 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2918 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2919 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
2921 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2922 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2923 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2924 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
2926 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2927 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2928 Sort by number of unread articles.
2930 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2931 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2932 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2934 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
2935 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
2936 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
2941 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2942 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2946 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2947 some sorting criteria:
2951 @kindex G S a (Group)
2952 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2953 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2954 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2957 @kindex G S u (Group)
2958 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2959 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2960 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2963 @kindex G S l (Group)
2964 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2965 Sort the group buffer by group level
2966 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2969 @kindex G S v (Group)
2970 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2971 Sort the group buffer by group score
2972 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2975 @kindex G S r (Group)
2976 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2977 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2978 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2981 @kindex G S m (Group)
2982 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2983 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2984 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2988 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
2989 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2991 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
2992 commands will sort in reverse order.
2994 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
2998 @kindex G P a (Group)
2999 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3000 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3001 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3004 @kindex G P u (Group)
3005 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3006 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3007 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3010 @kindex G P l (Group)
3011 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3012 Sort the groups by group level
3013 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3016 @kindex G P v (Group)
3017 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3018 Sort the groups by group score
3019 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3022 @kindex G P r (Group)
3023 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3024 Sort the groups by group rank
3025 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3028 @kindex G P m (Group)
3029 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3030 Sort the groups alphabetically by backend name
3031 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3035 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3039 @node Group Maintenance
3040 @section Group Maintenance
3041 @cindex bogus groups
3046 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3047 Find bogus groups and delete them
3048 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3052 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3053 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3054 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3055 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3056 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3060 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3061 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3062 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3063 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3064 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3065 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3068 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
3069 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3070 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3071 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3076 @node Browse Foreign Server
3077 @section Browse Foreign Server
3078 @cindex foreign servers
3079 @cindex browsing servers
3084 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3085 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3086 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3087 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3090 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3091 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3092 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3093 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3095 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3100 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3101 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3105 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3106 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3109 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3110 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3111 Enter the current group and display the first article
3112 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3115 @kindex RET (Browse)
3116 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3117 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3121 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3122 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3123 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3129 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3130 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3134 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3135 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3136 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3141 @section Exiting gnus
3142 @cindex exiting gnus
3144 Yes, gnus is ex(c)iting.
3149 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3150 Suspend gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit gnus,
3151 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3152 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3156 @findex gnus-group-exit
3157 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3158 Quit gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3162 @findex gnus-group-quit
3163 Quit gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3164 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3167 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3168 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3169 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend gnus and
3170 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit gnus, while
3171 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3176 If you wish to completely unload gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3177 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3178 trying to customize meta-variables.
3183 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3184 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3185 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3191 @section Group Topics
3194 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3195 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3196 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3197 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3198 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3199 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3203 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3204 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group-topic.ps,height=9cm}}
3215 2: alt.religion.emacs
3218 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3220 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3221 13: comp.sources.unix
3224 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3226 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3227 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3228 is a toggling command.)
3230 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3231 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
3232 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3233 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3236 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3237 the hook for the group mode:
3240 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3244 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3245 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3246 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3247 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3248 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3252 @node Topic Variables
3253 @subsection Topic Variables
3254 @cindex topic variables
3256 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
3257 really neat, I think.
3259 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3260 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3261 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3274 Number of groups in the topic.
3276 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3278 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3281 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3282 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3283 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3286 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3287 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3289 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3290 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3291 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3294 @node Topic Commands
3295 @subsection Topic Commands
3296 @cindex topic commands
3298 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3299 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3300 definitions slightly.
3306 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3307 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3308 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3312 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3313 Move the current group to some other topic
3314 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3315 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3319 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3320 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3324 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3325 Copy the current group to some other topic
3326 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3327 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3331 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3332 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3333 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3337 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3338 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3339 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3343 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3344 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3345 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3346 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3347 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3348 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3349 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3352 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3353 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3357 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3358 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3359 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3363 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3364 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3365 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3369 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3370 Toggle hiding empty topics
3371 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3375 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3376 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3377 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
3380 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3381 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3382 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3383 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
3387 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3389 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3390 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3391 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3392 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3395 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3396 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3397 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3398 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3402 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3404 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3405 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3406 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3407 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3408 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3409 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3412 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3413 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3414 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3415 expiry process (if any)
3416 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3420 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3421 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3422 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3426 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3427 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3428 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3433 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3434 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3437 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3438 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3439 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3443 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3444 List all groups that gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3445 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3449 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3450 @cindex group parameters
3451 @cindex topic parameters
3453 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3454 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3460 @subsection Topic Sorting
3461 @cindex topic sorting
3463 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3469 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3470 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3471 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3472 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3475 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3476 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3477 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3478 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3481 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3482 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3483 Sort the current topic by group level
3484 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3487 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3488 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3489 Sort the current topic by group score
3490 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3493 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3494 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3495 Sort the current topic by group rank
3496 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3499 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3500 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3501 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
3502 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3506 @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group sorting.
3509 @node Topic Topology
3510 @subsection Topic Topology
3511 @cindex topic topology
3514 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3520 2: alt.religion.emacs
3523 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3525 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3526 13: comp.sources.unix
3529 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3530 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3531 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3536 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3537 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3541 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3542 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3543 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3544 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3545 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3546 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3548 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3549 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3550 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3553 @node Topic Parameters
3554 @subsection Topic Parameters
3555 @cindex topic parameters
3557 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3558 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3559 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3561 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3566 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3567 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3568 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3573 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3574 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3575 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3576 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3582 2: alt.religion.emacs
3586 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3588 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3589 13: comp.sources.unix
3593 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3594 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3595 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3596 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3597 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3598 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3600 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3601 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3602 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3603 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3604 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3606 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3607 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3608 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3609 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3610 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3611 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3612 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3613 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3616 @node Misc Group Stuff
3617 @section Misc Group Stuff
3620 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3621 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and gnus.
3622 * Group Timestamp:: Making gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3623 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the gnus files.
3630 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3631 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3632 @xref{Server Buffer}.
3636 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3637 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a
3638 prefix, the current group name will be used as the default.
3642 @findex gnus-group-mail
3643 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
3647 Variables for the group buffer:
3651 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
3652 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
3653 is called after the group buffer has been
3656 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
3657 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3658 is called after the group buffer is
3659 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
3662 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
3663 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3664 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
3665 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
3667 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3668 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3669 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
3670 whether they are empty or not.
3672 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3673 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3674 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
3675 non-ASCII group names.
3679 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3680 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
3683 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3684 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3685 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names.
3686 It is used to show non-ASCII group names.
3690 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3691 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
3696 @node Scanning New Messages
3697 @subsection Scanning New Messages
3698 @cindex new messages
3699 @cindex scanning new news
3705 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
3706 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
3707 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
3708 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
3709 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
3710 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
3715 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
3716 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
3717 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
3718 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
3719 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
3720 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
3721 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
3723 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
3724 @cindex activating groups
3726 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
3727 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
3732 @findex gnus-group-restart
3733 Restart gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
3734 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
3735 gnus variables, and then starts gnus all over again.
3739 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
3740 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
3742 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
3743 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
3747 @node Group Information
3748 @subsection Group Information
3749 @cindex group information
3750 @cindex information on groups
3757 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
3758 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
3761 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
3762 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
3763 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
3764 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
3765 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
3766 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
3767 for fetching the file.
3769 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, gnus will attempt to go
3770 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
3774 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
3776 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
3777 @cindex describing groups
3778 @cindex group description
3779 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
3780 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
3781 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
3785 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
3786 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
3787 prefix, force gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
3794 @findex gnus-version
3795 Display current gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
3799 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
3800 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
3803 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
3806 @findex gnus-info-find-node
3807 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
3811 @node Group Timestamp
3812 @subsection Group Timestamp
3814 @cindex group timestamps
3816 It can be convenient to let gnus keep track of when you last read a
3817 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
3818 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
3821 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
3824 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
3826 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
3827 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
3830 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3831 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
3834 This will result in lines looking like:
3837 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
3838 0: custom 19961002T012713
3841 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
3842 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
3846 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3847 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
3852 @subsection File Commands
3853 @cindex file commands
3859 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
3860 @vindex gnus-init-file
3861 @cindex reading init file
3862 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
3863 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
3867 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
3868 @cindex saving .newsrc
3869 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
3870 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
3871 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
3874 @c @kindex Z (Group)
3875 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
3876 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
3881 @node Summary Buffer
3882 @chapter Summary Buffer
3883 @cindex summary buffer
3885 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
3886 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
3888 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
3889 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
3891 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
3894 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3895 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
3896 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
3897 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
3898 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
3899 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3900 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
3901 * Threading:: How threads are made.
3902 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3903 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3904 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3905 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3906 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3907 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3908 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3909 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3910 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
3911 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
3912 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3913 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3914 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3915 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3916 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3917 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3918 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3919 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
3920 or reselecting the current group.
3921 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3922 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3923 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
3927 @node Summary Buffer Format
3928 @section Summary Buffer Format
3929 @cindex summary buffer format
3933 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
3934 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary.ps,width=7.5cm}}
3935 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-article.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
3941 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3942 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
3943 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3944 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3947 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3948 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3949 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3950 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3951 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3952 @code{From} header. Three pre-defined functions exist:
3953 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3954 fast, and too simplistic solution;
3955 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works nicely, but is
3956 slower; and @code{std11-extract-address-components}, which works very
3957 nicely, but is slower. The default function will return the wrong
3958 answer in 5% of the cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the
3959 other function instead:
3962 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
3963 'mail-extract-address-components)
3966 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3967 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3968 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3969 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
3972 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3973 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3975 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3976 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3977 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3978 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3979 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3981 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
3982 the colon after performing an operation.
3984 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3986 The following format specification characters are understood:
3992 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
3993 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
3995 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
3996 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3997 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
3999 Full @code{From} header.
4001 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4003 The name, code @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header
4004 (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
4006 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4007 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4008 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4009 may be more thorough.
4011 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4014 Number of lines in the article.
4016 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported in some
4017 methods (like nnfolder).
4019 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4021 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4022 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4024 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4025 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4027 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4028 for adopted articles.
4030 One space for each thread level.
4032 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4037 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4038 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4042 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4044 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4045 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4046 default level. If the difference between
4047 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4048 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4056 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4058 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4064 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4065 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4067 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4068 article has any children.
4074 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4075 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4076 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4077 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4078 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4079 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4082 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4083 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, gnus will
4084 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4085 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4086 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4087 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4089 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4090 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4092 This restriction may disappear in later versions of gnus.
4095 @node To From Newsgroups
4096 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4100 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4101 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4102 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4103 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4104 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4108 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4109 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4110 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4114 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4115 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4118 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4119 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4122 @findex gnus-extra-header
4123 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4124 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4125 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4128 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4132 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4133 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4134 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4135 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4136 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4137 headers are used instead.
4141 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4142 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4143 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
4144 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
4147 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4148 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4149 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4150 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4152 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4156 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4158 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4159 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4160 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20f%]%) %s\n")
4161 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4165 Now, this is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4166 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4173 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4174 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4177 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4178 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4180 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4181 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4182 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4183 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4185 Here are the elements you can play with:
4191 Unprefixed group name.
4193 Current article number.
4195 Current article score.
4199 Number of unread articles in this group.
4201 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4204 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4205 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4206 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4207 and no unselected ones.
4209 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4210 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4212 Subject of the current article.
4214 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4216 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4218 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4220 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4222 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4224 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4228 @node Summary Highlighting
4229 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4233 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4234 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4235 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4236 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4237 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4239 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4240 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4241 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4242 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4244 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4245 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4246 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4247 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4249 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4250 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4251 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4252 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4253 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4254 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4257 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4258 ((> score default) . bold))
4260 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4261 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4265 @node Summary Maneuvering
4266 @section Summary Maneuvering
4267 @cindex summary movement
4269 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4270 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4272 None of these commands select articles.
4277 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4278 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4279 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4280 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4281 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4285 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4286 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4287 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4288 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4289 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4292 @kindex G g (Summary)
4293 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4294 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4295 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4298 If gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4299 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4300 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4301 to the group buffer.
4303 Variables related to summary movement:
4307 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4308 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4309 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4310 no more unread articles after the current one, gnus will offer to go to
4311 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4312 empty, gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4313 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, gnus will select the
4314 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
4315 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, gnus will select the
4316 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
4317 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
4318 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
4319 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
4320 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
4322 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4323 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4324 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4325 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4326 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4327 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4328 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4330 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4332 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4333 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4334 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4335 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4336 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4338 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4339 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4340 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4341 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4342 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4343 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4344 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4345 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4348 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4349 the given number of lines from the top.
4354 @node Choosing Articles
4355 @section Choosing Articles
4356 @cindex selecting articles
4359 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4360 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4364 @node Choosing Commands
4365 @subsection Choosing Commands
4367 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4368 and they all select and display an article.
4370 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4371 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4375 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4376 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4377 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4378 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4383 @kindex G n (Summary)
4384 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4385 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4386 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4391 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4392 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4393 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4398 @kindex G N (Summary)
4399 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4400 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4405 @kindex G P (Summary)
4406 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4407 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4410 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4411 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4412 Go to the next article with the same subject
4413 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4416 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4417 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4418 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4419 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4423 @kindex G f (Summary)
4425 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4426 Go to the first unread article
4427 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4431 @kindex G b (Summary)
4433 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4434 Go to the article with the highest score
4435 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
4440 @kindex G l (Summary)
4441 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4442 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4445 @kindex G o (Summary)
4446 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4448 @cindex article history
4449 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4450 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4451 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4452 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
4453 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
4454 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
4459 @kindex G j (Summary)
4460 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
4461 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
4462 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
4467 @node Choosing Variables
4468 @subsection Choosing Variables
4470 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
4473 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4474 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4475 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
4476 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
4477 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
4478 the server and display it in the article buffer.
4480 @item gnus-select-article-hook
4481 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
4482 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
4483 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
4485 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
4486 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
4487 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
4488 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
4489 @findex gnus-unread-mark
4490 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
4491 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
4492 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
4493 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
4494 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
4495 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
4496 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
4497 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
4498 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
4503 @node Paging the Article
4504 @section Scrolling the Article
4505 @cindex article scrolling
4510 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4511 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4512 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
4513 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
4514 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4517 @kindex DEL (Summary)
4518 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
4519 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
4522 @kindex RET (Summary)
4523 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
4524 Scroll the current article one line forward
4525 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
4528 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
4529 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
4530 Scroll the current article one line backward
4531 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
4535 @kindex A g (Summary)
4537 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
4538 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4539 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
4540 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
4541 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
4542 the way it came from the server.
4544 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
4545 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
4546 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
4549 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4554 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
4559 @kindex A < (Summary)
4560 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
4561 Scroll to the beginning of the article
4562 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
4567 @kindex A > (Summary)
4568 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
4569 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
4573 @kindex A s (Summary)
4575 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
4576 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
4577 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
4581 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
4582 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
4587 @node Reply Followup and Post
4588 @section Reply, Followup and Post
4591 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
4592 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
4593 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
4594 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
4598 @node Summary Mail Commands
4599 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
4601 @cindex composing mail
4603 Commands for composing a mail message:
4609 @kindex S r (Summary)
4611 @findex gnus-summary-reply
4612 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
4613 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
4614 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
4615 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
4620 @kindex S R (Summary)
4621 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
4622 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
4623 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
4624 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
4625 command uses the process/prefix convention.
4628 @kindex S w (Summary)
4629 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
4630 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
4631 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
4632 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
4633 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
4636 @kindex S W (Summary)
4637 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
4638 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
4639 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
4640 the process/prefix convention.
4643 @kindex S v (Summary)
4644 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
4645 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
4646 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
4647 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
4648 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
4649 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
4652 @kindex S W (Summary)
4653 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
4654 Mail a very wide reply to the current article and include the original
4655 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
4656 the process/prefix convention.
4660 @kindex S o m (Summary)
4661 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
4662 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
4663 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
4664 Forward the current article to some other person
4665 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
4666 headers of the forwarded article.
4671 @kindex S m (Summary)
4672 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
4673 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
4674 Send a mail to some other person
4675 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
4678 @kindex S D b (Summary)
4679 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
4680 @cindex bouncing mail
4681 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
4682 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
4683 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
4684 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
4685 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
4686 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, gnus will try to fetch
4687 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
4688 very well fail, though.
4691 @kindex S D r (Summary)
4692 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
4693 Not to be confused with the previous command,
4694 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
4695 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
4696 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
4697 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
4698 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
4699 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
4700 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
4702 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
4703 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
4704 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
4705 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
4706 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
4708 This command understands the process/prefix convention
4709 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4712 @kindex S O m (Summary)
4713 @findex gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward
4714 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
4715 result using mail (@code{gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward}). This
4716 command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4719 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
4720 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
4721 @cindex crossposting
4722 @cindex excessive crossposting
4723 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
4724 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
4726 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
4727 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
4728 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
4729 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
4730 command understands the process/prefix convention
4731 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
4735 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4738 @node Summary Post Commands
4739 @subsection Summary Post Commands
4741 @cindex composing news
4743 Commands for posting a news article:
4749 @kindex S p (Summary)
4750 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
4751 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
4752 Post an article to the current group
4753 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
4758 @kindex S f (Summary)
4759 @findex gnus-summary-followup
4760 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
4761 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
4765 @kindex S F (Summary)
4767 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
4768 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
4769 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
4770 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
4771 process/prefix convention.
4774 @kindex S n (Summary)
4775 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
4776 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4777 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
4780 @kindex S N (Summary)
4781 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
4782 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4783 message through mail and include the original message
4784 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
4785 the process/prefix convention.
4788 @kindex S o p (Summary)
4789 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
4790 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
4791 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
4792 headers of the forwarded article.
4795 @kindex S O p (Summary)
4796 @findex gnus-summary-digest-post-forward
4798 @cindex making digests
4799 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
4800 (@code{gnus-summary-digest-post-forward}). This command uses the
4801 process/prefix convention.
4804 @kindex S u (Summary)
4805 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
4806 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
4807 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
4808 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
4811 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4814 @node Summary Message Commands
4815 @subsection Summary Message Commands
4819 @kindex S y (Summary)
4820 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
4821 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
4822 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
4823 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
4824 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4829 @node Canceling and Superseding
4830 @subsection Canceling Articles
4831 @cindex canceling articles
4832 @cindex superseding articles
4834 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
4835 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
4837 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
4839 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
4841 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
4842 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
4843 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
4844 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
4845 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
4846 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4848 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
4849 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
4852 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
4853 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
4854 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
4856 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
4857 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
4858 your original article.
4860 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
4862 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
4863 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
4864 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
4867 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
4868 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
4869 have posted almost the same article twice.
4871 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
4872 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
4873 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
4874 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
4875 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
4876 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
4877 header by substituting one of those words for the word
4878 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
4879 you would do normally. The previous article will be
4880 canceled/superseded.
4882 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
4885 @node Marking Articles
4886 @section Marking Articles
4887 @cindex article marking
4888 @cindex article ticking
4891 There are several marks you can set on an article.
4893 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
4894 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
4895 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
4897 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
4900 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
4901 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
4902 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
4906 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
4910 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
4911 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
4912 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
4916 @node Unread Articles
4917 @subsection Unread Articles
4919 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
4924 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
4925 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
4927 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
4928 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
4929 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
4930 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
4931 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
4932 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
4933 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
4936 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
4937 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
4939 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
4940 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
4941 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
4942 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
4946 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
4947 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
4949 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
4954 @subsection Read Articles
4955 @cindex expirable mark
4957 All the following marks mark articles as read.
4962 @vindex gnus-del-mark
4963 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
4964 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
4967 @vindex gnus-read-mark
4968 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
4971 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
4972 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
4973 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
4976 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
4977 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
4980 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
4981 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
4984 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
4985 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
4988 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
4989 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
4992 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
4993 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
4996 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
4997 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5000 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5001 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5005 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5006 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5007 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5011 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5012 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5014 One more special mark, though:
5018 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5019 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5021 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5022 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5023 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5024 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by gnus at
5030 @subsection Other Marks
5031 @cindex process mark
5034 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5040 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5041 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5042 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5043 in the article, and gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5044 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5047 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5048 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5049 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5050 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5052 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5053 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{O} in
5054 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5057 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5058 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5059 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5062 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5063 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5064 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5065 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5068 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5069 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5070 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5071 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5072 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5075 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5076 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5077 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5078 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5079 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5080 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5084 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5085 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5086 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5088 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5089 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5090 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5094 @subsection Setting Marks
5095 @cindex setting marks
5097 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5102 @kindex M c (Summary)
5103 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5104 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5105 @cindex mark as unread
5106 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5107 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5113 @kindex M t (Summary)
5114 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5115 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5116 @xref{Article Caching}.
5121 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5122 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5123 Mark the current article as dormant
5124 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5128 @kindex M d (Summary)
5130 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5131 Mark the current article as read
5132 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5136 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5137 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5138 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5143 @kindex M k (Summary)
5144 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5145 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5146 and then select the next unread article
5147 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5151 @kindex M K (Summary)
5152 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5153 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5154 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5155 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5158 @kindex M C (Summary)
5159 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5160 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5161 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5164 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5165 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5166 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5167 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5170 @kindex M H (Summary)
5171 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5172 Catchup the current group to point
5173 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5176 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5177 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5178 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5179 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5182 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5183 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5184 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5185 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5189 @kindex M e (Summary)
5191 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5192 Mark the current article as expirable
5193 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5196 @kindex M b (Summary)
5197 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5198 Set a bookmark in the current article
5199 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5202 @kindex M B (Summary)
5203 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5204 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5205 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5208 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5209 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5210 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5211 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5214 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5215 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5216 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5217 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5220 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5221 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5222 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5223 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5224 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5227 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5228 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5229 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5230 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5231 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5232 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5233 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5234 The default is @code{t}.
5237 @node Generic Marking Commands
5238 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5240 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5241 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5242 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5243 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5244 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5247 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
5248 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5251 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5252 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5253 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5254 to list in this manual.
5256 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5257 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5258 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5259 article, you could say something like:
5262 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5263 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5264 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
5270 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5271 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
5275 @node Setting Process Marks
5276 @subsection Setting Process Marks
5277 @cindex setting process marks
5284 @kindex M P p (Summary)
5285 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
5286 Mark the current article with the process mark
5287 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
5288 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
5292 @kindex M P u (Summary)
5293 @kindex M-# (Summary)
5294 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
5295 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
5298 @kindex M P U (Summary)
5299 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
5300 Remove the process mark from all articles
5301 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
5304 @kindex M P i (Summary)
5305 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
5306 Invert the list of process marked articles
5307 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
5310 @kindex M P R (Summary)
5311 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
5312 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5313 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
5316 @kindex M P G (Summary)
5317 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
5318 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5319 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
5322 @kindex M P r (Summary)
5323 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
5324 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
5327 @kindex M P t (Summary)
5328 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5329 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5330 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5333 @kindex M P T (Summary)
5334 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5335 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5336 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5339 @kindex M P v (Summary)
5340 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
5341 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
5342 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
5345 @kindex M P s (Summary)
5346 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
5347 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5350 @kindex M P S (Summary)
5351 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
5352 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
5353 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
5356 @kindex M P a (Summary)
5357 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
5358 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5361 @kindex M P b (Summary)
5362 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
5363 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
5364 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
5367 @kindex M P k (Summary)
5368 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
5369 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
5370 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
5373 @kindex M P y (Summary)
5374 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
5375 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
5376 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
5379 @kindex M P w (Summary)
5380 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
5381 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
5382 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
5386 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
5387 set process marks based on article body contents.
5394 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
5395 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
5396 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
5399 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
5400 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
5401 additional articles.
5407 @kindex / / (Summary)
5408 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
5409 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
5410 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
5413 @kindex / a (Summary)
5414 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
5415 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
5416 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
5419 @kindex / x (Summary)
5420 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
5421 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
5422 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
5423 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}).
5427 @kindex / u (Summary)
5429 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
5430 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
5431 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
5432 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
5433 dormant articles will also be excluded.
5436 @kindex / m (Summary)
5437 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
5438 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
5439 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
5442 @kindex / t (Summary)
5443 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
5444 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
5445 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
5446 articles younger than that number of days.
5449 @kindex / n (Summary)
5450 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
5451 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
5452 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
5453 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5456 @kindex / w (Summary)
5457 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
5458 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
5459 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
5463 @kindex / v (Summary)
5464 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
5465 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
5466 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
5470 @kindex M S (Summary)
5471 @kindex / E (Summary)
5472 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
5473 Include all expunged articles in the limit
5474 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
5477 @kindex / D (Summary)
5478 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
5479 Include all dormant articles in the limit
5480 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
5483 @kindex / * (Summary)
5484 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
5485 Include all cached articles in the limit
5486 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
5489 @kindex / d (Summary)
5490 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
5491 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
5492 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
5495 @kindex / M (Summary)
5496 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
5497 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
5500 @kindex / T (Summary)
5501 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
5502 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
5505 @kindex / c (Summary)
5506 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
5507 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
5508 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
5511 @kindex / C (Summary)
5512 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
5513 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
5514 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
5515 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
5523 @cindex article threading
5525 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
5526 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
5527 hierarchical fashion.
5529 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
5530 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
5531 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
5532 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
5533 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
5534 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
5535 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
5537 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
5541 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
5544 A tree-like article structure.
5547 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
5550 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
5551 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
5552 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
5553 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
5554 called loose threads.
5556 @item thread gathering
5557 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
5559 @item sparse threads
5560 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
5561 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
5567 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
5568 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
5572 @node Customizing Threading
5573 @subsection Customizing Threading
5574 @cindex customizing threading
5577 * Loose Threads:: How gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
5578 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
5579 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
5580 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
5585 @subsubsection Loose Threads
5588 @cindex loose threads
5591 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
5592 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
5593 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
5594 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
5595 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
5596 read or killed the root in a previous session.
5598 When there is no real root of a thread, gnus will have to fudge
5599 something. This variable says what fudging method gnus should use.
5600 There are four possible values:
5604 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
5605 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-adopt.ps,width=7.5cm}}
5606 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-empty.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5607 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-none.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5608 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-dummy.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5613 @cindex adopting articles
5618 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
5619 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
5620 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
5621 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
5624 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
5625 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
5626 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
5627 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
5628 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
5629 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
5630 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
5633 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
5634 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
5635 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
5639 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
5640 display them after one another.
5643 Don't gather loose threads.
5646 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
5647 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
5648 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
5649 variable is @code{nil}, gnus requires an exact match between the
5650 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
5651 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
5652 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
5653 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
5654 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
5655 variable to a really low number, you'll find that gnus will gather
5656 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
5658 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
5659 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, gnus will
5660 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
5663 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
5664 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
5665 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
5666 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
5667 simplification is used.
5669 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5670 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5671 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
5672 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
5674 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
5676 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5682 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
5683 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
5684 "answer" "reference" "announce"
5685 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
5690 (mapconcat 'identity
5691 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
5693 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
5696 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
5699 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
5700 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
5701 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
5702 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
5703 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
5704 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
5706 Useful functions to put in this list include:
5709 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
5710 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
5711 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
5713 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
5714 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
5717 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
5718 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
5719 Remove excessive whitespace.
5722 You may also write your own functions, of course.
5725 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
5726 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
5727 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
5728 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
5729 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
5730 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
5731 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
5732 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
5734 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5735 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5736 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
5737 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
5738 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
5739 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
5740 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
5741 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
5742 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
5746 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5747 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5748 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
5749 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
5751 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5752 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5753 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
5756 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
5760 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5761 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
5767 @node Filling In Threads
5768 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
5771 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
5772 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
5773 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
5774 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
5775 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
5776 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
5777 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
5778 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
5779 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
5780 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
5781 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
5782 expired by the server, there's not much gnus can do about that.
5784 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
5785 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
5786 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
5788 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
5789 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
5790 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
5791 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
5792 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
5793 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
5794 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where gnus guesses that an article
5795 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
5796 lines. If you select a gap, gnus will try to fetch the article in
5797 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, gnus will display all these
5798 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
5799 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, gnus won't cut
5800 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
5801 @code{nil} by default.
5803 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
5804 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
5805 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
5806 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the backend has to fetch
5807 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
5808 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
5809 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
5811 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
5812 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
5813 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
5818 @node More Threading
5819 @subsubsection More Threading
5822 @item gnus-show-threads
5823 @vindex gnus-show-threads
5824 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
5825 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
5826 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
5827 slower and more awkward.
5829 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5830 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5831 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
5834 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
5835 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
5836 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
5837 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
5838 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
5839 threads are expunged.
5841 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
5842 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
5843 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
5846 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5847 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5848 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
5849 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
5850 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
5851 result in a new thread.
5853 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
5854 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
5855 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
5858 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
5859 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
5860 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
5861 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
5862 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
5863 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
5864 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
5865 Setting this variable to an alternate value
5866 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
5867 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
5868 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
5873 @node Low-Level Threading
5874 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
5878 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
5879 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
5880 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
5881 @code{(gnus-set-summary-default-charset)}, which sets up local value of
5882 @code{default-mime-charset} in summary buffer based on variable
5883 @code{gnus-newsgroup-default-charset-alist}.
5885 @item gnus-alter-header-function
5886 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
5887 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
5888 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
5889 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
5890 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
5891 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
5892 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
5893 meaningful. Here's one example:
5896 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
5898 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
5899 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
5901 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
5903 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
5910 @node Thread Commands
5911 @subsection Thread Commands
5912 @cindex thread commands
5918 @kindex T k (Summary)
5919 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
5920 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
5921 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
5922 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
5923 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
5928 @kindex T l (Summary)
5929 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
5930 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
5931 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
5932 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
5935 @kindex T i (Summary)
5936 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
5937 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
5938 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
5941 @kindex T # (Summary)
5942 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5943 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
5944 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5947 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
5948 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5949 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
5950 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5953 @kindex T T (Summary)
5954 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
5955 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
5958 @kindex T s (Summary)
5959 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
5960 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
5961 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
5964 @kindex T h (Summary)
5965 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
5966 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
5969 @kindex T S (Summary)
5970 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
5971 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
5974 @kindex T H (Summary)
5975 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
5976 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
5979 @kindex T t (Summary)
5980 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
5981 Re-thread the current article's thread
5982 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
5983 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
5986 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
5987 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
5988 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
5989 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
5993 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
5994 understand the numeric prefix.
5999 @kindex T n (Summary)
6001 @kindex M-C-n (Summary)
6003 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6004 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6005 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6008 @kindex T p (Summary)
6010 @kindex M-C-p (Summary)
6012 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6013 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6014 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6017 @kindex T d (Summary)
6018 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6019 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6022 @kindex T u (Summary)
6023 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6024 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6027 @kindex T o (Summary)
6028 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6029 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6032 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6033 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6034 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6035 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6036 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6037 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6038 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6039 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6040 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6041 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6042 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6043 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6047 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6048 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6050 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6051 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6052 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6053 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6054 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6055 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6056 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6057 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6058 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6059 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6060 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6062 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6063 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6064 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6065 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
6066 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6068 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6069 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6070 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6072 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6073 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6074 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6075 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6076 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6077 ascending article order.
6079 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6080 by number, you could do something like:
6083 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6084 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6085 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6086 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6089 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6090 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6091 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6092 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6093 which the articles arrived.
6095 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6099 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6101 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6102 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6105 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6106 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6107 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6108 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6111 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6112 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6113 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6114 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6115 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6116 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6117 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
6118 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
6119 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
6120 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
6121 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6122 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
6123 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6125 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6129 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6130 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6131 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6136 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6137 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6138 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6139 @cindex article pre-fetch
6142 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6143 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6144 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6145 article appears. Why can't gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6146 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6148 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6149 article fetching, especially the way gnus does it.
6151 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6152 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6153 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6154 article 3, but since gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6155 connection is blocked.
6157 To avoid these situations, gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6158 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6159 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6160 extra connection takes some time, so gnus startup will be slower.
6162 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6163 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6164 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6165 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6168 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
6171 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6172 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6173 happen automatically.
6175 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6176 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6177 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6178 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
6179 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
6180 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6181 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6183 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6184 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6185 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6186 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
6187 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
6188 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
6189 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
6190 data structure as the only parameter.
6192 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
6195 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
6196 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
6197 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
6198 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
6201 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
6204 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
6205 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down gnus too much.
6206 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
6208 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
6209 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
6210 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
6211 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
6215 Remove articles when they are read.
6218 Remove articles when exiting the group.
6221 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
6223 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
6224 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
6225 @c from the next group.
6228 @node Article Caching
6229 @section Article Caching
6230 @cindex article caching
6233 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
6234 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
6235 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
6236 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
6237 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
6239 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
6241 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6242 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
6243 @vindex gnus-use-cache
6244 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
6245 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
6246 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
6247 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
6248 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
6250 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
6251 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
6252 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
6253 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
6254 as dormant, and don't worry.
6256 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
6258 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
6259 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
6260 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
6261 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
6262 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
6263 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
6264 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
6265 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
6266 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
6267 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
6269 @findex gnus-jog-cache
6270 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
6271 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
6272 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
6273 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
6274 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
6275 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
6276 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
6277 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
6278 not then be downloaded by this command.
6280 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
6281 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
6282 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
6283 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
6284 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
6285 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
6287 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
6288 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
6289 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
6290 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
6291 variables, the group is not cached.
6293 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
6294 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
6295 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
6296 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
6297 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
6298 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, gnus
6299 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
6300 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
6301 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
6305 @node Persistent Articles
6306 @section Persistent Articles
6307 @cindex persistent articles
6309 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
6310 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
6311 useful in my opinion.
6313 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
6314 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
6315 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
6316 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
6317 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
6318 the expiry going on at the news server.
6320 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
6321 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
6322 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
6328 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
6329 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
6332 @kindex M-* (Summary)
6333 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
6334 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
6335 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
6339 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
6341 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
6342 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
6343 interested in persistent articles:
6346 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
6350 @node Article Backlog
6351 @section Article Backlog
6353 @cindex article backlog
6355 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
6356 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
6357 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where gnus will buffer
6358 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
6359 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
6360 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
6361 that, turning the backlog on will slow gnus down a little bit, and
6362 increase memory usage some.
6364 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
6365 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, gnus will store
6366 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
6367 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, gnus will store
6368 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
6369 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
6370 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
6372 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
6375 @node Saving Articles
6376 @section Saving Articles
6377 @cindex saving articles
6379 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
6380 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
6381 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
6382 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
6383 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
6385 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
6386 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, gnus will not delete
6387 unwanted headers before saving the article.
6389 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
6390 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
6391 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
6392 deleted before saving.
6398 @kindex O o (Summary)
6400 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
6401 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
6402 Save the current article using the default article saver
6403 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
6406 @kindex O m (Summary)
6407 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
6408 Save the current article in mail format
6409 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
6412 @kindex O r (Summary)
6413 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
6414 Save the current article in rmail format
6415 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
6418 @kindex O f (Summary)
6419 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
6420 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
6421 Save the current article in plain file format
6422 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
6425 @kindex O F (Summary)
6426 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
6427 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
6428 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
6431 @kindex O b (Summary)
6432 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
6433 Save the current article body in plain file format
6434 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
6437 @kindex O h (Summary)
6438 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
6439 Save the current article in mh folder format
6440 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
6443 @kindex O v (Summary)
6444 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
6445 Save the current article in a VM folder
6446 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
6449 @kindex O p (Summary)
6450 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
6451 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
6452 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
6455 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
6456 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
6457 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
6458 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
6459 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
6460 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
6461 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
6462 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
6463 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
6464 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
6465 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
6466 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
6470 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
6471 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
6472 gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
6473 functions below, or you can create your own.
6477 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6478 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6479 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
6480 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
6481 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
6482 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6483 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6485 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6486 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6487 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
6488 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
6489 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6490 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6492 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
6493 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
6494 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
6495 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
6496 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
6497 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6498 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
6500 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
6501 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
6502 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
6503 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6504 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
6506 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
6507 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
6508 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
6509 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
6510 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
6513 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
6514 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
6515 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
6516 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
6517 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
6519 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
6520 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
6521 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
6522 reader to use this setting.
6525 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
6526 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
6527 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
6528 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
6531 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
6532 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
6533 available functions that generate names:
6537 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
6538 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
6539 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
6541 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
6542 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
6543 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
6545 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
6546 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
6547 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
6549 @item gnus-plain-save-name
6550 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
6551 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
6553 @item gnus-sender-save-name
6554 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
6555 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
6558 @vindex gnus-split-methods
6559 You can have gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
6560 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
6561 save articles related to gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
6562 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
6566 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
6567 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
6568 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
6569 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
6572 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
6573 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
6574 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
6575 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
6576 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
6577 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
6578 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
6579 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
6580 called returns a string or a list of strings.
6582 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
6583 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
6584 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
6585 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
6587 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
6588 means that gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
6589 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
6592 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
6593 lots of mail groups called things like
6594 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
6595 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
6596 following will do just that:
6599 (defun my-save-name (group)
6600 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
6601 (substring group (match-end 0))))
6603 (setq gnus-split-methods
6604 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
6609 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6610 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
6611 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
6612 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
6613 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
6614 all the files in the top level directory
6615 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
6616 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
6617 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
6618 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
6620 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
6621 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
6622 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
6623 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
6624 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
6627 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
6631 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
6632 (setq gnus-default-article-saver 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
6635 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
6636 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
6637 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
6638 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
6641 @node Decoding Articles
6642 @section Decoding Articles
6643 @cindex decoding articles
6645 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
6646 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
6649 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
6650 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
6651 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
6652 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
6653 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
6654 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
6658 @cindex article series
6659 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
6660 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
6661 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
6662 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
6663 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
6665 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
6666 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
6667 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
6669 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, gnus
6670 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
6671 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
6673 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
6674 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
6675 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
6678 @node Uuencoded Articles
6679 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
6681 @cindex uuencoded articles
6686 @kindex X u (Summary)
6687 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
6688 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
6689 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
6692 @kindex X U (Summary)
6693 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
6694 Uudecodes and saves the current series
6695 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
6698 @kindex X v u (Summary)
6699 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
6700 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
6703 @kindex X v U (Summary)
6704 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
6705 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
6706 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
6710 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
6711 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
6712 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
6713 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
6714 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
6716 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
6717 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
6718 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
6719 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
6722 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
6723 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
6724 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
6725 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
6726 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
6727 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
6731 @node Shell Archives
6732 @subsection Shell Archives
6734 @cindex shell archives
6735 @cindex shared articles
6737 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
6738 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
6739 some commands to deal with these:
6744 @kindex X s (Summary)
6745 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
6746 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
6749 @kindex X S (Summary)
6750 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
6751 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
6754 @kindex X v s (Summary)
6755 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
6756 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
6759 @kindex X v S (Summary)
6760 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
6761 Unshars, views and saves the current series
6762 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
6766 @node PostScript Files
6767 @subsection PostScript Files
6773 @kindex X p (Summary)
6774 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
6775 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
6778 @kindex X P (Summary)
6779 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
6780 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
6781 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
6784 @kindex X v p (Summary)
6785 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
6786 View the current PostScript series
6787 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
6790 @kindex X v P (Summary)
6791 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
6792 View and save the current PostScript series
6793 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
6798 @subsection Other Files
6802 @kindex X o (Summary)
6803 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
6804 Save the current series
6805 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
6808 @kindex X b (Summary)
6809 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
6810 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
6811 doesn't really work yet.
6815 @node Decoding Variables
6816 @subsection Decoding Variables
6818 Adjective, not verb.
6821 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
6822 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
6823 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
6827 @node Rule Variables
6828 @subsubsection Rule Variables
6829 @cindex rule variables
6831 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
6832 variables are of the form
6835 (list '(regexp1 command2)
6842 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6843 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6845 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
6846 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
6849 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6850 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
6853 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6854 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6855 This variable is consulted if gnus couldn't make any matches from the
6856 user and default view rules.
6858 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6859 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6860 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
6865 @node Other Decode Variables
6866 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
6869 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6871 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6872 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
6873 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
6874 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
6875 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
6879 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
6880 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
6883 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
6884 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
6885 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
6888 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6889 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6890 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
6891 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
6892 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
6895 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6896 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6897 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
6899 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6900 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6901 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
6902 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
6903 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
6906 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6907 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6908 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
6910 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6911 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6912 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
6913 looking for files to display.
6915 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
6916 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
6917 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
6920 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6921 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6922 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
6925 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6926 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6927 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
6930 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6931 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6932 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
6935 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6936 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6937 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
6938 decoded articles as unread.
6940 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6941 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6942 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
6943 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
6945 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6946 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6947 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
6949 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6950 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6952 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
6953 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
6954 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
6955 @code{metamail} for viewing.
6957 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6958 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6959 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
6960 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
6961 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
6962 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
6963 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
6964 simply dropped them.
6969 @node Uuencoding and Posting
6970 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
6974 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6975 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6976 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
6977 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
6978 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
6979 for you when you post the article.
6981 @item gnus-uu-post-length
6982 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
6983 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
6984 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
6986 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
6987 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
6988 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
6989 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
6990 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
6991 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
6992 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
6994 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6995 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6996 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
6997 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
6998 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
6999 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7000 Default is @code{t}.
7006 @subsection Viewing Files
7007 @cindex viewing files
7008 @cindex pseudo-articles
7010 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, gnus will attempt
7011 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7012 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7013 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, gnus will
7014 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7015 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7016 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7018 Finally, gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7019 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
7020 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
7021 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
7023 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7024 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7025 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7027 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7028 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7029 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7030 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7031 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7033 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7034 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7035 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7036 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7037 a list of parameters to that command.
7039 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7040 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7041 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7043 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7044 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7045 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7048 @node Article Treatment
7049 @section Article Treatment
7051 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7052 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7053 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7054 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7055 these articles easier.
7058 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7059 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7060 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7061 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7062 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7063 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7064 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7065 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7069 @node Article Highlighting
7070 @subsection Article Highlighting
7071 @cindex highlighting
7073 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7074 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7079 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7080 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7081 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7082 Do much highlighting of the current article
7083 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7084 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7087 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7088 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7089 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7090 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7091 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7092 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7093 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7094 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7095 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7096 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7097 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7098 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7101 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7102 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7103 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7105 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7108 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7110 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7111 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7112 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7114 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7115 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7116 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7118 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7119 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7120 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7121 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7122 gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7123 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7125 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7126 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7127 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
7129 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7130 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7131 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
7133 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7134 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7135 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7136 that it's a citation.
7138 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7139 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7140 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7142 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7143 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7144 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7146 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7147 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7148 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7149 cited text belonging to the attribution.
7155 @kindex W H s (Summary)
7156 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7157 @vindex gnus-signature-face
7158 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
7159 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
7160 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
7161 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
7162 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
7167 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
7170 @node Article Fontisizing
7171 @subsection Article Fontisizing
7173 @cindex article emphasis
7175 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
7176 @kindex W e (Summary)
7177 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
7178 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
7179 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
7180 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
7182 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
7183 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
7184 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
7185 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
7186 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
7187 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
7188 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
7189 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
7193 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
7194 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
7195 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
7204 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
7205 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
7206 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
7207 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
7208 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
7209 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
7210 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
7211 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
7212 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
7213 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
7214 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
7215 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
7216 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
7218 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
7219 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
7220 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
7224 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
7227 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
7229 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
7230 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
7231 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
7232 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
7234 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
7237 @node Article Hiding
7238 @subsection Article Hiding
7239 @cindex article hiding
7241 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
7242 too much cruft in most articles.
7247 @kindex W W a (Summary)
7248 @findex gnus-article-hide
7249 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
7250 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
7251 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
7254 @kindex W W h (Summary)
7255 @findex gnus-article-toggle-headers
7256 Toggle hiding of headers (@code{gnus-article-toggle-headers}). @xref{Hiding
7260 @kindex W W b (Summary)
7261 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7262 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
7263 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
7266 @kindex W W s (Summary)
7267 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
7268 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
7272 @kindex W W l (Summary)
7273 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
7274 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7275 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
7276 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
7277 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
7278 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
7279 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
7283 @item gnus-list-identifiers
7284 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7285 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
7286 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
7291 @kindex W W p (Summary)
7292 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
7293 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7294 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
7295 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
7296 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
7297 articles that have signatures in them do:
7299 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
7301 (setq gnus-treat-strip-pgp t)
7303 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
7304 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
7306 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7309 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
7314 @kindex W W P (Summary)
7315 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
7316 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
7317 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
7320 @kindex W W B (Summary)
7321 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
7324 @cindex stripping advertisements
7325 @cindex advertisements
7326 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
7327 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
7328 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
7329 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
7330 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
7331 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
7332 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
7333 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
7334 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
7335 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
7339 @kindex W W c (Summary)
7340 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
7341 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
7342 customizing the hiding:
7346 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7347 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7348 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7349 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7350 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
7351 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
7352 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
7357 Starting point of the hidden text.
7359 Ending point of the hidden text.
7361 Number of characters in the hidden region.
7363 Number of lines of hidden text.
7366 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
7367 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
7368 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
7369 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
7370 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
7375 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
7376 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
7378 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
7379 following two variables:
7382 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7383 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7384 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
7385 50), hide the cited text.
7387 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7388 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7389 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
7394 @kindex W W C (Summary)
7395 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
7396 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
7397 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
7398 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
7399 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
7403 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
7404 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
7405 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
7407 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
7408 citation customization.
7410 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
7414 @node Article Washing
7415 @subsection Article Washing
7417 @cindex article washing
7419 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
7420 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
7422 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
7423 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
7426 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
7427 articles by default.
7432 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
7433 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
7437 @kindex W l (Summary)
7438 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
7439 Remove page breaks from the current article
7440 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
7444 @kindex W r (Summary)
7445 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
7446 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
7447 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
7448 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
7449 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
7450 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
7452 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
7453 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
7454 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
7455 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
7459 @kindex W t (Summary)
7461 @findex gnus-article-toggle-headers
7462 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
7463 (@code{gnus-article-toggle-headers}).
7466 @kindex W v (Summary)
7467 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
7468 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
7469 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
7472 @kindex W m (Summary)
7473 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
7474 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
7475 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
7478 @kindex W o (Summary)
7479 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
7480 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
7483 @kindex W d (Summary)
7484 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
7485 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
7487 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
7489 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
7490 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
7491 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
7492 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
7495 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
7496 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
7497 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
7498 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
7501 @kindex W w (Summary)
7502 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
7503 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
7505 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
7509 @kindex W Q (Summary)
7510 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
7511 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
7514 @kindex W C (Summary)
7515 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
7516 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
7517 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
7520 @kindex W c (Summary)
7521 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
7522 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
7523 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
7524 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
7525 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
7528 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
7529 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
7530 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
7531 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
7532 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that the this is usually done
7533 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
7534 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
7538 @kindex W Z (Summary)
7539 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
7540 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
7541 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
7542 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
7545 @kindex W h (Summary)
7546 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
7547 Treat HTML (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}).
7548 Note that the this is usually done automatically by Gnus if the message
7549 in question has a @code{Content-Type} header that says that this type
7553 @kindex W f (Summary)
7555 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
7556 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
7557 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
7558 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
7565 Look for and display any X-Face headers
7566 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
7567 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
7568 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
7569 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
7570 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
7571 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
7572 The default action under Emacs is to fork off the @code{display}
7573 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For the
7574 @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
7575 like `compface' or `faces-xface' on a GNU/Linux system.}
7576 to view the face. Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image
7577 support, the default action is to display the face before the
7578 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
7579 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
7580 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
7581 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
7582 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
7583 like @code{netpbm} or @code{libgr-progs}.}) If you
7584 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
7588 @kindex W b (Summary)
7589 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
7590 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
7591 @xref{Article Buttons}.
7594 @kindex W B (Summary)
7595 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
7596 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
7597 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
7600 @kindex W W H (Summary)
7601 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body
7602 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
7603 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body}).
7606 @kindex W E l (Summary)
7607 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
7608 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
7609 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
7612 @kindex W E m (Summary)
7613 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
7614 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
7615 lines with a single empty line.
7616 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
7619 @kindex W E t (Summary)
7620 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
7621 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
7622 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
7625 @kindex W E a (Summary)
7626 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
7627 Do all the three commands above
7628 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
7631 @kindex W E A (Summary)
7632 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
7633 Remove all blank lines
7634 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
7637 @kindex W E s (Summary)
7638 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
7639 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
7640 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
7643 @kindex W E e (Summary)
7644 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
7645 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
7646 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
7650 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
7653 @node Article Buttons
7654 @subsection Article Buttons
7657 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
7658 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
7659 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
7660 button on these references.
7662 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
7663 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
7664 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
7669 @item gnus-button-alist
7670 @vindex gnus-button-alist
7671 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
7674 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
7680 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
7681 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
7682 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
7685 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
7686 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
7687 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
7690 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
7691 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
7692 avoid false matches.
7695 This function will be called when you click on this button.
7698 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
7699 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
7703 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
7706 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
7709 @item gnus-header-button-alist
7710 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
7711 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
7712 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
7713 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
7716 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
7719 @var{header} is a regular expression.
7721 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
7722 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
7723 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
7724 default values of the variables above.
7726 @item gnus-article-button-face
7727 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
7728 Face used on buttons.
7730 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
7731 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
7732 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
7736 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
7740 @subsection Article Date
7742 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
7743 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
7744 when the article was sent.
7749 @kindex W T u (Summary)
7750 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
7751 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
7752 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
7755 @kindex W T i (Summary)
7756 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
7758 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
7759 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
7762 @kindex W T l (Summary)
7763 @findex gnus-article-date-local
7764 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
7767 @kindex W T p (Summary)
7768 @findex gnus-article-date-english
7769 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
7770 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
7773 @kindex W T s (Summary)
7774 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
7775 @findex gnus-article-date-user
7776 @findex format-time-string
7777 Display the date using a user-defined format
7778 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
7779 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
7780 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
7781 for a list of possible format specs.
7784 @kindex W T e (Summary)
7785 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
7786 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
7787 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
7788 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
7789 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
7792 X-Sent: 9 years, 6 weeks, 4 days, 9 hours, 3 minutes, 28 seconds ago
7795 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
7796 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
7799 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
7800 into wonderful absurdities.
7802 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
7805 (gnus-start-date-timer)
7808 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
7809 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
7813 @kindex W T o (Summary)
7814 @findex gnus-article-date-original
7815 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
7816 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
7817 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
7818 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
7819 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
7823 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
7824 preferred format automatically.
7827 @node Article Signature
7828 @subsection Article Signature
7830 @cindex article signature
7832 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7833 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
7834 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
7835 that says what is to be considered a signature is
7836 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
7837 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
7838 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
7839 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
7840 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
7843 (setq gnus-signature-separator
7844 '("^-- $" ; The standard
7845 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
7846 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
7847 ; line of dashes. Shame!
7848 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
7849 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
7850 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
7853 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
7856 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
7857 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
7858 signature when displaying articles.
7862 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
7865 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
7868 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
7869 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
7871 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
7872 in question is not a signature.
7875 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
7876 listed above. Here's an example:
7879 (setq gnus-signature-limit
7880 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
7883 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
7884 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
7885 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
7886 signature after all.
7889 @node Article Miscellania
7890 @subsection Article Miscellania
7894 @kindex A t (Summary)
7895 @findex gnus-article-babel
7896 Translate the article from one language to another
7897 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
7903 @section @sc{mime} Commands
7904 @cindex MIME decoding
7906 @cindex viewing attachments
7908 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
7909 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
7915 @kindex K v (Summary)
7916 View the @sc{mime} part.
7919 @kindex K o (Summary)
7920 Save the @sc{mime} part.
7923 @kindex K c (Summary)
7924 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
7927 @kindex K e (Summary)
7928 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
7931 @kindex K i (Summary)
7932 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
7935 @kindex K | (Summary)
7936 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
7939 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
7944 @kindex K b (Summary)
7945 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
7946 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
7950 @kindex K m (Summary)
7951 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
7952 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
7953 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
7954 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
7955 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
7958 @kindex X m (Summary)
7959 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
7960 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
7961 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
7962 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7965 @kindex M-t (Summary)
7966 @findex gnus-summary-display-buttonized
7967 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
7968 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
7971 @kindex W M w (Summary)
7972 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
7973 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
7976 @kindex W M c (Summary)
7977 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
7978 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
7980 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
7981 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
7982 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
7983 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not include
7984 MIME headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic parameter to
7985 the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
7988 @kindex W M v (Summary)
7989 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
7990 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
7997 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
7998 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
7999 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8000 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
8003 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
8006 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
8010 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8011 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8012 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8013 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
8014 displayed. The default value is @code{(".*/.*")}.
8016 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
8017 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
8018 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
8019 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
8020 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
8021 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
8022 save all jpegs into some directory).
8024 Here's an example function the does the latter:
8027 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
8028 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
8030 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
8031 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
8032 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
8033 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
8034 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
8037 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8038 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8039 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
8048 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
8049 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
8050 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
8051 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
8052 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
8053 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
8054 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
8056 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
8057 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
8058 variable, which is an alist of regexps (to match full group names) and
8059 default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
8061 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
8062 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1} even
8063 if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
8064 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
8065 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be set
8066 on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
8067 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit)}, which is
8068 something some agents insist on having in there.
8070 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
8071 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
8072 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
8073 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
8074 quoted-printable header encoding.
8076 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
8077 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
8078 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
8082 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
8085 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
8086 means encode all charsets),
8088 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
8089 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
8090 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
8097 @cindex coding system aliases
8098 @cindex preferred charset
8100 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
8102 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
8103 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
8106 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
8107 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
8110 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
8111 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
8113 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
8116 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
8119 This will almost do the right thing.
8121 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
8125 (codepage-setup 1251)
8126 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
8130 @node Article Commands
8131 @section Article Commands
8138 @kindex A P (Summary)
8139 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
8140 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
8141 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
8142 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
8143 run just before printing the buffer.
8148 @node Summary Sorting
8149 @section Summary Sorting
8150 @cindex summary sorting
8152 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
8153 can't really see why you'd want that.
8158 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
8159 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
8160 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
8163 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
8164 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
8165 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
8168 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
8169 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
8170 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
8173 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
8174 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
8175 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
8178 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
8179 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
8180 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
8183 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
8184 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
8185 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
8188 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
8189 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
8190 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
8193 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
8194 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
8195 Sort using the default sorting method
8196 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
8199 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
8200 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
8201 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
8202 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
8203 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
8207 @node Finding the Parent
8208 @section Finding the Parent
8209 @cindex parent articles
8210 @cindex referring articles
8215 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
8216 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
8217 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
8218 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
8219 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
8220 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
8221 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
8222 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
8223 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
8225 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
8226 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
8227 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, gnus will fetch the parent, the
8228 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
8229 @kbd{-3 ^}, gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
8233 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
8234 @kindex A R (Summary)
8235 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
8236 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
8239 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
8240 @kindex A T (Summary)
8241 Display the full thread where the current article appears
8242 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
8243 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
8244 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
8245 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
8246 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
8247 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
8249 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
8250 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
8251 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
8252 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
8253 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
8254 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
8257 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
8258 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
8260 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
8261 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
8262 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
8263 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
8264 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
8265 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
8266 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
8269 The current select method will be used when fetching by
8270 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
8271 by giving this command a prefix.
8273 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
8274 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
8275 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
8276 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
8277 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
8278 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
8281 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
8282 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
8283 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
8286 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
8287 then ask Deja if that fails:
8290 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
8292 (nnweb "refer" (nnweb-type dejanews))))
8295 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
8296 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
8297 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
8298 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
8299 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
8300 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
8303 @node Alternative Approaches
8304 @section Alternative Approaches
8306 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
8307 gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
8310 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
8311 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
8316 @subsection Pick and Read
8317 @cindex pick and read
8319 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
8320 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
8321 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
8322 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
8324 @findex gnus-pick-mode
8325 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
8326 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
8327 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
8328 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
8329 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
8331 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
8336 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
8337 Pick the article or thread on the current line
8338 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8339 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
8340 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
8341 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
8342 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
8343 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
8346 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
8347 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
8348 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
8349 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
8353 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
8354 Unpick the thread or article
8355 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8356 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
8357 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
8358 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
8359 the thread or article at that line.
8363 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
8364 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
8365 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
8366 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
8367 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
8368 will still be visible when you are reading.
8372 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
8373 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
8374 which is mapped to the same function
8375 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
8377 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
8380 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
8383 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
8384 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
8386 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
8387 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
8388 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
8390 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
8391 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
8392 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
8393 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
8394 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
8395 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
8396 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
8400 @subsection Binary Groups
8401 @cindex binary groups
8403 @findex gnus-binary-mode
8404 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
8405 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
8406 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
8407 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
8408 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
8409 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
8412 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
8413 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
8414 command, when you have turned on this mode
8415 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
8417 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
8418 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
8422 @section Tree Display
8425 @vindex gnus-use-trees
8426 If you don't like the normal gnus summary display, you might try setting
8427 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
8428 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
8431 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
8434 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
8435 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
8436 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
8438 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
8439 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
8440 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
8441 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
8442 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
8444 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
8445 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
8446 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
8447 default is @code{modeline}.
8449 @item gnus-tree-line-format
8450 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
8451 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
8452 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
8453 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
8454 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
8455 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
8461 The name of the poster.
8463 The @code{From} header.
8465 The number of the article.
8467 The opening bracket.
8469 The closing bracket.
8474 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
8476 Variables related to the display are:
8479 @item gnus-tree-brackets
8480 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
8481 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
8482 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
8483 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
8484 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
8486 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
8487 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
8488 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
8489 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
8493 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
8494 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
8495 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will try to keep the tree
8496 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other gnus
8497 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
8498 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
8499 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
8500 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
8501 other windows displayed next to it.
8503 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
8504 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
8505 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
8506 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
8507 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
8508 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
8509 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
8513 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
8516 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
8526 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
8530 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
8531 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
8533 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
8535 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
8540 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
8541 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
8542 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
8545 (setq gnus-use-trees t
8546 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
8547 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
8548 (gnus-add-configuration
8552 (summary 0.75 point)
8557 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
8560 @node Mail Group Commands
8561 @section Mail Group Commands
8562 @cindex mail group commands
8564 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
8565 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
8567 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
8568 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8573 @kindex B e (Summary)
8574 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
8575 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
8576 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
8577 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
8578 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
8581 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
8582 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
8583 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
8584 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
8585 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
8586 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
8589 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
8590 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
8591 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
8592 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
8593 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
8594 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
8597 @kindex B m (Summary)
8599 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
8600 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
8601 Move the article from one mail group to another
8602 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
8603 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
8606 @kindex B c (Summary)
8608 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
8609 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
8610 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
8611 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
8612 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
8615 @kindex B B (Summary)
8616 @cindex crosspost mail
8617 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
8618 Crosspost the current article to some other group
8619 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
8620 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
8621 be properly updated.
8624 @kindex B i (Summary)
8625 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
8626 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
8627 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
8628 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
8631 @kindex B r (Summary)
8632 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
8633 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
8634 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
8635 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
8636 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
8637 Marks will be preserved if @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
8638 (which is the default).
8642 @kindex B w (Summary)
8644 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
8645 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
8646 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
8647 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
8648 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
8649 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, gnus won't re-highlight the article.
8652 @kindex B q (Summary)
8653 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
8654 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
8655 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
8656 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
8659 @kindex B t (Summary)
8660 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
8661 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
8662 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
8665 @kindex B p (Summary)
8666 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
8667 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
8668 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
8669 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
8670 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
8671 article from your news server (or rather, from
8672 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
8673 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
8674 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
8675 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
8676 just not have arrived yet.
8680 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
8681 @cindex moving articles
8682 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have gnus
8683 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
8684 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
8685 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
8686 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
8687 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
8688 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
8691 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
8692 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
8693 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
8694 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
8698 @node Various Summary Stuff
8699 @section Various Summary Stuff
8702 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
8703 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
8704 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
8705 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
8709 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
8710 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
8711 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
8713 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
8714 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
8715 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
8716 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
8717 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
8718 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
8721 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
8722 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
8723 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
8724 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
8725 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
8727 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
8728 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
8729 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
8732 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
8733 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
8734 When gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
8735 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
8736 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
8737 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
8738 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), gnus will rename the
8739 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
8740 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
8741 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
8743 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
8744 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
8745 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
8746 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
8747 list of articles to be selected.
8749 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
8750 the list in one particular group:
8753 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
8754 (if (string= group "some.group")
8755 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
8762 @node Summary Group Information
8763 @subsection Summary Group Information
8768 @kindex H f (Summary)
8769 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
8770 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
8771 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
8772 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
8773 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
8774 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
8775 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
8776 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
8777 be used for fetching the file.
8780 @kindex H d (Summary)
8781 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
8782 Give a brief description of the current group
8783 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
8784 rereading the description from the server.
8787 @kindex H h (Summary)
8788 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
8789 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
8790 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
8793 @kindex H i (Summary)
8794 @findex gnus-info-find-node
8795 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
8799 @node Searching for Articles
8800 @subsection Searching for Articles
8805 @kindex M-s (Summary)
8806 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
8807 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
8808 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
8811 @kindex M-r (Summary)
8812 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
8813 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
8814 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
8818 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
8819 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
8820 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
8821 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
8822 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
8823 search backward instead.
8825 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
8826 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
8829 @kindex M-& (Summary)
8830 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
8831 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
8832 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
8835 @node Summary Generation Commands
8836 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
8841 @kindex Y g (Summary)
8842 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
8843 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
8846 @kindex Y c (Summary)
8847 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
8848 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
8849 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
8854 @node Really Various Summary Commands
8855 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
8861 @kindex C-d (Summary)
8862 @kindex A D (Summary)
8863 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
8864 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
8865 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
8866 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
8867 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
8868 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
8869 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
8870 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
8874 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
8875 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
8876 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
8877 several documents into one biiig group
8878 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
8879 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
8880 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
8881 command understands the process/prefix convention
8882 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8885 @kindex C-t (Summary)
8886 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
8887 Toggle truncation of summary lines
8888 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
8889 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
8890 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
8894 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
8895 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
8896 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
8899 @kindex M-C-e (Summary)
8900 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
8901 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
8902 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
8905 @kindex M-C-a (Summary)
8906 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
8907 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
8908 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
8913 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
8914 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
8915 @cindex summary exit
8916 @cindex exiting groups
8918 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
8919 group and return you to the group buffer.
8925 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
8927 @findex gnus-summary-exit
8928 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
8929 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
8930 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
8931 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
8932 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
8933 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
8934 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
8935 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
8936 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
8937 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
8941 @kindex Z E (Summary)
8943 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
8944 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
8945 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
8949 @kindex Z c (Summary)
8951 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
8952 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
8953 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
8954 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
8957 @kindex Z C (Summary)
8958 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
8959 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
8960 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
8963 @kindex Z n (Summary)
8964 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
8965 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
8966 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
8969 @kindex Z R (Summary)
8970 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
8971 Exit this group, and then enter it again
8972 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
8973 all articles, both read and unread.
8977 @kindex Z G (Summary)
8978 @kindex M-g (Summary)
8979 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
8980 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
8981 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
8982 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
8983 articles, both read and unread.
8986 @kindex Z N (Summary)
8987 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
8988 Exit the group and go to the next group
8989 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
8992 @kindex Z P (Summary)
8993 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
8994 Exit the group and go to the previous group
8995 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
8998 @kindex Z s (Summary)
8999 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
9000 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
9001 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
9002 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
9003 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
9006 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
9007 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
9008 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
9009 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
9011 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
9012 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
9013 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
9014 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
9015 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
9016 If you do that, gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
9017 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
9018 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
9019 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
9020 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
9021 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
9022 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
9024 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
9026 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
9027 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
9028 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
9029 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
9030 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
9031 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
9032 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
9033 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
9034 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
9037 @node Crosspost Handling
9038 @section Crosspost Handling
9042 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
9043 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
9044 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
9045 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
9046 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
9047 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
9050 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
9051 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
9052 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
9053 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
9054 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
9056 @cindex cross-posting
9059 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
9060 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
9061 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
9062 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
9063 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
9064 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
9065 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
9066 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
9067 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
9068 the cross reference mechanism.
9070 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
9071 @cindex overview.fmt
9072 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
9073 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
9074 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
9075 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
9076 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
9077 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
9080 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
9081 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
9082 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
9087 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
9090 @node Duplicate Suppression
9091 @section Duplicate Suppression
9093 By default, gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
9094 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
9095 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
9096 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
9101 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
9102 is evil and not very common.
9105 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
9106 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
9109 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
9110 different @sc{nntp} servers.
9113 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
9116 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
9117 well, but these four are the most common situations.
9119 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
9120 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
9121 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
9122 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
9123 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
9124 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
9125 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
9128 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
9129 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
9130 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
9131 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
9132 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
9136 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
9137 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
9138 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
9140 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
9141 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
9142 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
9143 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
9144 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single gnus
9145 session are suppressed.
9147 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
9148 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
9149 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
9150 suppression list. The default is 10000.
9152 @item gnus-duplicate-file
9153 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
9154 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
9155 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
9158 If you have a tendency to stop and start gnus often, setting
9159 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
9160 you leave gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
9161 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
9162 so that means that if you stop and start gnus often, you should set
9163 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
9164 to you to figure out, I think.
9169 Gnus is able to verify PGP or S/MIME signed messages or decrypt PGP
9174 To verify or decrypt PGP messages, you have to install mailcrypt or
9180 @item mm-verify-option
9181 @vindex mm-verify-option
9182 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
9183 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
9184 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
9186 @item mm-decrypt-option
9187 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
9188 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
9189 @code{always}, always decrypt @code{known}, only decrypt known
9190 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
9194 @node Article Buffer
9195 @chapter Article Buffer
9196 @cindex article buffer
9198 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
9199 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
9200 tell gnus otherwise.
9203 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
9204 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
9205 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
9206 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
9207 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
9211 @node Hiding Headers
9212 @section Hiding Headers
9213 @cindex hiding headers
9214 @cindex deleting headers
9216 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
9217 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
9219 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
9220 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
9221 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
9222 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
9223 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
9224 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
9225 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
9226 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
9227 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
9229 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
9233 @item gnus-visible-headers
9234 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
9235 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
9236 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
9237 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
9239 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
9240 the article and the subject, you'd say:
9243 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
9246 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
9249 @item gnus-ignored-headers
9250 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
9251 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
9252 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
9253 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
9254 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
9256 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} field
9257 and the @code{Xref} field, you might say:
9260 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
9263 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
9266 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
9267 variable will have no effect.
9271 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
9272 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
9273 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
9274 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
9275 the headers are to be displayed.
9277 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
9278 and then the subject, you might say something like:
9281 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
9284 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
9285 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
9287 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
9288 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
9289 You can hide further boring headers by setting
9290 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
9291 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
9292 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
9293 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
9296 These conditions are:
9299 Remove all empty headers.
9301 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
9302 @code{Newsgroups} header.
9304 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
9307 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
9310 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
9311 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
9313 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
9316 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
9318 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
9321 To include these three elements, you could say something like;
9324 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
9325 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
9328 This is also the default value for this variable.
9332 @section Using @sc{mime}
9335 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
9336 while people stand around yawning.
9338 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
9339 while all newsreaders die of fear.
9341 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
9342 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
9343 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
9345 @vindex gnus-show-mime
9346 @vindex gnus-article-display-method-for-mime
9347 @vindex gnus-strict-mime
9348 @findex gnus-article-display-mime-message
9349 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
9350 @code{gnus-article-display-method-for-mime}, which is
9351 @code{gnus-article-display-mime-message} by default. This function
9352 calls the SEMI MIME-View program to actually do the work. For more
9353 information on SEMI MIME-View, see its manual page (however it is not
9354 existed yet, sorry).
9356 Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
9357 @sc{mime} all the time. However, if @code{gnus-strict-mime} is
9358 non-@code{nil}, the @sc{mime} method will only be used if there are
9359 @sc{mime} headers in the article. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime}
9360 set, then you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article
9361 buffer. These can't be avoided.
9363 In GNUS or Gnus, it might be best to just use the toggling functions
9364 from the summary buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance,
9365 you enter the group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it,
9366 @sc{mime} has decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible
9367 sing-a-long song comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find
9368 the volume button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to
9369 look at you, and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you
9370 can't find the program to control the volume, and everybody else in the
9371 room suddenly decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel
9374 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
9376 To avoid such kind of situation, gnus stops to use
9377 @code{metamail-buffer}. So now, you can set @code{gnus-show-mime} to
9378 non-@code{nil} every-time, then you can push button in the article
9379 buffer when there are nobody else.
9381 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
9384 @node Customizing Articles
9385 @section Customizing Articles
9386 @cindex article customization
9388 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
9389 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
9390 called automatically when you select the articles.
9392 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
9393 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
9394 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
9395 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
9397 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
9398 for sensible values.
9402 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
9405 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
9408 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
9411 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
9414 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
9418 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
9419 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
9420 regexps in the list.
9423 A list where the first element is not a string:
9425 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
9426 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
9427 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
9431 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
9435 @code{mime}: Do this treatment if the value of @code{gnus-show-mime}' is
9440 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
9441 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
9442 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
9443 considered to contain just a single part.
9445 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
9446 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
9447 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
9448 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
9449 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
9450 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
9451 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
9453 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
9454 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
9455 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
9456 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
9459 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last)
9460 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
9461 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
9462 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
9463 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
9464 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
9465 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
9466 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
9467 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
9468 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
9469 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
9470 @item gnus-treat-strip-pgp (t, last, integer)
9471 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
9472 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
9473 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
9474 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
9475 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
9476 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
9477 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
9478 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
9479 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
9480 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
9481 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
9482 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
9483 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
9484 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
9485 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
9486 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
9487 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
9488 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
9489 @item gnus-treat-display-picons (head)
9490 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
9491 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
9492 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
9493 @item gnus-treat-translate
9494 @item gnus-treat-decode-article-as-default-mime-charset
9497 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
9498 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
9499 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
9500 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
9501 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
9505 @node Article Keymap
9506 @section Article Keymap
9508 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
9509 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
9510 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
9511 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
9514 A few additional keystrokes are available:
9519 @kindex SPACE (Article)
9520 @findex gnus-article-next-page
9521 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
9524 @kindex DEL (Article)
9525 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
9526 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
9529 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
9530 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
9531 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
9532 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
9533 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
9536 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
9537 @findex gnus-article-mail
9538 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
9539 given a prefix, include the mail.
9543 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
9544 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
9545 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
9549 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
9550 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
9551 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
9554 @kindex TAB (Article)
9555 @findex gnus-article-next-button
9556 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
9557 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
9560 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
9561 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
9562 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
9568 @section Misc Article
9572 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
9573 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
9574 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
9575 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
9578 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
9579 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
9581 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
9582 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
9584 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
9585 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
9586 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
9587 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
9588 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
9589 the contents of the article buffer.
9591 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
9592 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
9593 Hook called in article mode buffers.
9595 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
9596 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
9597 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
9598 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
9600 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
9601 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
9602 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
9603 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
9604 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
9609 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
9610 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
9613 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
9616 @vindex gnus-break-pages
9618 @item gnus-break-pages
9619 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
9620 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
9621 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
9622 paging will not be done.
9624 @item gnus-page-delimiter
9625 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
9626 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
9631 @node Composing Messages
9632 @chapter Composing Messages
9633 @cindex composing messages
9636 @cindex sending mail
9642 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
9643 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
9644 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
9645 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The
9646 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
9647 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
9650 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
9651 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
9652 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
9653 * Archived Messages:: Where gnus stores the messages you've sent.
9654 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
9655 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
9656 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
9657 * Using GPG:: How to use GPG and MML to sign and encrypt messages
9660 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
9661 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
9667 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
9670 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
9671 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
9672 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
9673 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
9675 @item gnus-add-to-list
9676 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
9677 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
9678 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
9683 @node Posting Server
9684 @section Posting Server
9686 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
9687 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
9689 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
9691 @vindex gnus-post-method
9693 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will post using the same
9694 select method as you're reading from (which might be convenient if
9695 you're reading lots of groups from different private servers).
9696 However. If the server you're reading from doesn't allow posting,
9697 just reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
9698 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
9699 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
9702 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
9705 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
9706 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
9707 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
9708 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behaviour, for posting.
9710 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
9711 gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
9713 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
9714 If that's the case, gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
9717 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
9718 you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
9722 @section Mail and Post
9724 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
9728 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
9729 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
9730 @cindex mailing lists
9732 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
9733 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
9734 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
9735 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
9736 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
9737 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
9738 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
9739 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
9740 still a pain, though.
9744 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
9745 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
9746 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
9749 @findex ispell-message
9751 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
9754 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
9755 you're in, you could say something like the following:
9758 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
9762 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
9763 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
9765 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
9768 Modify to suit your needs.
9771 @node Archived Messages
9772 @section Archived Messages
9773 @cindex archived messages
9774 @cindex sent messages
9776 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
9777 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
9778 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
9779 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
9782 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
9783 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server gnus is to
9784 use to store sent messages. The default is:
9788 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
9789 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
9790 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
9791 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
9794 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
9795 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
9796 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
9797 directory chosen, you could say something like:
9800 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
9801 '(nnfolder "archive"
9802 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
9803 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
9804 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
9807 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
9809 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
9810 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
9811 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
9813 This variable can be used to do the following:
9817 Messages will be saved in that group.
9819 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
9820 message will not be stored in the select method given by
9821 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
9822 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
9823 has the default value shown above. Then setting
9824 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
9825 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
9826 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
9828 @item a list of strings
9829 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
9830 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
9831 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
9833 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
9838 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
9840 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
9843 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
9845 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
9848 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
9850 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9851 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
9852 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
9853 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
9858 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9859 '((if (message-news-p)
9864 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
9865 messages in one file per month:
9868 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9869 '((if (message-news-p)
9871 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
9874 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
9875 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
9877 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
9878 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
9879 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
9880 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
9881 gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
9882 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
9883 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
9884 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
9885 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
9886 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
9888 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
9889 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
9890 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
9891 this will disable archiving.
9894 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
9895 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
9896 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
9897 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
9898 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
9901 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
9902 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
9903 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
9906 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
9907 but the latter is the preferred method.
9909 @item gnus-inews-mark-gcc-as-read
9910 @vindex gnus-inews-mark-gcc-as-read
9911 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
9916 @node Posting Styles
9917 @section Posting Styles
9918 @cindex posting styles
9921 All them variables, they make my head swim.
9923 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
9924 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
9925 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
9928 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
9929 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
9930 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
9931 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
9932 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
9937 (signature "Peace and happiness")
9938 (organization "What me?"))
9940 (signature "Death to everybody"))
9941 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
9942 (organization "Emacs is it")))
9945 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
9946 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
9947 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
9948 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
9949 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
9950 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
9951 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
9952 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
9954 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
9955 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
9956 If it is the symbol @code{header}, then Gnus will look for header (the
9957 next element in the match) in the original article , and compare that to
9958 the last regexp in the match. If it's a function symbol, that function
9959 will be called with no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the
9960 variable will be referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be
9961 @code{eval}ed. In any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value,
9962 then the style is said to @dfn{match}.
9964 Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
9965 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
9966 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
9967 @code{organization}, @code{address}, @code{name} or @code{body}. The
9968 attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
9969 a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
9970 article; if the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed.
9971 If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the
9972 result is thrown away.
9974 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
9975 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
9976 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
9977 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
9978 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
9979 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable.
9981 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
9982 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
9983 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
9985 @findex message-mail-p
9986 @findex message-news-p
9988 So here's a new example:
9991 (setq gnus-posting-styles
9993 (signature-file "~/.signature")
9995 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
9996 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
9998 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
9999 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
10000 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
10002 (signature my-news-signature))
10003 (header "to" "larsi.*org"
10004 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
10005 ((posting-from-work-p)
10006 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
10007 (address "user@@bar.foo")
10008 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
10009 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
10011 (From (save-excursion
10012 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
10013 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
10015 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
10018 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
10019 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
10020 if you fill many roles.
10027 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
10028 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
10029 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
10030 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
10031 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
10033 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
10034 some sort using the gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
10035 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
10036 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
10037 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
10041 @vindex nndraft-directory
10042 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
10043 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
10044 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
10045 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
10046 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
10047 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
10049 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
10050 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
10053 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
10054 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
10055 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
10056 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
10057 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
10058 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
10059 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
10060 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
10061 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
10062 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
10063 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
10064 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
10065 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
10066 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
10068 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
10069 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
10070 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
10072 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
10073 @kindex D e (Draft)
10074 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
10075 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
10076 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
10078 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
10081 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
10082 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
10083 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
10084 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
10085 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
10086 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
10087 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
10090 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
10091 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
10092 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
10095 @node Rejected Articles
10096 @section Rejected Articles
10097 @cindex rejected articles
10099 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
10100 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
10101 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
10102 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
10104 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of gnus.
10105 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
10106 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
10107 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So gnus saves these
10108 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
10110 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
10111 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
10112 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
10118 Gnus has an ALPHA support to GPG that's provided by @file{gpg.el}. See
10119 @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} to enable Gnus to
10120 verify or decrypt messages accordingly.
10122 To use this correctly with GPG, you'll need the following lisp code in your
10123 @file{~/.emacs} or @file{~/.gnus}:
10127 (setq mml2015-use 'gpg)
10128 (setq gpg-temp-directory (expand-file-name "~/.gnupg/tmp"))
10131 The @code{gpg-temp-directory} need to point to a directory with permissions set
10132 to 700, for your own safety.
10134 If you want to benefit of PGP2.6 compatibility, you might create a script named
10135 @file{gpg-2comp} with these instructions:
10139 exec gpg --rfc1991 "$@@"
10142 If you don't want to use such compatibility, you can add the following line to
10143 your @file{~/.emacs} or @file{~/.gnus}:
10146 (setq gpg-command-default-alist (quote ((gpg . "gpg") (gpg-2comp . "gpg"))))
10149 To sign or encrypt your message you may choose to use the MML Security
10150 menu or @kbd{C-c C-m s p} to sign your message using PGP/MIME, @kbd{C-c
10151 C-m s s} to sign your message using S/MIME. There's also @kbd{C-c C-m c
10152 p} to encrypt your message with PGP/MIME and @kbd{C-c C-m c s} to
10153 encrypt using S/MIME.
10155 Gnus will ask for your passphrase and then it will send your message, if
10156 you've typed it correctly.
10158 @node Select Methods
10159 @chapter Select Methods
10160 @cindex foreign groups
10161 @cindex select methods
10163 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
10164 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
10165 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
10166 personal mail group.
10168 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
10169 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
10170 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
10171 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
10172 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
10173 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
10175 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
10176 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
10178 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
10181 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
10182 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
10183 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
10184 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
10185 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
10187 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
10190 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
10191 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
10192 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
10193 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
10194 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
10195 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
10196 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
10200 @node Server Buffer
10201 @section Server Buffer
10203 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
10204 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
10205 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
10206 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
10207 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
10208 backend represents a virtual server.
10210 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
10211 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
10212 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
10213 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
10215 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
10216 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
10217 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
10218 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
10219 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
10220 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
10221 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
10223 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
10224 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
10227 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
10228 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
10229 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
10230 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
10231 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
10232 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
10233 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
10236 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
10237 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
10240 @node Server Buffer Format
10241 @subsection Server Buffer Format
10242 @cindex server buffer format
10244 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
10245 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
10246 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
10247 variable, with some simple extensions:
10252 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
10255 The name of this server.
10258 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
10261 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
10264 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
10265 The mode line can also be customized by using the
10266 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
10267 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
10277 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
10280 @node Server Commands
10281 @subsection Server Commands
10282 @cindex server commands
10288 @findex gnus-server-add-server
10289 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
10293 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
10294 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
10297 @kindex SPACE (Server)
10298 @findex gnus-server-read-server
10299 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
10303 @findex gnus-server-exit
10304 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
10308 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
10309 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
10313 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
10314 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
10318 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
10319 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
10323 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
10324 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
10328 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
10329 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
10330 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
10335 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
10336 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
10337 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
10338 a mail backend that has gotten out of sync.
10343 @node Example Methods
10344 @subsection Example Methods
10346 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
10349 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
10352 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
10358 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
10359 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
10362 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
10363 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
10365 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
10366 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
10370 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
10373 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
10374 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
10376 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
10377 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
10378 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
10382 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
10385 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
10388 Here's the method for a public spool:
10392 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
10393 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
10399 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
10400 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
10401 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
10402 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
10403 should probably look something like this:
10407 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
10408 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
10409 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
10410 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
10411 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
10414 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
10415 compressed connection over the modem line, you could create a virtual
10416 server that would look something like this:
10420 (nntp-address "copper.uio.no")
10421 (nntp-rlogin-program "ssh")
10422 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
10423 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
10424 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
10425 ("telnet" "news.uio.no" "nntp")))
10428 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
10429 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
10430 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
10431 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
10434 @node Creating a Virtual Server
10435 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
10437 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
10438 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
10440 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
10441 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
10442 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
10444 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
10446 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
10447 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
10448 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
10449 will contain the following:
10459 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
10460 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
10461 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
10464 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
10465 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
10466 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
10469 @node Server Variables
10470 @subsection Server Variables
10472 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
10473 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
10474 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
10475 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
10476 won't change the "derived" variables.
10478 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
10479 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
10480 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
10481 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
10482 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
10483 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
10484 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
10485 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
10486 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
10490 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
10491 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
10492 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
10496 @node Servers and Methods
10497 @subsection Servers and Methods
10499 Wherever you would normally use a select method
10500 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
10501 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
10502 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
10506 @node Unavailable Servers
10507 @subsection Unavailable Servers
10509 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
10510 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
10511 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
10512 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
10513 actually the case or not.
10515 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
10516 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
10517 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
10518 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
10519 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
10520 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
10521 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
10522 it will regard that server as ``down''.
10524 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
10525 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
10527 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
10528 with the following commands:
10534 @findex gnus-server-open-server
10535 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
10536 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
10540 @findex gnus-server-close-server
10541 Close the connection (if any) to the server
10542 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
10546 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
10547 Mark the current server as unreachable
10548 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
10551 @kindex M-o (Server)
10552 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
10553 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
10554 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
10557 @kindex M-c (Server)
10558 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
10559 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
10560 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
10564 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
10565 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
10566 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
10572 @section Getting News
10573 @cindex reading news
10574 @cindex news backends
10576 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
10577 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
10578 or it can read from a local spool.
10581 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
10582 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
10587 @subsection @sc{nntp}
10590 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
10591 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
10592 server as the, uhm, address.
10594 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
10595 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
10596 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
10597 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
10599 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
10600 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
10601 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
10603 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
10608 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
10609 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
10610 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
10612 @cindex authentification
10613 @cindex nntp authentification
10614 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
10615 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
10616 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
10617 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
10618 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
10619 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
10620 present in this hook.
10622 @item nntp-authinfo-function
10623 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
10624 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
10625 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
10626 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
10627 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
10628 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
10629 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
10630 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
10631 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
10632 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
10633 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
10637 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
10640 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
10642 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
10643 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
10644 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
10645 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
10646 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
10647 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
10648 @samp{force} is explained below.
10652 Here's an example file:
10655 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
10656 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
10659 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
10660 have to be first, for instance.
10662 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
10663 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
10664 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
10665 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
10666 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
10667 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
10668 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
10670 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
10671 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
10677 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
10678 previously mentioned.
10680 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
10682 @item nntp-server-action-alist
10683 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
10684 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
10685 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
10686 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
10689 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
10690 '(("innd" (ding))))
10693 You probably don't want to do that, though.
10695 The default value is
10698 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
10699 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
10702 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
10703 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
10705 @item nntp-maximum-request
10706 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
10707 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
10708 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
10709 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
10710 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
10711 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
10712 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
10714 @item nntp-connection-timeout
10715 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
10716 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
10717 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
10718 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
10719 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
10720 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
10721 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
10722 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
10723 no timeouts are done.
10725 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
10726 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
10727 @c @cindex PPP connections
10728 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
10729 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
10730 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
10731 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
10732 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
10733 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
10734 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
10735 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
10736 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
10737 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
10739 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
10740 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
10741 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
10742 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
10743 @c described above.
10745 @item nntp-server-hook
10746 @vindex nntp-server-hook
10747 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
10750 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
10751 @findex nntp-open-telnet
10752 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
10753 @item nntp-open-connection-function
10754 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
10755 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Four pre-made
10756 functions are supplied:
10759 @item nntp-open-network-stream
10760 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
10763 @item nntp-open-rlogin
10764 Does an @samp{rlogin} on the
10765 remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet} to the @sc{nntp} server
10768 @code{nntp-open-rlogin}-related variables:
10772 @item nntp-rlogin-program
10773 @vindex nntp-rlogin-program
10774 Program used to log in on remote machines. The default is @samp{rsh},
10775 but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
10777 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
10778 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
10779 This list will be used as the parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
10781 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
10782 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
10783 User name on the remote system.
10787 @item nntp-open-telnet
10788 Does a @samp{telnet} to the remote system and then another @samp{telnet}
10789 to get to the @sc{nntp} server.
10791 @code{nntp-open-telnet}-related variables:
10794 @item nntp-telnet-command
10795 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
10796 Command used to start @code{telnet}.
10798 @item nntp-telnet-switches
10799 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
10800 List of strings to be used as the switches to the @code{telnet} command.
10802 @item nntp-telnet-user-name
10803 @vindex nntp-telnet-user-name
10804 User name for log in on the remote system.
10806 @item nntp-telnet-passwd
10807 @vindex nntp-telnet-passwd
10808 Password to use when logging in.
10810 @item nntp-telnet-parameters
10811 @vindex nntp-telnet-parameters
10812 A list of strings executed as a command after logging in
10815 @item nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
10816 @vindex nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
10817 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the remote machine. The default is
10818 @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
10820 @item nntp-open-telnet-envuser
10821 @vindex nntp-open-telnet-envuser
10822 If non-@code{nil}, the @code{telnet} session (client and server both)
10823 will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for login name.
10824 This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
10828 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
10829 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
10830 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
10831 you must have SSLay installed
10832 (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also need
10833 @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distribution, for instance). You then
10834 define a server as follows:
10837 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
10839 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
10841 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
10842 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
10843 (nntp-port-number "snews")
10844 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
10849 @item nntp-end-of-line
10850 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
10851 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
10852 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
10853 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
10855 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
10856 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
10857 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
10861 @vindex nntp-address
10862 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
10864 @item nntp-port-number
10865 @vindex nntp-port-number
10866 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
10869 @item nntp-list-options
10870 @vindex nntp-list-options
10871 List of newsgroup name used for a option of the LIST command to restrict
10872 the listing output to only the specified newsgroups. Each newsgroup name
10873 can be a shell-style wildcard, for instance, @dfn{fj.*}, @dfn{japan.*},
10874 etc. Fortunately, if the server can accept such a option, it will
10875 probably make gnus run faster. You may use it as a server variable as
10879 (setq gnus-select-method
10880 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
10881 (nntp-list-options ("fj.*" "japan.*"))))
10884 @item nntp-options-subscribe
10885 @vindex nntp-options-subscribe
10886 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will be subscribed
10887 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
10888 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
10889 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
10890 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
10893 (setq gnus-select-method
10894 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
10895 (nntp-options-subscribe "^fj\\.\\|^japan\\.")))
10898 @item nntp-options-not-subscribe
10899 @vindex nntp-options-not-subscribe
10900 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will not be subscribed
10901 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
10902 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
10903 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
10904 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
10907 (setq gnus-select-method
10908 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
10909 (nntp-options-not-subscribe "\\.binaries\\.")))
10912 @item nntp-buggy-select
10913 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
10914 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
10916 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
10917 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
10918 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
10919 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
10922 @item nntp-xover-commands
10923 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
10926 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
10927 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
10931 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
10932 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
10933 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
10934 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
10935 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
10936 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
10937 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
10938 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
10939 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
10940 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
10941 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
10943 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
10944 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
10945 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
10947 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
10948 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
10949 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
10950 server closes connection.
10952 @item nntp-record-commands
10953 @vindex nntp-record-commands
10954 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
10955 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
10956 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
10957 that doesn't seem to work.
10963 @subsection News Spool
10967 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
10968 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
10969 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
10972 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
10973 anything else) as the address.
10975 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
10976 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
10977 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
10978 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
10982 @item nnspool-inews-program
10983 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
10984 Program used to post an article.
10986 @item nnspool-inews-switches
10987 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
10988 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
10990 @item nnspool-spool-directory
10991 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
10992 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
10993 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
10995 @item nnspool-nov-directory
10996 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
10997 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
10998 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
11000 @item nnspool-lib-dir
11001 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
11002 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
11004 @item nnspool-active-file
11005 @vindex nnspool-active-file
11006 The path to the active file.
11008 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
11009 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
11010 The path to the group descriptions file.
11012 @item nnspool-history-file
11013 @vindex nnspool-history-file
11014 The path to the news history file.
11016 @item nnspool-active-times-file
11017 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
11018 The path to the active date file.
11020 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
11021 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
11022 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
11025 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
11026 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
11028 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
11029 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
11030 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
11036 @section Getting Mail
11037 @cindex reading mail
11040 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
11044 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
11045 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
11046 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
11047 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
11048 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
11049 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
11050 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
11051 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
11052 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
11053 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
11054 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
11055 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
11056 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
11060 @node Mail in a Newsreader
11061 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
11063 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
11064 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
11065 of a culture shock.
11067 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
11068 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
11070 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
11071 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
11072 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
11073 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
11075 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
11077 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
11078 deleted? How awful!
11080 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
11081 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
11082 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
11083 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
11086 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
11087 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
11088 they want to treat a message.
11090 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
11091 via SMTP, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
11092 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
11093 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
11094 archived somewhere else.
11096 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
11097 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
11098 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
11099 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
11100 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
11102 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
11103 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
11104 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
11106 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
11107 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
11110 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
11111 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
11112 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
11113 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
11114 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
11116 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
11117 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
11118 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
11119 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
11120 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
11121 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
11125 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
11126 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
11128 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
11129 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
11130 and things will happen automatically.
11132 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
11133 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
11136 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
11137 '((nnml "private")))
11140 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
11141 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
11142 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
11143 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
11144 like any other group.
11146 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
11149 (setq nnmail-split-methods
11150 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
11151 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
11155 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
11156 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
11157 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
11160 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
11161 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
11162 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
11165 @node Splitting Mail
11166 @subsection Splitting Mail
11167 @cindex splitting mail
11168 @cindex mail splitting
11170 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
11171 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
11172 to be split into groups.
11175 (setq nnmail-split-methods
11176 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
11177 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
11178 ("mail.other" "")))
11181 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
11182 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
11183 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
11184 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
11185 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
11186 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
11187 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
11190 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
11193 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
11194 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
11195 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
11196 mail belongs in that group.
11198 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
11199 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
11200 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
11201 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
11202 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
11203 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
11205 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
11206 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
11207 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
11208 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
11209 thinks should carry this mail message.
11211 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
11212 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
11213 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
11214 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
11216 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
11217 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
11218 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
11219 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
11220 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
11222 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
11225 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
11226 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
11227 links. If that's the case for you, set
11228 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
11229 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
11231 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
11232 @kindex nnmail-split-history
11233 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
11234 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
11235 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
11236 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
11239 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
11240 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
11241 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
11242 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
11243 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
11244 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
11245 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
11246 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
11247 month's rent money.
11251 @subsection Mail Sources
11253 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
11254 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
11258 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
11259 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
11260 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
11264 @node Mail Source Specifiers
11265 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
11267 @cindex mail server
11270 @cindex mail source
11272 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
11273 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
11278 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
11281 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
11282 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
11283 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
11286 The following mail source types are available:
11290 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
11296 The path of the file. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
11297 environment variable or @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}.
11300 An example file mail source:
11303 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
11306 Or using the default path:
11312 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
11313 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
11314 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
11317 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
11321 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
11324 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
11328 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
11331 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
11333 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
11336 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
11340 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
11341 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files. Setting
11342 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil forces Gnus to
11343 scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful if you want
11344 to scan mail groups at a specified level.
11350 The path of the directory where the files are. There is no default
11354 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
11358 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
11359 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
11360 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
11361 predicate are considered.
11365 Script run before/after fetching mail.
11369 An example directory mail source:
11372 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
11377 Get mail from a POP server.
11383 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
11384 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
11387 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
11388 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
11389 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
11390 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
11391 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
11394 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
11398 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
11402 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
11403 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
11406 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
11409 The valid format specifier characters are:
11413 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
11414 included in this string.
11417 The name of the server.
11420 The port number of the server.
11423 The user name to use.
11426 The password to use.
11429 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
11430 corresponding keywords.
11433 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
11434 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
11437 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
11438 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
11441 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
11442 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
11445 @item :authentication
11446 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
11447 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
11452 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
11453 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
11455 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
11456 default user name, and default fetcher:
11462 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
11465 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
11466 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
11469 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
11472 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
11476 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
11477 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
11478 contains exactly one mail.
11484 The path of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
11485 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
11488 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
11489 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
11491 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
11492 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
11493 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
11496 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
11497 from locking problems).
11501 Two example maildir mail sources:
11504 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/" :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
11508 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/" :subdirs ("new"))
11512 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
11513 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
11514 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
11515 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
11522 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
11523 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
11526 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
11527 @samp{993} for SSL connections.
11530 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
11534 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
11538 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
11539 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
11540 @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{ssl} or the default @samp{network}.
11542 @item :authentication
11543 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is one
11544 of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now, this
11545 means @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default
11549 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
11550 mapped into the `imap-shell-program' variable. This should be a
11551 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
11557 The valid format specifier characters are:
11561 The name of the server.
11564 User name from `imap-default-user'.
11567 The port number of the server.
11570 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
11571 corresponding keywords.
11574 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
11575 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
11578 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
11579 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
11580 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
11581 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{nil}.
11582 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
11583 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 §6.4.4.
11586 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
11587 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
11588 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
11589 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 §2.3.2.
11592 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
11593 after finishing the fetch.
11597 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
11600 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com" :stream kerberos4 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
11604 Get mail from a webmail server, such as www.hotmail.com,
11605 webmail.netscape.com, www.netaddress.com, www.my-deja.com.
11607 NOTE: Now mail.yahoo.com provides POP3 service, so @sc{pop} mail source
11610 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
11611 required for url "4.0pre.46".
11613 WARNING: Mails may lost. NO WARRANTY.
11619 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
11620 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
11623 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
11627 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
11631 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
11632 folder after finishing the fetch.
11636 An example webmail source:
11639 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail :user "user-name" :password "secret")
11644 @item Common Keywords
11645 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
11651 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
11652 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
11656 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
11661 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
11662 useful when you use local mail and news.
11667 @subsubsection Function Interface
11669 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
11670 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
11671 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
11672 consider the following mail-source setting:
11675 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
11676 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
11679 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
11680 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
11681 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
11682 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
11683 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
11685 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
11688 @node Mail Source Customization
11689 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
11691 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
11692 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
11696 @item mail-source-crash-box
11697 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
11698 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
11699 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
11701 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
11702 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
11703 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
11705 @item mail-source-directory
11706 @vindex mail-source-directory
11707 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
11708 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
11709 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
11712 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
11713 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
11714 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
11715 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
11716 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
11717 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
11719 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
11720 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
11721 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
11726 @node Fetching Mail
11727 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
11729 @vindex mail-sources
11730 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
11731 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
11732 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
11733 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
11735 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
11736 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
11739 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
11740 mail server, you'd say something like:
11745 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11746 :password "secret")))
11749 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
11753 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
11754 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11757 :password "secret")))
11761 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
11762 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
11763 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
11764 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
11765 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
11766 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
11770 @node Mail Backend Variables
11771 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
11773 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
11777 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
11778 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
11779 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
11780 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
11782 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
11783 @item nnmail-split-hook
11784 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
11785 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
11786 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
11787 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
11788 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
11789 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
11790 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
11791 in the buffer will show up in any files.
11792 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
11795 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11796 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
11797 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11798 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
11799 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
11800 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
11801 starting to handle the new mail) and
11802 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
11803 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
11804 default file modes the new mail files get:
11807 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11808 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
11810 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
11811 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
11814 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
11815 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
11816 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
11817 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
11818 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
11819 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
11820 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
11822 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
11823 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
11824 @findex delete-file
11825 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
11827 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
11828 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
11829 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
11830 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
11831 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
11836 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
11837 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
11838 @cindex mail splitting
11839 @cindex fancy mail splitting
11841 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
11842 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
11843 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
11844 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
11845 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
11846 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
11848 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
11851 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
11852 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
11853 ;; from real errors.
11854 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
11856 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
11857 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
11858 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
11859 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
11860 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
11861 ;; Other mailing lists...
11862 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
11863 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
11864 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
11865 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
11866 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
11867 ;; message was really cross-posted.
11868 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
11869 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
11871 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
11872 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
11876 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
11877 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
11878 the five possible split syntaxes:
11883 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
11884 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
11888 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
11889 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
11890 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
11891 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
11892 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
11893 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
11894 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
11895 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
11898 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11899 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
11900 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
11901 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
11904 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11905 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
11908 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
11909 this message. Use with extreme caution.
11912 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
11913 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
11914 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
11915 function should return a @var{split}.
11918 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
11919 body of the messages:
11922 (defun split-on-body ()
11924 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
11925 (goto-char (point-min))
11926 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
11930 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
11931 when the @code{:} function is run.
11934 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11935 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
11936 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
11940 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
11944 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
11945 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
11946 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
11947 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
11948 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
11950 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
11951 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
11952 are expanded as specified by the variable
11953 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
11954 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
11957 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
11958 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
11959 when all this splitting is performed.
11961 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
11962 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
11963 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
11966 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
11969 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
11970 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
11972 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
11973 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
11974 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
11975 groupings 1 through 9.
11977 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
11978 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
11979 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
11980 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
11981 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
11982 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
11983 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
11984 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
11985 it once per thread.
11987 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to a
11988 non-nil value. And then you can include
11989 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon feature, like so:
11991 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
11992 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
11993 ;; other splits go here
11997 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
11998 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
11999 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
12000 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
12001 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
12002 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
12003 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
12004 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
12005 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name. It
12006 is recommended that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a
12007 somewhat higher number than the default so that the message ids are
12008 still in the cache. (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300
12010 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
12011 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
12012 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
12013 messages goes into the new group.
12016 @node Group Mail Splitting
12017 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
12018 @cindex mail splitting
12019 @cindex group mail splitting
12021 @findex gnus-group-split
12022 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
12023 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
12024 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
12025 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
12026 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
12027 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
12028 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
12029 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
12031 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
12032 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
12033 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
12034 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
12036 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
12037 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
12038 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
12039 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
12040 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
12041 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
12042 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
12044 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
12045 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
12046 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
12047 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
12048 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
12049 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
12050 @code{gnus-group-split}.
12052 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
12053 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
12054 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
12055 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
12056 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
12057 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
12058 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
12059 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
12060 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
12061 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
12062 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
12063 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
12064 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
12066 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
12071 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
12072 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
12074 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
12075 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
12076 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
12077 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
12079 ((split-spec . catch-all))
12082 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
12083 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
12084 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
12087 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
12088 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
12089 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
12093 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
12094 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
12095 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
12099 (: gnus-mlsplt-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
12102 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
12103 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
12104 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
12105 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
12106 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
12107 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
12108 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
12109 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
12110 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
12112 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
12113 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
12114 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
12115 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
12116 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
12117 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
12118 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
12119 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
12120 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
12122 @findex gnus-group-split-update
12123 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
12124 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
12125 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
12126 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
12127 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus}:
12130 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
12133 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
12134 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
12135 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
12136 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
12137 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
12140 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
12141 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
12142 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
12143 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
12145 @node Incorporating Old Mail
12146 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
12148 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
12149 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
12150 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
12153 Doing so can be quite easy.
12155 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
12156 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
12157 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
12158 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
12159 your @code{nnml} groups.
12165 Go to the group buffer.
12168 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
12169 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12172 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
12175 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
12176 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
12179 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
12180 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
12183 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
12184 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
12185 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
12186 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
12187 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
12189 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
12190 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
12191 using the new mail backend.
12194 @node Expiring Mail
12195 @subsection Expiring Mail
12196 @cindex article expiry
12198 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
12199 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
12200 different approach to mail reading.
12202 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
12203 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
12204 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
12205 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
12206 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
12207 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
12210 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
12211 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
12212 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
12213 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
12214 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
12215 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
12216 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
12217 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
12219 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
12220 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
12221 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
12222 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
12223 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
12224 column in the summary buffer.
12226 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
12227 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
12228 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
12229 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
12232 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
12234 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
12235 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
12236 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
12239 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
12240 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
12241 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
12242 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
12243 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
12245 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
12246 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
12249 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
12250 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
12253 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
12254 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
12256 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
12257 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
12258 don't really mix very well.
12260 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
12261 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
12262 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
12263 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
12266 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
12267 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
12268 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
12269 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
12272 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
12274 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
12276 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
12278 ((string= group "mail.junk")
12280 ((string= group "important")
12286 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
12287 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
12289 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
12290 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
12291 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
12294 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
12295 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
12297 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
12298 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
12299 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them to
12300 other groups instead of deleting them. The variable @code{nnmail-expiry-target}
12301 (and the @code{expiry-target} group parameter) controls this. The
12302 variable supplies a default value for all groups, which can be
12303 overridden for specific groups by the group parameter.
12304 default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a string (which
12305 should be the name of the group the message should be moved to), or a
12306 function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to the message in
12307 question, and with the name of the group being moved from as its
12308 parameter) which should return a target -- either a group name or
12311 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
12313 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
12317 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
12318 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
12319 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
12320 easier for procmail users.
12322 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
12323 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
12324 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
12325 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
12326 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
12327 caution. Even more dangerous is the
12328 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
12329 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
12330 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
12331 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
12332 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
12333 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
12334 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
12337 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
12339 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
12340 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
12341 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
12342 auto-expire turned on.
12346 @subsection Washing Mail
12347 @cindex mail washing
12348 @cindex list server brain damage
12349 @cindex incoming mail treatment
12351 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
12352 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
12353 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
12354 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
12355 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
12356 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
12358 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
12359 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
12360 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
12363 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
12364 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
12365 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
12366 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
12369 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
12370 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
12371 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
12372 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
12373 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
12376 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
12377 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
12378 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
12379 Emacs running on MS machines.
12383 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
12384 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
12385 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
12386 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
12389 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
12390 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
12391 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
12392 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
12394 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
12395 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
12396 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
12397 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
12398 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
12399 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
12400 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
12403 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
12404 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
12407 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
12408 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
12411 This can also be done non-destructively with
12412 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
12414 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
12415 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
12416 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
12418 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
12419 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
12421 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
12422 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
12423 @code{References} headers.
12427 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
12428 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
12429 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
12433 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
12434 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
12435 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
12442 @subsection Duplicates
12444 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
12445 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
12446 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
12447 @cindex duplicate mails
12448 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
12449 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
12450 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
12451 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
12452 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
12453 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
12454 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
12455 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
12456 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
12457 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
12458 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
12459 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
12460 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
12462 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
12463 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
12464 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
12465 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
12467 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
12470 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
12471 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
12475 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
12476 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
12477 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
12478 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
12479 (any mail "mail.misc")
12486 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12487 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
12492 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
12493 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
12494 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
12495 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
12496 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
12499 @node Not Reading Mail
12500 @subsection Not Reading Mail
12502 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
12503 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
12504 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
12506 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
12507 @code{nil}, none of the backends will ever attempt to read incoming
12508 mail, which should help.
12510 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12511 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
12512 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
12513 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
12514 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
12515 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
12516 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
12517 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
12518 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
12519 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
12520 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
12522 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
12523 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
12527 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
12528 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
12530 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
12531 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
12532 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
12534 There are five different mail backends in the standard Gnus, and more
12535 backends are available separately. The mail backend most people use
12536 (because it is the fastest and most flexible) is @code{nnml}
12537 (@pxref{Mail Spool}).
12540 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
12541 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
12542 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
12543 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
12544 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
12545 * Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
12549 @node Unix Mail Box
12550 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
12552 @cindex unix mail box
12554 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
12555 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
12556 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
12557 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
12558 which group it belongs in.
12560 Virtual server settings:
12563 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
12564 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
12565 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
12568 @item nnmbox-active-file
12569 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
12570 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
12571 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
12573 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
12574 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
12575 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
12576 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
12581 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
12585 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
12586 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
12587 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
12588 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
12589 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
12591 Virtual server settings:
12594 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
12595 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
12596 The name of the rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
12598 @item nnbabyl-active-file
12599 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
12600 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
12601 @file{~/.rmail-active}
12603 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12604 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12605 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
12611 @subsubsection Mail Spool
12613 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
12615 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
12616 format. It should be used with some caution.
12618 @vindex nnml-directory
12619 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
12620 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
12621 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
12622 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
12624 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
12627 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
12628 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
12629 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
12630 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
12631 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
12632 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
12633 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
12634 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
12636 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
12637 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
12638 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
12639 backend when it comes to reading mail.
12641 Virtual server settings:
12644 @item nnml-directory
12645 @vindex nnml-directory
12646 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
12647 The default is the value of `message-directory' (whose default value is
12650 @item nnml-active-file
12651 @vindex nnml-active-file
12652 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
12653 @file{~/Mail/active"}.
12655 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
12656 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
12657 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
12658 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}.
12660 @item nnml-get-new-mail
12661 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
12662 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
12665 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
12666 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
12667 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
12668 default is @code{nil}
12670 @item nnml-nov-file-name
12671 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
12672 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
12674 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
12675 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
12676 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
12680 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
12681 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
12682 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
12683 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
12684 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
12685 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
12686 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
12691 @subsubsection MH Spool
12693 @cindex mh-e mail spool
12695 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
12696 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
12697 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
12698 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
12700 Virtual server settings:
12703 @item nnmh-directory
12704 @vindex nnmh-directory
12705 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
12706 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
12709 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
12710 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
12711 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
12715 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
12716 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
12717 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
12718 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
12719 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
12720 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
12721 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
12726 @subsubsection Mail Folders
12728 @cindex mbox folders
12729 @cindex mail folders
12731 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
12732 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
12733 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
12736 Virtual server settings:
12739 @item nnfolder-directory
12740 @vindex nnfolder-directory
12741 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
12742 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
12745 @item nnfolder-active-file
12746 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
12747 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
12749 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
12750 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
12751 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
12752 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}
12754 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
12755 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
12756 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
12759 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
12760 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
12761 @cindex backup files
12762 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
12763 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
12764 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
12765 your @file{.emacs} file:
12768 (defun turn-off-backup ()
12769 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
12771 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
12774 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
12775 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
12776 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
12777 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
12778 extract some information from it before removing it.
12780 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
12781 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
12782 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
12783 default is @code{nil}.
12788 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
12789 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
12790 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
12791 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
12792 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
12793 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
12796 @node Comparing Mail Backends
12797 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Backends
12799 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{backend} is the common word for a
12800 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
12801 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
12802 and so selection of a suitable backend is required in order to get that
12803 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
12805 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
12806 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
12807 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
12808 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
12809 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
12810 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
12811 @code{nnspool} backends, to select between these methods, if one happens
12812 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
12815 The goal in selecting a mail backend is to pick one which
12816 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
12817 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
12818 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
12823 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
12824 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
12825 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
12826 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
12827 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
12828 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
12829 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
12830 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
12831 this backend, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
12832 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
12833 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
12834 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
12835 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
12840 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
12841 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
12842 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
12843 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
12844 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
12845 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
12846 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
12847 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
12848 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
12849 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
12850 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
12851 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
12852 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
12853 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
12855 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
12856 filesystem, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
12861 @code{nnml} is the backend which smells the most as though you were
12862 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
12863 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
12864 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
12865 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
12866 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
12867 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
12868 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
12869 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
12870 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
12871 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
12872 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
12873 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
12874 provided by the active file and overviews.
12876 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
12877 resource which defines available places in the filesystem to put new
12878 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
12879 tight, shared filesystems. But if you live on a personal machine where
12880 the filesystem is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
12883 It is also problematic using this backend if you are living in a
12884 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
12889 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
12890 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
12891 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
12892 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
12893 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
12894 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
12895 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
12899 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
12900 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
12901 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
12902 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
12903 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
12904 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
12905 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
12906 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
12907 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
12909 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
12910 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
12911 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
12912 friendly mail backend all over.
12917 @node Browsing the Web
12918 @section Browsing the Web
12920 @cindex browsing the web
12924 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
12925 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
12926 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
12927 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
12928 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
12929 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
12930 even know what a news group is.
12932 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
12933 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
12934 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
12935 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
12936 you mad in the end.
12938 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
12941 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of backends for providing
12942 interfaces to these sources.
12945 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
12946 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
12947 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
12948 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
12949 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
12950 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
12953 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
12955 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
12956 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
12957 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus backend
12958 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these backends,
12959 though, you should be ok.
12961 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
12962 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
12963 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
12964 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
12965 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
12969 @subsection Web Searches
12973 @cindex InReference
12974 @cindex Usenet searches
12975 @cindex searching the Usenet
12977 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
12978 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
12979 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
12980 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
12981 searches without having to use a browser.
12983 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
12984 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
12985 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
12986 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
12987 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
12989 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
12990 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
12991 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
12992 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
12993 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
12994 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
12995 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
12996 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
12997 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
12998 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
13001 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
13002 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
13003 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
13004 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
13005 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
13006 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
13008 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
13009 to use @code{nnweb}.
13011 Virtual server variables:
13016 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
13017 are @code{dejanews}, @code{dejanewsold}, @code{altavista} and
13021 @vindex nnweb-search
13022 The search string to feed to the search engine.
13024 @item nnweb-max-hits
13025 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
13026 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
13029 @item nnweb-type-definition
13030 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
13031 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
13032 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
13037 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
13041 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
13044 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
13047 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
13051 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
13058 @subsection Slashdot
13062 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
13063 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
13064 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
13066 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
13067 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
13070 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
13071 '((nnslashdot "")))
13074 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} backend for new comments
13075 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
13076 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
13077 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
13078 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
13081 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
13082 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13084 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
13085 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
13086 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
13087 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
13088 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
13089 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
13092 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
13095 @item nnslashdot-threaded
13096 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
13097 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
13098 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
13099 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
13100 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
13101 but much, much slower than untreaded.
13103 @item nnslashdot-login-name
13104 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
13105 The login name to use when posting.
13107 @item nnslashdot-password
13108 @vindex nnslashdot-password
13109 The password to use when posting.
13111 @item nnslashdot-directory
13112 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
13113 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default value is
13114 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
13116 @item nnslashdot-active-url
13117 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
13118 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
13119 news articles and comments. The default is
13120 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
13122 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
13123 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
13124 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
13126 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
13128 @item nnslashdot-article-url
13129 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
13130 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
13132 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
13134 @item nnslashdot-threshold
13135 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
13136 The score threshold. The default is -1.
13138 @item nnslashdot-group-number
13139 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
13140 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
13141 updated. The default is 0.
13148 @subsection Ultimate
13150 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
13152 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
13153 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
13154 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
13155 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
13157 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
13158 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
13159 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
13160 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
13161 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
13162 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
13163 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
13165 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
13168 @item nnultimate-directory
13169 @vindex nnultimate-directory
13170 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
13171 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
13176 @subsection Web Archive
13178 @cindex Web Archive
13180 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
13181 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
13182 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
13183 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
13186 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
13187 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
13188 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
13189 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
13190 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
13191 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
13192 backend by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
13194 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
13197 @item nnwarchive-directory
13198 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
13199 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
13200 @samp{~/News/warchive/}.
13202 @item nnwarchive-login
13203 @vindex nnwarchive-login
13204 The account name on the web server.
13206 @item nnwarchive-passwd
13207 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
13208 The password for your account on the web server.
13216 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
13217 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
13218 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
13221 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
13222 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
13225 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
13228 @item nnrss-directory
13229 @vindex nnrss-directory
13230 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
13231 @samp{~/News/rss/}.
13235 @node Customizing w3
13236 @subsection Customizing w3
13242 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
13243 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
13244 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
13246 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
13247 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
13248 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
13251 (eval-after-load "w3"
13253 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
13254 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
13255 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
13256 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
13258 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
13261 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
13262 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
13266 @node Other Sources
13267 @section Other Sources
13269 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
13270 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
13274 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
13275 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
13276 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
13277 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
13278 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
13279 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
13283 @node Directory Groups
13284 @subsection Directory Groups
13286 @cindex directory groups
13288 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
13289 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
13292 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
13293 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
13294 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
13295 backend to read directories. Big deal.
13297 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
13298 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
13299 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
13300 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
13301 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
13303 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
13305 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
13306 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
13307 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
13308 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
13311 @node Anything Groups
13312 @subsection Anything Groups
13315 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
13316 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
13317 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
13320 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
13321 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
13322 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
13323 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
13324 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
13325 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
13326 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
13327 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
13328 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
13329 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
13332 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
13333 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
13334 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
13335 in the article buffer, just as usual.
13337 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
13338 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
13339 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
13340 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
13342 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
13343 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
13344 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
13345 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
13346 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
13347 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
13348 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
13349 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
13354 @item nneething-map-file-directory
13355 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
13356 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
13357 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
13359 @item nneething-exclude-files
13360 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
13361 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
13362 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
13364 @item nneething-include-files
13365 @vindex nneething-include-files
13366 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
13367 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
13369 @item nneething-map-file
13370 @vindex nneething-map-file
13371 Name of the map files.
13375 @node Document Groups
13376 @subsection Document Groups
13378 @cindex documentation group
13381 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
13382 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
13389 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
13394 The standard Unix mbox file.
13396 @cindex MMDF mail box
13398 The MMDF mail box format.
13401 Several news articles appended into a file.
13404 @cindex rnews batch files
13405 The rnews batch transport format.
13406 @cindex forwarded messages
13409 Forwarded articles.
13412 Netscape mail boxes.
13415 MIME multipart messages.
13417 @item standard-digest
13418 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
13421 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
13424 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
13425 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
13426 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
13429 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
13430 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
13431 group. And that's it.
13433 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
13434 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
13435 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
13436 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
13437 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
13438 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
13439 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
13440 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
13441 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
13442 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
13444 Virtual server variables:
13447 @item nndoc-article-type
13448 @vindex nndoc-article-type
13449 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
13450 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
13451 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
13452 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail} or @code{guess}.
13454 @item nndoc-post-type
13455 @vindex nndoc-post-type
13456 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
13457 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
13462 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
13466 @node Document Server Internals
13467 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
13469 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
13470 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
13471 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
13472 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
13474 First, here's an example document type definition:
13478 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
13479 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
13482 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
13483 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
13484 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
13485 types can be defined with very few settings:
13488 @item first-article
13489 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
13490 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
13493 @item article-begin
13494 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
13495 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
13497 @item head-begin-function
13498 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
13501 @item nndoc-head-begin
13502 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
13505 @item nndoc-head-end
13506 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
13507 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
13509 @item body-begin-function
13510 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
13514 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
13517 @item body-end-function
13518 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
13522 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
13525 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
13526 regexp will be totally ignored.
13530 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
13531 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
13532 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
13533 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
13534 something that's palatable for Gnus:
13537 @item prepare-body-function
13538 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
13539 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
13540 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
13542 @item article-transform-function
13543 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
13544 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
13545 body of the article.
13547 @item generate-head-function
13548 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
13549 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
13550 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
13551 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
13555 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
13560 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
13561 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
13562 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
13563 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
13564 (head-end . "^ ?$")
13565 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
13566 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
13567 (subtype digest guess))
13570 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
13571 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
13572 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
13573 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
13574 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
13576 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
13577 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
13578 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
13579 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
13580 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
13581 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
13582 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
13583 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
13584 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
13585 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
13593 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
13594 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
13595 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
13597 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
13598 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
13599 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
13602 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
13603 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
13604 that interested in doing things properly.
13606 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
13607 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
13610 First some terminology:
13615 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
13616 get news and/or mail from.
13619 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
13620 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
13623 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
13627 @item message packets
13628 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
13629 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
13630 default, where @var{x} is a number.
13632 @item response packets
13633 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
13634 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
13635 default, where @var{x} is a number.
13645 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
13646 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
13647 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
13648 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
13651 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
13654 You put the packet in your home directory.
13657 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
13658 the native or secondary server.
13661 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
13662 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
13665 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
13669 You transfer this packet to the server.
13672 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
13675 You then repeat until you die.
13679 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
13680 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
13683 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
13684 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
13685 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
13689 @node SOUP Commands
13690 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
13692 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
13696 @kindex G s b (Group)
13697 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
13698 Pack all unread articles in the current group
13699 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
13700 process/prefix convention.
13703 @kindex G s w (Group)
13704 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
13705 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
13708 @kindex G s s (Group)
13709 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
13710 Send all replies from the replies packet
13711 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
13714 @kindex G s p (Group)
13715 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
13716 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
13719 @kindex G s r (Group)
13720 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
13721 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
13724 @kindex O s (Summary)
13725 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
13726 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
13727 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
13728 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
13733 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
13738 @item gnus-soup-directory
13739 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
13740 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
13741 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
13743 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
13744 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
13745 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
13746 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
13748 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
13749 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
13750 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
13751 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
13753 @item gnus-soup-packer
13754 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
13755 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
13756 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
13758 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
13759 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
13760 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
13761 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
13763 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
13764 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
13765 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
13767 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
13768 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
13769 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
13770 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
13776 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
13779 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
13780 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
13781 you can read them at leisure.
13783 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
13787 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
13788 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
13789 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
13790 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
13792 @item nnsoup-directory
13793 @vindex nnsoup-directory
13794 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
13795 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
13797 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
13798 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
13799 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
13800 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
13802 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
13803 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
13804 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
13805 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
13806 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
13808 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
13809 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
13810 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
13811 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
13813 @item nnsoup-active-file
13814 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
13815 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
13816 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
13817 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
13818 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
13820 @item nnsoup-packer
13821 @vindex nnsoup-packer
13822 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
13823 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
13825 @item nnsoup-unpacker
13826 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
13827 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
13828 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
13830 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
13831 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
13832 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
13835 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
13836 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
13837 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
13840 @item nnsoup-always-save
13841 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
13842 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
13848 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
13850 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
13851 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
13852 more for that to happen.
13854 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
13855 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
13856 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
13859 In specific, this is what it does:
13862 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
13863 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
13866 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
13867 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
13868 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
13871 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
13872 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
13873 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
13876 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
13877 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
13878 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
13880 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
13886 @item nngateway-address
13887 @vindex nngateway-address
13888 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
13890 @item nngateway-header-transformation
13891 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
13892 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
13893 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
13894 transformation should be called, and defaults to
13895 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
13896 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
13899 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
13900 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
13901 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
13904 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
13907 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
13910 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
13913 The following pre-defined functions exist:
13915 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
13918 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
13919 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
13920 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
13922 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
13924 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
13925 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
13926 @code{nngateway-address}.
13931 (setq gnus-post-method
13932 '(nngateway "mail2news@@replay.com"
13933 (nngateway-header-transformation
13934 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
13942 So, to use this, simply say something like:
13945 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
13951 @subsection @sc{imap}
13955 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
13956 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
13957 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
13958 specify the network address of the server.
13960 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
13961 POP can, it can hence be viewed as POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
13962 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
13963 protocol. (@sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp} because news
13964 is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.)
13966 If you want to use @sc{imap} as POP++, use an imap entry in
13967 mail-sources. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the @sc{imap}
13968 server and store them on the local disk. This is not the usage
13969 described in this section. @xref{Mail Sources}.
13971 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
13972 entry in gnus-secondary-select-methods. With this, Gnus will
13973 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
13974 usage explained in this section.
13976 A server configuration in @code{~/.gnus} with a few @sc{imap} servers
13977 might look something like this:
13980 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
13981 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
13982 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
13984 (nnimap-address "localhost")
13985 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
13986 ; a UW server running on localhost
13988 (nnimap-server-port 143)
13989 (nnimap-address "localhost")
13990 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
13991 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
13992 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
13993 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
13994 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
13995 (nnimap-stream network))
13996 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
13998 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
13999 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
14000 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
14003 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
14008 @item nnimap-address
14009 @vindex nnimap-address
14011 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
14012 server name if not specified.
14014 @item nnimap-server-port
14015 @vindex nnimap-server-port
14016 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
14018 Note that this should be a integer, example server specification:
14021 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14022 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
14025 @item nnimap-list-pattern
14026 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
14027 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
14028 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
14029 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
14030 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
14031 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
14033 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
14034 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
14035 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
14038 Example server specification:
14041 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14042 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
14043 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
14046 @item nnimap-stream
14047 @vindex nnimap-stream
14048 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
14049 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
14050 of SSL. (SSL is being replaced by STARTTLS, which can be automatically
14051 detected, but it's not widely deployed yet).
14053 Example server specification:
14056 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14057 (nnimap-stream ssl))
14060 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
14064 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5). Require the
14065 @samp{imtest} program.
14067 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with kerberos 4. Require the @samp{imtest} program.
14069 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
14070 SSL). Require the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
14073 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Require OpenSSL (the
14074 program @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
14076 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
14078 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
14081 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
14082 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD, nnimap support
14083 both @samp{imtest} version 1.5.x and version 1.6.x. The variable
14084 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
14087 @vindex imap-ssl-program
14088 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
14089 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
14090 and nnimap support it too - although the most recent versions of
14091 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
14092 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
14093 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
14096 @vindex imap-shell-program
14097 @vindex imap-shell-host
14098 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
14099 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
14101 @item nnimap-authenticator
14102 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
14104 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
14105 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
14107 Example server specification:
14110 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14111 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
14114 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
14118 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Require
14119 external program @code{imtest}.
14121 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos authentication. Require external program
14124 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Require
14125 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
14127 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
14129 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
14131 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your emailadress as password.
14134 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
14136 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
14137 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
14138 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
14139 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
14140 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
14141 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{G DEL} or
14144 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
14145 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
14146 running in circles yet?
14148 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
14149 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
14152 The possible options are:
14157 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
14160 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
14161 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
14162 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
14163 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
14165 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
14170 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
14171 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
14173 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
14174 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
14175 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
14181 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
14182 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
14183 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
14188 @node Splitting in IMAP
14189 @subsubsection Splitting in @sc{imap}
14190 @cindex splitting imap mail
14192 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
14193 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
14194 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
14195 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
14196 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
14200 Here are the variables of interest:
14204 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
14205 @cindex splitting, crosspost
14207 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
14209 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
14210 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
14212 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
14214 @item nnimap-split-inbox
14215 @cindex splitting, inbox
14217 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
14219 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
14220 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
14224 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
14225 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
14228 No nnmail equivalent.
14230 @item nnimap-split-rule
14231 @cindex Splitting, rules
14232 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
14234 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
14237 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
14238 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
14239 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
14240 Neither did I, we need examples.
14243 (setq nnimap-split-rule
14244 '(("INBOX.nnimap" "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
14245 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
14246 ("INBOX.private" "")))
14249 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
14250 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
14251 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
14253 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
14254 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
14258 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
14261 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
14262 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
14263 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
14264 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
14266 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
14267 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
14268 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
14269 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
14270 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
14271 them every time you fetch new mail.)
14273 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
14274 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
14275 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
14277 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
14278 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
14279 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
14281 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it need too.
14283 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
14284 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
14285 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
14288 (setq nnimap-split-rule
14289 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
14290 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
14291 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
14292 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
14293 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
14296 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
14297 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
14298 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
14299 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
14300 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
14301 group/function elements.
14303 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
14305 @item nnimap-split-predicate
14307 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
14309 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
14310 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
14312 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
14313 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
14314 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
14317 @item nnimap-split-fancy
14318 @cindex splitting, fancy
14319 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
14320 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
14322 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
14323 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
14324 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
14326 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
14327 nnimap backends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
14328 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
14329 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
14334 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
14335 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
14338 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
14342 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
14343 @subsubsection Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
14344 @cindex editing imap acls
14345 @cindex Access Control Lists
14346 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
14348 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
14350 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
14351 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
14352 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
14355 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
14356 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
14357 editing window with detailed instructions.
14359 Some possible uses:
14363 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
14364 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
14365 follow the list without subscribing to it.
14367 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
14368 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
14369 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
14373 @node Expunging mailboxes
14374 @subsubsection Expunging mailboxes
14378 @cindex Manual expunging
14380 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
14382 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
14383 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
14384 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
14386 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
14391 @node Combined Groups
14392 @section Combined Groups
14394 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
14398 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
14399 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
14403 @node Virtual Groups
14404 @subsection Virtual Groups
14406 @cindex virtual groups
14407 @cindex merging groups
14409 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
14412 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
14413 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
14414 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
14416 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
14417 regexp to match component groups.
14419 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
14420 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
14421 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
14422 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
14423 the virtual group.)
14425 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
14426 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
14429 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
14432 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
14433 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
14435 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
14436 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
14437 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
14438 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
14441 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
14444 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
14445 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
14446 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
14448 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
14449 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
14450 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
14451 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
14452 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
14454 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
14455 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
14456 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
14458 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
14459 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
14460 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
14461 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
14462 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
14463 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
14464 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
14465 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
14466 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
14467 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
14468 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
14470 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
14471 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
14472 has to ask the backend of the component group the article comes from
14473 whether it is a news or mail backend. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
14474 there is typically no sure way for the component backend to know this,
14475 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
14476 not-news backend. (Just to be on the safe side.)
14478 @kbd{C-c C-t} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
14479 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
14483 @node Kibozed Groups
14484 @subsection Kibozed Groups
14488 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
14489 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
14490 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
14491 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
14493 @kindex G k (Group)
14494 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
14497 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
14498 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
14499 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
14500 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
14502 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
14503 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
14504 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
14506 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
14507 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
14508 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
14509 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
14510 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
14511 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
14512 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
14513 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
14515 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
14516 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
14517 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
14518 Stranger things have happened.
14520 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
14521 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
14523 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
14524 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
14525 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
14526 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
14527 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
14528 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
14530 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
14531 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
14534 @node Gnus Unplugged
14535 @section Gnus Unplugged
14540 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
14542 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
14543 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
14544 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
14545 read news. Believe it or not.
14547 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
14548 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
14549 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
14550 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
14551 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
14553 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
14554 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
14555 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
14556 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
14557 reading news on a machine.
14559 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
14563 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
14564 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
14568 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
14569 @file{.gnus.el} file:
14576 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
14578 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
14581 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
14582 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
14583 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
14584 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
14585 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
14586 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
14587 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
14588 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
14589 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
14590 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
14595 @subsection Agent Basics
14597 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
14599 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
14600 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
14601 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
14602 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
14604 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
14605 connected to the net continuously.
14607 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
14608 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
14610 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
14615 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
14616 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
14617 already fetched while in this mode.
14620 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
14621 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
14622 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
14623 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
14624 Source Specifiers}).
14627 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
14628 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
14629 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
14630 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
14631 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
14634 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
14635 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
14636 then you read the news offline.
14639 And then you go to step 2.
14642 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
14648 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
14649 backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
14650 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
14651 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
14652 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
14653 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
14656 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
14663 @node Agent Categories
14664 @subsection Agent Categories
14666 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
14667 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
14668 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
14669 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
14670 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
14671 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
14672 you're interested in the articles anyway.
14674 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
14675 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
14676 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
14677 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
14678 managing categories.
14681 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
14682 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
14683 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
14687 @node Category Syntax
14688 @subsubsection Category Syntax
14690 A category consists of two things.
14694 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
14695 are eligible for downloading; and
14698 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
14699 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
14700 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
14703 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
14704 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
14705 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
14706 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
14708 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
14709 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
14710 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
14712 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
14713 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
14714 operators sprinkled in between.
14716 Perhaps some examples are in order.
14718 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
14719 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
14725 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
14726 short (for some value of ``short'').
14728 Here's a more complex predicate:
14737 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
14738 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
14741 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
14742 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
14743 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
14745 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
14746 you want to do, you can write your own.
14750 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
14751 lines; default 100.
14754 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
14755 lines; default 200.
14758 True iff the article has a download score less than
14759 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
14762 True iff the article has a download score greater than
14763 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
14766 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
14767 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
14768 checksum and sees whether articles match.
14777 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
14778 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
14779 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
14782 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
14783 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
14784 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
14785 something along the lines of the following:
14788 (defun my-article-old-p ()
14789 "Say whether an article is old."
14790 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
14791 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
14794 with the predicate then defined as:
14797 (not my-article-old-p)
14800 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
14801 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
14802 wherever. (Note: this would have to be at a point *after*
14803 @code{gnus-agent} has been loaded via @code{(gnus-agentize)})
14806 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
14807 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
14808 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
14811 and simply specify your predicate as:
14817 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
14818 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
14819 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
14820 just don't give a damn.
14822 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
14823 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
14824 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
14825 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
14826 parameters like so:
14829 (agent-predicate . short)
14832 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
14833 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
14834 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
14836 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
14839 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
14842 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
14843 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
14844 predicate is assumed to be a list.
14847 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
14848 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
14849 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
14850 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
14851 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
14852 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
14854 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
14855 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
14856 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
14857 if it's to be specific to that group.
14859 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
14866 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
14867 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
14873 Category specification
14877 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
14883 Group Parameter specification
14886 (agent-score ("from"
14887 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
14892 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
14898 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
14905 Category specification
14908 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
14914 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
14918 Group Parameter specification
14921 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
14924 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
14929 Use @code{normal} score files
14931 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
14932 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
14933 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
14934 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
14936 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
14937 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
14938 files for a group, *filtering out* those sections that do not
14939 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
14943 Category Specification
14950 Group Parameter specification
14953 (agent-score . file)
14958 @node Category Buffer
14959 @subsubsection Category Buffer
14961 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
14962 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
14963 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
14965 The following commands are available in this buffer:
14969 @kindex q (Category)
14970 @findex gnus-category-exit
14971 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
14974 @kindex k (Category)
14975 @findex gnus-category-kill
14976 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
14979 @kindex c (Category)
14980 @findex gnus-category-copy
14981 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
14984 @kindex a (Category)
14985 @findex gnus-category-add
14986 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
14989 @kindex p (Category)
14990 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
14991 Edit the predicate of the current category
14992 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
14995 @kindex g (Category)
14996 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
14997 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
14998 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
15001 @kindex s (Category)
15002 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
15003 Edit the download score rule of the current category
15004 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
15007 @kindex l (Category)
15008 @findex gnus-category-list
15009 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
15013 @node Category Variables
15014 @subsubsection Category Variables
15017 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
15018 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
15019 Hook run in category buffers.
15021 @item gnus-category-line-format
15022 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
15023 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
15024 Variables}). Valid elements are:
15028 The name of the category.
15031 The number of groups in the category.
15034 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
15035 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
15036 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
15038 @item gnus-agent-short-article
15039 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
15040 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
15042 @item gnus-agent-long-article
15043 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
15044 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
15046 @item gnus-agent-low-score
15047 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
15048 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
15051 @item gnus-agent-high-score
15052 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
15053 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
15059 @node Agent Commands
15060 @subsection Agent Commands
15062 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
15063 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged} command works in all modes, and
15064 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
15068 * Group Agent Commands::
15069 * Summary Agent Commands::
15070 * Server Agent Commands::
15073 You can run a complete batch fetch from the command line with the
15074 following incantation:
15076 @cindex gnus-agent-batch-fetch
15078 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch-fetch
15083 @node Group Agent Commands
15084 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
15088 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
15089 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
15090 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
15091 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
15094 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
15095 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
15096 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
15099 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
15100 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
15101 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
15102 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
15105 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
15106 @findex gnus-group-send-drafts
15107 Send all sendable messages in the draft group
15108 (@code{gnus-group-send-drafts}). @xref{Drafts}.
15111 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
15112 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
15113 Add the current group to an Agent category
15114 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
15115 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15118 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
15119 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
15120 Remove the current group from its category, if any
15121 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
15122 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15125 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
15126 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
15127 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
15133 @node Summary Agent Commands
15134 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
15138 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
15139 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
15140 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
15143 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
15144 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
15145 Remove the downloading mark from the article
15146 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
15149 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
15150 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
15151 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
15154 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
15155 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
15156 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
15161 @node Server Agent Commands
15162 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
15166 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
15167 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
15168 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
15169 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
15172 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
15173 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
15174 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
15175 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
15181 @subsection Agent Expiry
15183 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
15184 @findex gnus-agent-expire
15185 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
15186 @cindex Agent expiry
15187 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
15190 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
15191 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
15192 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
15193 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
15194 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
15195 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
15197 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
15198 if @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
15199 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
15200 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
15201 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
15204 @node Agent and IMAP
15205 @subsection Agent and IMAP
15207 The Agent work with any Gnus backend, including nnimap. However,
15208 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
15209 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
15210 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
15212 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
15213 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @code{.newsrc} as is the
15214 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
15215 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
15217 Gnus keep track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
15218 Agent by default. When you plug back in, by default Gnus will check if
15219 you have any changed any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these
15220 with the server. This behavior is customizable with
15221 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
15223 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
15224 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
15225 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, the
15226 default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so ask if
15227 you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has any other
15228 value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
15230 If you do not wish to automatically synchronize flags when you
15231 re-connect, this can be done manually with the
15232 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
15233 in the group buffer by default.
15235 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
15236 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
15241 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
15244 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
15248 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by "pushing"
15249 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
15250 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
15251 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
15252 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
15253 removed from the server when you "synchronize". The queued flag
15254 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
15255 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
15258 @node Outgoing Messages
15259 @subsection Outgoing Messages
15261 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
15262 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
15263 after posting, and edit them at will.
15265 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
15266 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
15267 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
15268 messages in the draft group.
15272 @node Agent Variables
15273 @subsection Agent Variables
15276 @item gnus-agent-directory
15277 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
15278 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
15279 @file{~/News/agent/}.
15281 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
15282 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
15283 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
15284 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
15285 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
15288 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
15289 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
15290 Hook run when connecting to the network.
15292 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
15293 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
15294 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
15299 @node Example Setup
15300 @subsection Example Setup
15302 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
15303 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
15304 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
15307 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
15308 ;;; from your ISP's server.
15309 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
15311 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
15312 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
15313 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
15315 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
15316 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
15318 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
15322 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
15323 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
15326 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
15327 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
15328 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
15329 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
15330 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
15333 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
15334 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
15335 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
15336 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
15337 back all the killed groups.)
15339 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
15340 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
15341 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
15344 @node Batching Agents
15345 @subsection Batching Agents
15347 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
15348 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
15349 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
15353 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
15357 @node Agent Caveats
15358 @subsection Agent Caveats
15360 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
15361 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
15365 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the
15370 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists
15371 in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
15377 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
15378 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP.
15385 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
15386 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
15387 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
15390 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
15391 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
15392 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
15393 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
15394 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
15396 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
15397 before generating the summary buffer.
15399 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
15400 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
15401 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
15403 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
15404 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
15405 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
15406 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
15409 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
15410 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
15411 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
15412 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
15413 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
15414 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
15415 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
15416 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
15417 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
15418 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
15419 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
15420 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
15421 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
15422 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
15423 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
15424 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
15428 @node Summary Score Commands
15429 @section Summary Score Commands
15430 @cindex score commands
15432 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
15433 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
15434 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
15435 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
15436 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
15438 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
15439 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
15440 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
15441 score file the current one.
15443 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
15448 @kindex V s (Summary)
15449 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
15450 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
15453 @kindex V S (Summary)
15454 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
15455 Display the score of the current article
15456 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
15459 @kindex V t (Summary)
15460 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
15461 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
15462 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
15465 @kindex V R (Summary)
15466 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
15467 Run the current summary through the scoring process
15468 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
15469 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
15470 effect you're having.
15473 @kindex V c (Summary)
15474 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
15475 Make a different score file the current
15476 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
15479 @kindex V e (Summary)
15480 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
15481 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
15482 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
15486 @kindex V f (Summary)
15487 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
15488 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
15489 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
15492 @kindex V F (Summary)
15493 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
15494 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
15495 after editing score files.
15498 @kindex V C (Summary)
15499 @findex gnus-score-customize
15500 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
15501 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
15505 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
15510 @kindex V m (Summary)
15511 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
15512 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
15513 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
15516 @kindex V x (Summary)
15517 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
15518 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
15519 expunge all articles below this score
15520 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
15523 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
15524 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
15527 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
15528 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
15532 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
15533 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
15535 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
15536 keys are available:
15540 Score on the author name.
15543 Score on the subject line.
15546 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
15549 Score on the @code{References} line.
15555 Score on the number of lines.
15558 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
15561 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
15562 the followups to this author.
15576 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
15577 what headers you are scoring on.
15589 Substring matching.
15592 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
15621 Greater than number.
15626 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
15627 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
15628 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
15632 Temporary score entry.
15635 Permanent score entry.
15638 Immediately scoring.
15643 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
15644 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
15645 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
15646 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
15648 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
15649 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
15650 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
15651 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
15652 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
15654 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
15655 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
15656 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
15657 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
15658 current score file.
15660 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
15661 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
15662 pretend they are keymaps or not.
15665 @node Group Score Commands
15666 @section Group Score Commands
15667 @cindex group score commands
15669 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
15674 @kindex W f (Group)
15675 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
15676 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
15677 all the time. This command will flush the cache
15678 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
15682 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
15684 @findex gnus-batch-score
15685 @cindex batch scoring
15687 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
15691 @node Score Variables
15692 @section Score Variables
15693 @cindex score variables
15697 @item gnus-use-scoring
15698 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
15699 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
15700 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
15702 @item gnus-kill-killed
15703 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
15704 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
15705 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
15706 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
15707 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
15708 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
15709 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
15711 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
15712 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
15713 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
15714 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
15715 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
15717 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
15718 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
15719 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
15720 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
15722 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
15723 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
15724 @cindex score cache
15725 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
15726 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
15727 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
15728 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
15729 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
15730 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
15733 @item gnus-save-score
15734 @vindex gnus-save-score
15735 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
15736 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
15737 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
15739 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
15740 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
15741 across group visits.
15743 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
15744 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
15745 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
15746 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
15747 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
15748 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
15749 manually entered data.
15751 @item gnus-summary-default-score
15752 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
15753 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
15755 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
15756 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
15757 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
15758 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
15759 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
15760 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
15762 @item gnus-score-over-mark
15763 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
15764 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
15765 default. Default is @samp{+}.
15767 @item gnus-score-below-mark
15768 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
15769 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
15770 default. Default is @samp{-}.
15772 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
15773 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
15774 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
15775 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
15777 Predefined functions available are:
15780 @item gnus-score-find-single
15781 @findex gnus-score-find-single
15782 Only apply the group's own score file.
15784 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
15785 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
15786 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
15787 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
15788 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
15789 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
15790 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
15791 then a regexp match is done.
15793 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
15794 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
15796 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
15797 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
15798 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
15799 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
15801 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
15802 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
15803 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
15804 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
15805 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
15809 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
15810 functions will be called with the group name as argument, and all the
15811 returned lists of score files will be applied. These functions can also
15812 return lists of score alists directly. In that case, the functions that
15813 return these non-file score alists should probably be placed before the
15814 ``real'' score file functions, to ensure that the last score file
15815 returned is the local score file. Phu.
15817 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
15818 overall score file, you could use the value
15820 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE")) 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
15823 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
15824 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
15825 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
15826 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
15827 are expired. It's 7 by default.
15829 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
15830 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
15831 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
15832 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
15833 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
15834 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
15835 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
15838 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
15839 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
15840 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
15842 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
15843 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
15844 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
15845 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
15846 threading---according to the current value of
15847 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
15848 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
15849 simplified in this manner.
15854 @node Score File Format
15855 @section Score File Format
15856 @cindex score file format
15858 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
15859 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
15860 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
15862 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
15866 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
15868 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
15870 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
15872 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
15877 (mark-and-expunge -10)
15881 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
15882 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
15883 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
15884 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
15888 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
15889 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
15891 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
15892 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
15893 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
15895 Six keys are supported by this alist:
15900 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
15901 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
15902 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
15903 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
15904 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
15905 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
15906 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
15907 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
15908 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
15909 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
15910 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
15911 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
15912 to articles that matches these score entries.
15914 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
15915 score entry has one to four elements.
15919 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
15920 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
15924 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
15925 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
15926 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
15927 is successful. If this element is not present, the
15928 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
15929 instead. This is 1000 by default.
15932 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
15933 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
15934 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
15935 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
15936 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
15939 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
15940 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
15941 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
15942 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
15945 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
15946 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
15947 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
15948 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
15949 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
15950 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
15951 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
15952 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
15953 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
15954 instead, if you feel like.
15957 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
15958 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
15960 These predicates are true if
15963 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
15966 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
15967 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
15974 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
15975 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
15976 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
15977 it's not. I think.)
15979 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some backends (like
15980 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
15981 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
15982 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
15985 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
15986 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
15987 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
15988 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
15989 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
15990 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
15991 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
15995 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
15996 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
15997 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
15998 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
15999 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
16000 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
16001 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
16002 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
16005 @item Head, Body, All
16006 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
16010 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
16011 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
16012 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
16013 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
16014 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
16015 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
16016 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
16020 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
16021 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
16022 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
16023 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
16024 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
16025 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
16026 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
16027 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
16028 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
16029 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
16030 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
16034 @cindex Score File Atoms
16036 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
16037 lower than this number will be marked as read.
16040 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
16041 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
16043 @item mark-and-expunge
16044 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
16045 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
16048 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
16049 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
16050 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
16051 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
16052 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
16055 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
16056 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
16059 @item exclude-files
16060 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
16061 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
16065 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
16066 ignored when handling global score files.
16069 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
16070 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
16071 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
16072 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
16075 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
16076 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
16077 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
16078 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
16080 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
16084 (mark-and-expunge -100)
16087 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
16088 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
16089 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
16090 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
16091 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
16093 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
16094 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
16095 scoring rules exist.
16098 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
16099 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
16100 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
16101 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
16102 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
16103 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
16104 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
16105 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
16106 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
16107 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
16108 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
16112 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
16113 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
16114 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
16115 file for a number of groups.
16118 @cindex local variables
16119 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
16120 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
16121 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
16122 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
16123 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
16127 @node Score File Editing
16128 @section Score File Editing
16130 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
16131 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
16132 with a mode for that.
16134 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
16135 additional commands:
16140 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
16141 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
16142 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
16143 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
16146 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
16147 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
16148 Insert the current date in numerical format
16149 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
16150 you were wondering.
16153 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
16154 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
16155 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
16156 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
16157 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
16162 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
16164 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
16165 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
16167 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
16168 e} to begin editing score files.
16171 @node Adaptive Scoring
16172 @section Adaptive Scoring
16173 @cindex adaptive scoring
16175 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
16176 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
16177 stupidity, to be precise.
16179 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
16180 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
16181 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
16182 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
16183 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
16184 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
16185 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
16186 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
16187 variable to @code{(word line)}.
16189 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
16190 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
16191 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
16192 might look something like this:
16195 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
16196 '((gnus-unread-mark)
16197 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
16198 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
16199 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
16200 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
16201 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
16202 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
16203 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
16204 (gnus-ancient-mark)
16205 (gnus-low-score-mark)
16206 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
16209 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
16210 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
16211 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
16212 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
16213 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
16214 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
16217 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
16218 will be applied to each article.
16220 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
16221 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
16222 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
16223 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
16225 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
16226 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
16227 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
16228 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
16230 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
16231 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
16232 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
16233 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
16235 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
16236 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
16237 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
16238 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
16239 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
16240 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
16242 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
16243 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
16244 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
16245 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
16246 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
16247 aspirins afterwards.)
16249 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
16250 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
16251 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
16253 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
16254 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
16255 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
16257 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
16258 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
16259 let you use different rules in different groups.
16261 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
16262 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
16263 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
16266 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
16267 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
16268 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
16269 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
16270 the length of the match is less than
16271 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
16272 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
16275 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
16276 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
16277 headers. If you adapt on words, the
16278 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
16279 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
16282 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
16283 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
16284 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
16285 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
16286 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
16289 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
16290 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
16291 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
16292 score with 30 points.
16294 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
16295 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
16296 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
16297 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
16298 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
16300 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
16301 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
16302 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
16303 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
16304 variable defaults til @code{nil}.
16306 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
16307 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
16308 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
16309 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
16311 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
16312 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
16313 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
16314 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
16316 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
16317 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
16318 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
16319 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
16320 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
16322 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
16323 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
16324 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
16326 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
16327 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
16328 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
16329 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
16332 @node Home Score File
16333 @section Home Score File
16335 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
16336 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
16337 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
16338 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
16340 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
16341 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
16342 could perhaps use the same home score file.
16344 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
16345 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
16350 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
16354 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
16355 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
16359 A list. The elements in this list can be:
16363 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
16364 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
16367 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
16368 the home score file.
16371 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
16374 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
16379 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
16382 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16383 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
16386 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
16387 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
16389 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
16391 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16392 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
16395 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
16396 Other functions include
16399 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
16400 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
16401 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
16402 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
16406 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
16407 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
16408 their own home score files:
16411 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16412 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
16413 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
16414 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
16415 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
16418 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
16419 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
16420 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
16421 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
16422 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
16424 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
16425 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
16426 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
16427 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
16428 precedence over this variable.
16431 @node Followups To Yourself
16432 @section Followups To Yourself
16434 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
16435 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
16436 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
16437 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
16438 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
16439 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
16443 @item gnus-score-followup-article
16444 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
16445 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
16448 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
16449 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
16450 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
16454 @vindex message-sent-hook
16455 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
16456 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
16458 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
16462 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
16463 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
16467 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
16468 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
16471 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
16472 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
16477 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
16481 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
16482 is system-dependent.
16486 @section Scoring Tips
16487 @cindex scoring tips
16493 @cindex scoring crossposts
16494 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
16495 the @code{Xref} header.
16497 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
16500 @item Multiple crossposts
16501 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
16502 more than, say, 3 groups:
16504 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
16507 @item Matching on the body
16508 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
16509 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
16510 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
16511 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
16512 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
16513 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
16514 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
16517 @item Marking as read
16518 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
16519 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
16520 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
16524 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
16526 @item Negated character classes
16527 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
16528 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
16529 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
16533 @node Reverse Scoring
16534 @section Reverse Scoring
16535 @cindex reverse scoring
16537 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
16538 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
16539 like this in your score file:
16543 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
16548 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
16549 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
16552 @node Global Score Files
16553 @section Global Score Files
16554 @cindex global score files
16556 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
16557 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
16558 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
16560 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
16561 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
16562 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
16564 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
16565 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
16566 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
16567 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
16568 files are applicable to which group.
16570 Say you want to use the score file
16571 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
16572 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory:
16575 (setq gnus-global-score-files
16576 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
16577 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
16580 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
16581 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
16582 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
16583 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
16584 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
16586 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
16587 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
16589 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
16590 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
16591 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
16592 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
16593 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
16594 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
16596 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
16602 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
16604 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
16606 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
16608 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
16609 lowered out of existence.
16611 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
16612 articles completely.
16615 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
16616 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
16617 old articles for a long time.
16620 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
16621 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
16622 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
16623 holding our breath yet?
16627 @section Kill Files
16630 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
16631 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
16632 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
16634 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
16635 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
16636 files into score files.
16638 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
16639 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
16640 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
16641 that isn't a very good idea.
16643 Normal kill files look like this:
16646 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16647 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
16651 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
16652 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
16654 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
16655 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
16658 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
16663 @kindex M-k (Summary)
16664 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
16665 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
16668 @kindex M-K (Summary)
16669 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
16670 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
16673 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
16678 @kindex M-k (Group)
16679 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
16680 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
16683 @kindex M-K (Group)
16684 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
16685 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
16688 Kill file variables:
16691 @item gnus-kill-file-name
16692 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
16693 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
16694 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
16695 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
16696 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
16697 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
16699 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
16700 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
16701 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
16702 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
16705 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
16706 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
16707 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
16708 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
16709 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
16710 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
16711 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
16712 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
16713 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
16715 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
16716 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
16717 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
16722 @node Converting Kill Files
16723 @section Converting Kill Files
16725 @cindex converting kill files
16727 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
16728 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
16729 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
16732 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
16733 You can fetch it from
16734 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
16736 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
16737 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
16738 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
16746 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
16747 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
16748 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
16750 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
16751 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
16752 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
16753 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
16754 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
16755 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
16756 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
16757 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
16761 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
16762 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
16763 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
16764 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
16768 @node Using GroupLens
16769 @subsection Using GroupLens
16771 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
16773 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
16774 better bit in town at the moment.
16776 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
16780 @item gnus-use-grouplens
16781 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
16782 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
16783 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
16785 @item grouplens-pseudonym
16786 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
16787 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
16788 with the Better Bit Bureau.
16790 @item grouplens-newsgroups
16791 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
16792 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
16796 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
16797 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
16798 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
16799 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
16800 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
16801 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
16804 @node Rating Articles
16805 @subsection Rating Articles
16807 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
16808 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
16809 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
16810 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
16813 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
16818 @kindex r (GroupLens)
16819 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
16820 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
16823 @kindex k (GroupLens)
16824 @findex grouplens-score-thread
16825 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
16826 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
16827 threads in rec.humor.
16831 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
16832 the score of the article you're reading.
16837 @kindex n (GroupLens)
16838 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
16839 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
16842 @kindex , (GroupLens)
16843 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
16844 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
16848 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
16849 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
16852 @node Displaying Predictions
16853 @subsection Displaying Predictions
16855 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
16856 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
16857 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
16858 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
16859 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
16861 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
16862 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
16863 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
16864 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
16865 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
16866 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
16867 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
16868 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
16869 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
16870 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
16871 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
16872 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
16873 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
16875 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
16876 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
16877 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
16878 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
16880 The following are valid values for that variable.
16883 @item prediction-spot
16884 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
16887 @item confidence-interval
16888 A numeric confidence interval.
16890 @item prediction-bar
16891 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
16893 @item confidence-bar
16894 Numerical confidence.
16896 @item confidence-spot
16897 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
16899 @item prediction-num
16900 Plain-old numeric value.
16902 @item confidence-plus-minus
16903 Prediction +/- confidence.
16908 @node GroupLens Variables
16909 @subsection GroupLens Variables
16913 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
16914 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
16915 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
16916 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%)
16919 @item grouplens-bbb-host
16920 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
16923 @item grouplens-bbb-port
16924 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
16926 @item grouplens-score-offset
16927 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
16928 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
16931 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
16932 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
16933 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
16938 @node Advanced Scoring
16939 @section Advanced Scoring
16941 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
16942 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
16943 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
16944 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
16945 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
16947 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
16951 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
16952 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
16953 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
16957 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
16958 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
16960 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
16961 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
16962 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
16963 non-@code{nil} value.
16965 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
16966 operator, and various match operators.
16973 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
16974 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
16975 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
16980 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
16981 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
16982 then this operator will return @code{false}.
16987 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
16988 logical negation of the value of its argument.
16992 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
16993 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
16994 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
16995 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
16996 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
16997 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
16998 the ancestry you want to go.
17000 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
17001 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
17002 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
17003 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
17004 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
17007 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
17008 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
17010 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
17011 when he's talking about Gnus:
17015 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
17016 ("subject" "Gnus"))
17022 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
17026 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
17033 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
17034 really don't want to read what he's written:
17038 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
17039 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
17043 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
17044 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
17045 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
17052 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
17053 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
17054 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
17055 ("body" "white.*socks"))
17059 The possibilities are endless.
17062 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
17063 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
17065 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
17066 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
17067 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
17068 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
17069 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
17070 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
17071 @samp{subject}) first.
17073 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
17074 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
17085 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
17086 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
17092 ("subject" "Gnus")))
17099 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
17100 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
17105 @section Score Decays
17106 @cindex score decays
17109 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
17110 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
17111 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
17112 use them in any sensible way.
17114 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
17115 @findex gnus-decay-score
17116 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
17117 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
17118 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
17119 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
17120 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
17121 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
17122 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
17123 definition of that function:
17126 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
17128 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
17129 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
17132 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
17134 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
17136 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
17139 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
17140 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
17141 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
17142 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
17146 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
17149 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
17152 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
17156 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
17157 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
17158 the new score, which should be an integer.
17160 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
17161 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
17168 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
17169 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
17170 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
17171 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
17172 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
17173 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
17174 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
17175 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
17176 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
17177 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
17178 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
17179 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
17180 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
17181 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
17182 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
17183 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
17184 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
17185 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
17189 @node Process/Prefix
17190 @section Process/Prefix
17191 @cindex process/prefix convention
17193 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
17194 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
17196 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
17197 command to be performed on.
17201 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
17202 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
17203 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
17204 with the current one.
17206 @vindex transient-mark-mode
17207 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
17208 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
17210 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
17211 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
17214 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
17215 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
17217 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
17220 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
17221 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
17222 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
17223 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
17225 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
17226 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
17227 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
17228 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
17229 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
17230 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
17231 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
17232 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
17234 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
17235 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
17236 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
17237 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
17238 expirable, you could say `M P b M-& E'.
17242 @section Interactive
17243 @cindex interaction
17247 @item gnus-novice-user
17248 @vindex gnus-novice-user
17249 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
17250 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
17251 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
17252 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
17255 @item gnus-expert-user
17256 @vindex gnus-expert-user
17257 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
17258 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
17259 matter how strange.
17261 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
17262 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
17263 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
17264 is @code{t} by default.
17266 @item gnus-interactive-exit
17267 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
17268 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
17273 @node Symbolic Prefixes
17274 @section Symbolic Prefixes
17275 @cindex symbolic prefixes
17277 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
17278 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
17279 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
17280 rule of 900 to the current article.
17282 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
17283 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
17284 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
17285 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
17286 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
17287 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
17288 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
17290 @kindex M-i (Summary)
17291 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
17292 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
17293 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
17294 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
17295 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a M-C-u} means ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u}
17296 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b M-C-u} means
17297 ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
17298 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
17300 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
17301 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
17302 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
17304 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
17308 @node Formatting Variables
17309 @section Formatting Variables
17310 @cindex formatting variables
17312 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
17313 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
17314 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
17315 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
17316 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
17319 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
17320 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
17321 lots of percentages everywhere.
17324 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
17325 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
17326 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
17327 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
17328 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
17331 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
17332 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
17333 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
17334 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
17335 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
17336 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
17337 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
17338 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
17340 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
17341 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
17343 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
17344 @findex gnus-update-format
17345 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
17346 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
17347 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
17348 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
17352 @node Formatting Basics
17353 @subsection Formatting Basics
17355 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
17356 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
17357 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
17359 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
17360 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
17361 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
17362 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
17363 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
17366 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
17367 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
17368 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
17369 less than 4 characters wide.
17372 @node Mode Line Formatting
17373 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
17375 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
17376 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
17377 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
17378 with the following two differences:
17383 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
17386 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
17387 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
17388 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
17389 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
17390 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
17391 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
17392 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
17397 @node Advanced Formatting
17398 @subsection Advanced Formatting
17400 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
17401 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
17402 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
17403 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
17405 These are the valid modifiers:
17410 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
17414 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
17419 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
17422 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
17427 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
17430 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
17433 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
17436 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
17440 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
17441 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
17442 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
17443 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
17444 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
17445 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
17446 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
17448 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
17449 last operation, padding.
17451 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
17452 If @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} is set to @code{nil} (@code{t} by
17453 default) with your strong personality, and use a lots of these advanced
17454 thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets quite slow. This can be helped
17455 enormously by running @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with
17456 the look of your lines.
17457 @xref{Compilation}.
17460 @node User-Defined Specs
17461 @subsection User-Defined Specs
17463 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
17464 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
17465 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
17466 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
17467 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
17468 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
17469 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
17470 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
17471 should protect against that.
17473 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
17474 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
17475 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
17476 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
17480 @node Formatting Fonts
17481 @subsection Formatting Fonts
17483 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
17484 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
17485 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
17486 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
17489 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
17490 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
17491 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
17492 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
17493 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
17494 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
17496 Text inside the @samp{%<} and @samp{%>} specifiers will get the special
17497 @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you
17498 say @samp{%1<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The
17499 @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or symbols
17500 naming functions that return a string. Under @code{balloon-help-mode},
17501 when the mouse passes over text with this property set, a balloon window
17502 will appear and display the string. Please refer to the doc string of
17503 @code{balloon-help-mode} for more information on this.
17505 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
17508 ;; Create three face types.
17509 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
17510 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
17512 ;; We want the article count to be in
17513 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
17514 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
17515 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
17517 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
17518 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
17520 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
17521 (setq gnus-group-line-format
17522 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
17525 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
17526 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
17528 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
17529 mode-line variables.
17532 @node Windows Configuration
17533 @section Windows Configuration
17534 @cindex windows configuration
17536 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
17538 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
17539 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
17540 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
17541 @code{t} by default.
17543 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
17544 glitches. Use at your own peril.
17546 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
17547 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
17548 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
17551 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
17552 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
17553 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
17557 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
17558 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
17559 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
17560 possible names is listed below.
17562 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
17563 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
17566 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
17570 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
17571 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
17572 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
17573 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
17574 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
17575 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
17576 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
17577 size spec per split.
17579 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
17580 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
17581 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
17582 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
17583 present) gets focus.
17585 Here's a more complicated example:
17588 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
17589 (summary 0.25 point)
17590 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
17594 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
17595 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
17596 occupy, not a percentage.
17598 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
17599 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
17600 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
17601 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
17602 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
17605 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
17608 (article (horizontal 1.0
17613 (summary 0.25 point)
17618 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
17619 @code{horizontal} thingie?
17621 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
17622 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
17623 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
17624 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
17625 the screen is to be given to this strip.
17627 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
17628 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
17629 lines from the splits.
17631 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
17635 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
17636 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
17637 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
17638 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
17639 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
17640 size = number | frame-params
17641 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
17644 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
17645 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
17646 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
17647 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
17649 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
17650 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
17651 @cindex window height
17652 @cindex window width
17653 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
17654 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
17655 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
17656 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
17657 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
17658 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
17660 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
17661 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
17662 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
17663 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
17665 @findex gnus-configure-frame
17666 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
17667 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
17668 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
17669 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
17670 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
17671 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
17672 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
17673 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
17674 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
17675 configuration list.
17678 (gnus-configure-frame
17682 (article 0.3 point))
17690 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
17691 @code{frame} split:
17694 (gnus-configure-frame
17697 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
17699 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
17700 (user-position . t)
17701 (left . -1) (top . 1))
17706 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
17707 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
17708 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
17709 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
17710 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
17711 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
17712 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
17713 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
17715 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
17716 be found in its default value.
17718 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
17719 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
17720 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
17724 (message (horizontal 1.0
17725 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
17727 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
17732 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
17733 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
17734 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
17737 (message (frame 1.0
17738 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
17739 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
17740 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
17741 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
17742 (name . "Message"))
17743 (message 1.0 point))))
17746 @findex gnus-add-configuration
17747 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
17748 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
17749 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
17750 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
17753 (gnus-add-configuration
17754 '(article (vertical 1.0
17756 (summary .25 point)
17760 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
17761 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
17762 Gnus has been loaded.
17764 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
17765 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
17766 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
17767 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
17768 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
17770 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
17771 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
17772 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
17775 @subsection Example Window Configurations
17779 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
17780 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
17795 (gnus-add-configuration
17798 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
17800 (summary 0.16 point)
17803 (gnus-add-configuration
17806 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
17807 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
17813 @node Faces and Fonts
17814 @section Faces and Fonts
17819 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
17820 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
17821 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
17826 @section Compilation
17827 @cindex compilation
17828 @cindex byte-compilation
17830 @findex gnus-compile
17832 Remember all those line format specification variables?
17833 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
17834 on. By default, T-gnus will use the byte-compiled codes of these
17835 variables and we can keep a slow-down to a minimum. However, if you set
17836 @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} to @code{nil} (@code{t} by default),
17837 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
17838 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
17839 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
17842 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
17843 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
17844 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
17845 you'll get top speed again. Note that T-gnus will not save these
17846 compiled specs in the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
17849 @item gnus-compile-user-specs
17850 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
17851 If it is non-nil, the user-defined format specs will be byte-compiled
17852 automatically. The default value of this variable is @code{t}. It has
17853 an effect on the values of @code{gnus-*-line-format-spec}.
17858 @section Mode Lines
17861 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
17862 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
17863 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
17864 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
17865 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
17866 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
17867 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
17870 @cindex display-time
17872 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
17873 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
17874 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
17875 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
17876 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
17877 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
17878 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
17879 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
17882 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
17884 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
17885 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
17887 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
17888 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
17889 (length display-time-string)))))
17892 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
17893 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
17894 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
17895 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
17896 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
17899 @node Highlighting and Menus
17900 @section Highlighting and Menus
17902 @cindex highlighting
17905 @vindex gnus-visual
17906 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
17907 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
17908 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
17911 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
17912 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
17915 @item group-highlight
17916 Do highlights in the group buffer.
17917 @item summary-highlight
17918 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
17919 @item article-highlight
17920 Do highlights in the article buffer.
17922 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
17924 Create menus in the group buffer.
17926 Create menus in the summary buffers.
17928 Create menus in the article buffer.
17930 Create menus in the browse buffer.
17932 Create menus in the server buffer.
17934 Create menus in the score buffers.
17936 Create menus in all buffers.
17939 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
17940 buffers, you could say something like:
17943 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
17946 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
17949 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
17952 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
17953 in all Gnus buffers.
17955 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
17958 @item gnus-mouse-face
17959 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
17960 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
17961 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
17965 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
17969 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
17970 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
17971 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
17973 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
17974 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
17975 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
17977 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
17978 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
17979 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
17981 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
17982 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
17983 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
17985 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
17986 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
17987 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
17989 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
17990 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
17991 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
18002 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
18003 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
18004 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
18005 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
18006 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
18010 @vindex gnus-carpal
18011 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
18012 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
18013 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
18018 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
18019 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
18020 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
18022 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
18023 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
18024 Face used on buttons.
18026 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
18027 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
18028 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
18030 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
18031 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
18032 Buttons in the group buffer.
18034 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
18035 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
18036 Buttons in the summary buffer.
18038 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
18039 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
18040 Buttons in the server buffer.
18042 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
18043 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
18044 Buttons in the browse buffer.
18047 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
18048 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
18049 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
18057 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
18058 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
18059 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
18060 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
18061 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
18063 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
18064 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
18065 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
18067 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
18068 been idle for thirty minutes:
18071 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
18074 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
18078 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
18081 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
18082 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
18083 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
18085 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
18086 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
18087 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
18088 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
18090 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
18091 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
18092 @var{idle} minutes.
18094 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
18095 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
18098 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
18099 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
18100 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
18102 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
18103 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
18104 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
18105 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
18107 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
18108 your @file{.gnus} file:
18110 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
18112 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
18115 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
18116 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
18117 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
18118 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
18119 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
18120 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
18121 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
18122 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
18123 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
18124 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
18125 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
18127 @findex gnus-demon-init
18128 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
18129 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
18130 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
18131 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
18132 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
18134 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
18135 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
18136 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
18145 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
18146 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
18148 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
18149 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
18150 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
18151 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
18154 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
18155 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
18156 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
18157 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
18159 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
18160 this will make spam disappear.
18162 There are some variables to customize, of course:
18165 @item gnus-use-nocem
18166 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
18167 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
18170 @item gnus-nocem-groups
18171 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
18172 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
18173 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
18174 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
18176 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
18177 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
18178 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
18179 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
18180 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
18181 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
18183 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
18184 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
18186 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
18187 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
18188 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
18189 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
18190 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
18191 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
18192 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
18193 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
18194 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
18195 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
18197 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
18198 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
18201 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
18204 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
18205 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
18208 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
18211 The specs are applied left-to-right.
18214 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
18215 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
18217 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
18218 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
18219 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
18220 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
18222 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
18223 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
18226 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
18228 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
18236 This might be dangerous, though.
18238 @item gnus-nocem-directory
18239 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
18240 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
18241 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
18243 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
18244 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
18245 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
18246 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
18247 might then see old spam.
18249 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
18250 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
18251 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
18252 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
18253 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
18256 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
18257 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
18258 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
18259 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
18263 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
18264 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
18265 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
18266 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
18273 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
18274 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
18275 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
18277 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
18278 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
18279 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
18280 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
18281 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
18282 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
18283 @code{undo} function.
18285 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
18286 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
18287 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
18288 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
18289 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
18290 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
18291 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
18292 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
18293 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
18294 never be totally undoable.
18296 @findex gnus-undo-mode
18297 @vindex gnus-use-undo
18299 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
18300 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
18301 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
18302 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
18307 @section Moderation
18310 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
18311 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
18312 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
18315 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
18319 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
18322 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
18324 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
18329 You split your incoming mail by matching on
18330 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
18331 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
18334 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
18335 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
18338 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
18339 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
18343 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
18346 (setq gnus-moderated-list
18347 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
18351 @node XEmacs Enhancements
18352 @section XEmacs Enhancements
18355 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
18359 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
18360 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
18361 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
18362 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
18375 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
18376 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
18377 over your shoulder as you read news.
18380 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
18381 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
18382 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
18383 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
18384 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
18389 @subsubsection Picon Basics
18391 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
18400 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
18401 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
18402 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
18403 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
18404 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
18405 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
18406 @code{GIF} formats.
18409 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18410 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
18411 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
18412 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
18413 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
18415 @vindex gnus-picons-database
18416 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
18417 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
18418 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
18419 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
18420 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
18423 @node Picon Requirements
18424 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
18426 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
18427 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
18430 Additionally, you must have @code{x} support compiled into XEmacs. To
18431 display color picons which are much nicer than the black & white one,
18432 you also need one of @code{xpm} or @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
18434 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18435 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
18436 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
18437 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
18438 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
18442 @subsubsection Easy Picons
18444 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
18445 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
18448 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
18449 (setq gnus-treat-display-picons t)
18452 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
18453 containing the Picons databases.
18455 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
18458 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18459 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
18464 @subsubsection Hard Picons
18472 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
18473 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
18474 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
18475 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
18476 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
18481 @item gnus-picons-database
18482 @vindex gnus-picons-database
18483 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
18484 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
18485 subdirectories. This is only useful if
18486 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
18487 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
18489 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18490 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18491 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
18492 engine is @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
18493 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
18494 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
18495 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
18497 @item gnus-picons-display-where
18498 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
18499 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
18500 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
18501 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
18502 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
18503 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
18504 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
18506 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
18507 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
18508 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
18513 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
18514 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
18516 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
18517 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
18520 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
18522 @item gnus-article-display-picons
18523 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
18524 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
18525 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer.
18527 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
18528 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
18529 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.
18535 @node Picon Useless Configuration
18536 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
18544 The following variables offer further control over how things are
18545 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
18546 don't need to worry about.
18550 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
18551 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
18552 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
18553 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
18555 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
18556 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
18557 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
18558 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
18560 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
18561 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
18562 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
18563 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
18564 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
18566 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18567 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18568 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
18569 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
18570 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
18571 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
18572 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
18574 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
18575 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
18576 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
18577 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
18579 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
18580 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
18581 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
18582 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
18583 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
18584 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
18585 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
18587 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
18588 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
18589 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
18590 Defaults to @code{nil}.
18592 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
18593 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
18594 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
18595 Defaults to @code{t}.
18597 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
18598 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
18599 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
18600 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
18602 @item gnus-picons-setup-hook
18603 @vindex gnus-picons-setup-hook
18604 Hook run in the picon buffer, if that is displayed.
18606 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
18607 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
18608 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
18609 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
18611 If @code{nil}, display the picons in the @code{From} and
18612 @code{Newsgroups} lines. This is the default.
18614 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
18615 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
18616 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
18617 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
18618 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
18619 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
18620 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
18621 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
18632 @subsection Smileys
18637 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/BigFace.ps,height=20cm}}
18642 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
18643 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
18645 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
18646 @file{.gnus.el} file:
18649 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
18652 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
18653 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
18654 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
18655 text and maps that to file names.
18657 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
18658 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
18659 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
18660 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
18661 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
18662 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
18664 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
18665 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
18667 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
18668 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
18669 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
18671 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
18672 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
18676 @item smiley-data-directory
18677 @vindex smiley-data-directory
18678 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
18680 @item smiley-flesh-color
18681 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
18682 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
18684 @item smiley-features-color
18685 @vindex smiley-features-color
18686 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
18688 @item smiley-tongue-color
18689 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
18690 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
18692 @item smiley-circle-color
18693 @vindex smiley-circle-color
18694 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
18696 @item smiley-mouse-face
18697 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
18698 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
18704 @subsection Toolbar
18714 @item gnus-use-toolbar
18715 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
18716 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
18717 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
18718 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
18720 @item gnus-group-toolbar
18721 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
18722 The toolbar in the group buffer.
18724 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
18725 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
18726 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
18728 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
18729 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
18730 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
18736 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
18739 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
18740 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
18741 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
18742 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
18743 unusual directory structure.
18745 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
18746 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
18747 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
18748 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
18750 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
18751 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
18752 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
18753 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
18754 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
18755 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
18757 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
18758 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
18759 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
18773 @node Fuzzy Matching
18774 @section Fuzzy Matching
18775 @cindex fuzzy matching
18777 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
18778 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
18780 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
18781 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
18782 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
18784 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
18785 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
18786 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
18787 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
18788 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
18791 @node Thwarting Email Spam
18792 @section Thwarting Email Spam
18796 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
18798 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
18799 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
18800 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
18801 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
18802 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
18803 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
18804 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
18805 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
18808 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
18809 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
18810 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
18811 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
18812 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
18813 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
18817 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
18818 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
18820 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
18821 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
18822 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
18823 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
18824 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
18825 part of the mail address.)
18828 (setq message-default-news-headers
18829 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
18832 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
18833 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
18838 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
18839 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
18840 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
18846 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
18847 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
18848 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
18849 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
18851 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
18852 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
18853 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
18854 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
18855 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
18856 your fancy split rule in this way:
18861 (to "larsi" "misc")
18865 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
18866 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
18867 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
18868 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
18869 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
18871 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
18872 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
18873 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
18874 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
18875 cosmic balance somewhat.
18877 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
18878 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
18879 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
18880 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
18883 @node Various Various
18884 @section Various Various
18890 @item gnus-home-directory
18891 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
18892 defaults to @file{~/}.
18894 @item gnus-directory
18895 @vindex gnus-directory
18896 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
18897 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
18898 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
18900 Note that gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
18901 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
18902 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
18903 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
18905 @item gnus-default-directory
18906 @vindex gnus-default-directory
18907 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
18908 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
18909 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
18910 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
18911 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
18912 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
18915 @vindex gnus-verbose
18916 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
18917 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
18918 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
18919 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
18920 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
18922 @item gnus-verbose-backends
18923 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
18924 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
18925 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
18927 @item nnheader-max-head-length
18928 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
18929 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
18930 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
18931 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
18932 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
18933 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
18934 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
18935 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
18936 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
18938 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
18939 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
18940 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
18941 read when doing the operation described above.
18943 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18944 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18946 @cindex invalid characters in file names
18947 @cindex characters in file names
18948 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
18949 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
18950 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
18953 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18957 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
18958 Windows (phooey) systems.
18960 @item gnus-hidden-properties
18961 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
18962 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
18963 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
18964 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
18966 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
18967 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
18968 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
18969 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
18970 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
18972 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
18973 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
18974 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
18976 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
18977 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
18979 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
18980 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
18981 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
18982 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
18985 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
18994 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
18995 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
18997 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
18999 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
19005 Not because of victories @*
19008 but for the common sunshine,@*
19010 the largess of the spring.
19014 but for the day's work done@*
19015 as well as I was able;@*
19016 not for a seat upon the dais@*
19017 but at the common table.@*
19022 @chapter Appendices
19025 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
19026 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
19027 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
19028 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
19029 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
19030 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
19031 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
19032 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
19040 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
19041 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
19043 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
19044 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
19045 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
19046 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
19047 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
19049 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
19050 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
19051 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
19052 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
19053 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
19054 appropriate name, don't you think?)
19056 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
19057 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
19058 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
19059 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
19062 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
19063 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
19064 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
19065 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
19066 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
19067 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
19068 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
19069 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
19070 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
19074 @node Gnus Versions
19075 @subsection Gnus Versions
19076 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
19078 @cindex September Gnus
19079 @cindex Quassia Gnus
19081 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
19082 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
19083 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
19085 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
19086 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
19088 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
19089 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
19091 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
19092 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
19094 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
19095 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
19098 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
19100 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
19101 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
19102 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
19103 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
19104 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
19105 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
19108 @node Other Gnus Versions
19109 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
19112 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
19113 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
19114 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
19115 @sc{mime} capabilities.
19117 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
19118 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
19119 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
19120 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
19127 What's the point of Gnus?
19129 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
19130 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
19131 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
19132 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
19133 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
19134 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
19135 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
19136 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
19137 keep track of millions of people who post?
19139 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
19140 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
19141 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
19142 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
19143 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
19144 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
19145 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
19146 every one of you to explore and invent.
19148 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
19149 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
19152 @node Compatibility
19153 @subsection Compatibility
19155 @cindex compatibility
19156 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
19157 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
19158 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
19163 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
19167 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
19170 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
19173 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
19174 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
19175 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
19176 important variables have their values copied into their global
19177 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
19178 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
19180 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
19181 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
19182 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
19183 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
19184 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
19188 @cindex highlighting
19189 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
19190 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
19191 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
19192 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
19193 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
19194 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
19197 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
19198 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
19199 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
19200 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
19202 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
19203 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
19204 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
19205 to stop doing it the old way.
19207 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
19209 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
19211 @cindex reporting bugs
19213 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
19214 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
19215 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
19217 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
19218 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
19219 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
19220 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
19225 @subsection Conformity
19227 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
19228 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
19235 There are no known breaches of this standard.
19239 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
19241 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
19242 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
19243 We do have some breaches to this one.
19249 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
19250 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
19251 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
19252 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
19253 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
19258 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
19259 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
19260 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
19261 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
19265 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
19266 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
19271 @subsection Emacsen
19277 Gnus should work on :
19285 XEmacs 21.1.1 and up.
19289 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
19290 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
19291 Emacs versions. However, T-gnus does support ``Mule 2.3 based on Emacs
19292 19.34'' and possibly the versions of XEmacs prior to 21.1.1, e.g. 20.4.
19293 See the file ``README'' in the T-gnus distribution for more details.
19295 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
19296 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
19297 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
19301 @node Gnus Development
19302 @subsection Gnus Development
19304 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
19305 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
19306 propose changes and new features, post patches and new backends. This
19307 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
19308 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
19309 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
19310 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
19311 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
19313 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
19314 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
19315 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
19316 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
19317 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
19320 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
19321 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
19322 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
19323 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
19324 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
19326 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
19327 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
19328 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
19329 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
19330 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
19331 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
19332 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
19333 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
19334 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
19335 can't be assumed to do so.
19340 @subsection Contributors
19341 @cindex contributors
19343 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
19344 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
19345 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
19346 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
19347 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
19348 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
19349 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
19350 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
19351 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
19352 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
19354 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
19360 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
19363 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
19364 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
19365 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
19366 functionality and stuff.
19369 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
19370 well as numerous other things).
19373 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
19376 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
19379 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
19382 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
19383 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
19386 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
19389 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
19390 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
19393 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
19396 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
19399 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
19402 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
19405 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
19406 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
19409 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
19412 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
19415 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
19418 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
19422 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
19425 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
19428 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
19431 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
19432 well as autoconf support.
19436 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
19437 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
19439 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
19448 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
19452 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
19462 Alexei V. Barantsev,
19477 Massimo Campostrini,
19482 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
19483 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
19487 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
19490 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
19496 Michael Welsh Duggan,
19501 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
19505 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
19513 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
19515 Michelangelo Grigni,
19519 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
19521 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
19523 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
19530 François Felix Ingrand,
19531 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
19532 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
19534 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
19545 Peter Skov Knudsen,
19546 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
19548 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
19549 Thor Kristoffersen,
19552 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
19570 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
19571 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
19578 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
19583 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
19587 John McClary Prevost,
19593 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
19598 Christian von Roques,
19601 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
19608 Philippe Schnoebelen,
19610 Randal L. Schwartz,
19624 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
19629 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
19645 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
19650 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
19651 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
19652 (550kB and counting).
19654 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
19657 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
19658 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
19662 @subsection New Features
19663 @cindex new features
19666 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
19667 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
19668 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
19669 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
19670 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
19673 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
19674 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
19675 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
19678 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
19680 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
19685 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
19686 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
19689 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
19690 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
19693 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
19696 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
19697 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
19698 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
19701 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
19702 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
19703 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
19704 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
19707 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
19708 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19711 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
19712 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
19713 (@pxref{The Active File}).
19716 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
19717 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
19720 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
19721 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
19722 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
19725 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
19726 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
19727 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
19730 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
19731 the @file{.emacs} file.
19734 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
19735 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
19738 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
19739 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
19742 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
19743 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19746 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
19747 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
19750 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
19751 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
19754 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
19757 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
19758 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
19761 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
19762 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
19765 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
19766 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
19769 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
19772 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
19773 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
19776 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
19780 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
19784 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
19785 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
19788 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
19794 @node September Gnus
19795 @subsubsection September Gnus
19799 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/september.ps,height=20cm}}
19803 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
19808 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
19809 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
19813 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
19814 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
19818 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
19822 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
19823 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
19826 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
19830 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
19833 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
19836 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
19839 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
19843 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
19844 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
19847 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
19851 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
19855 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
19859 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
19863 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
19866 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
19867 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
19870 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
19874 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
19875 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
19878 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
19881 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
19882 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
19883 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
19886 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
19890 The Gnus cache is much faster.
19893 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
19897 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
19898 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
19901 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
19902 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
19905 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
19906 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
19909 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
19910 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
19911 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
19914 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
19915 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
19918 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
19921 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
19924 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
19927 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
19930 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
19931 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
19934 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
19938 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
19941 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}}
19946 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
19949 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
19953 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19956 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
19960 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
19963 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
19966 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
19967 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
19970 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
19971 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
19975 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
19976 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
19979 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
19983 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
19984 buffer to allow easier treatment.
19987 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
19990 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
19994 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
19998 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
19999 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
20002 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
20006 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
20007 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
20010 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
20011 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
20014 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
20018 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
20021 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
20024 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
20030 @subsubsection Red Gnus
20032 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
20036 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/red.ps,height=20cm}}
20043 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
20046 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
20047 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
20050 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
20051 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
20055 Article washing status can be displayed in the
20056 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
20059 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
20062 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
20063 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
20066 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
20070 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
20071 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
20075 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
20076 Server Internals}).
20079 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
20083 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
20086 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
20087 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
20090 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
20091 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
20092 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
20095 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
20096 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
20099 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
20100 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
20103 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
20107 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
20108 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
20111 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
20112 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
20115 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
20119 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
20122 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
20126 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
20127 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
20130 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
20131 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
20134 A new command for reading collections of documents
20135 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
20136 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
20139 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
20143 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
20144 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
20147 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
20148 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
20149 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
20152 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
20153 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
20157 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
20161 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
20165 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}}
20170 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
20174 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
20178 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
20179 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
20182 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
20188 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
20190 New features in Gnus 5.6:
20195 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
20196 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
20197 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
20200 The @code{nndraft} backend has returned, but works differently than
20201 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
20202 group, which is created automatically.
20205 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
20209 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
20212 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
20213 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
20216 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
20220 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
20223 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
20224 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
20227 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
20230 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
20231 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
20234 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
20235 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
20238 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
20239 control over simplification.
20242 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
20245 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
20249 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
20252 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
20255 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
20256 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
20257 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
20260 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
20261 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
20264 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
20268 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
20269 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
20272 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
20273 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
20276 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
20280 A history of where mails have been split is available.
20283 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
20286 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
20287 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
20290 A new function for citing in Message has been
20291 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
20294 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
20297 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
20301 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
20302 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
20305 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
20306 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
20309 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} backend.
20312 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
20316 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
20317 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
20319 New features in Gnus 5.8:
20323 @item The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
20324 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
20326 If you used procmail like in
20329 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
20330 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
20331 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
20332 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
20335 this now has changed to
20339 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
20343 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
20344 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
20346 @item Gnus is now a MIME-capable reader. This affects many parts of
20347 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
20349 @item Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
20350 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
20352 @item @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
20353 called to position point.
20355 @item The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
20356 summary buffers and NOV files.
20358 @item @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
20359 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
20361 @item The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
20362 subtly different manner.
20364 @item New web-based backends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
20365 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
20366 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
20368 @item Gnus can now read IMAP mail via @code{nnimap}.
20376 @section The Manual
20380 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
20381 either @code{texi2dvi}
20383 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
20384 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
20386 to get what you hold in your hands now.
20388 The following conventions have been used:
20393 This is a @samp{string}
20396 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
20399 This is a @file{file}
20402 This is a @code{symbol}
20406 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
20410 (setq flargnoze "yes")
20413 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
20416 (setq flumphel 'yes)
20419 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
20420 ever get them confused.
20424 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
20425 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
20426 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
20427 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
20428 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
20429 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
20430 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
20436 @node On Writing Manuals
20437 @section On Writing Manuals
20439 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
20440 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
20441 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
20442 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
20443 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
20444 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
20447 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
20448 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
20449 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
20452 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
20453 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
20458 @section Terminology
20460 @cindex terminology
20465 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
20466 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
20467 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
20468 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
20469 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
20473 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
20474 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
20475 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
20476 not posting, and replying is not following up.
20480 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
20484 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
20489 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
20490 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
20491 is all done by the backends.
20495 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
20496 default, way of getting news.
20500 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
20501 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
20506 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
20507 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
20511 A message that has been posted as news.
20514 @cindex mail message
20515 A message that has been mailed.
20519 A mail message or news article
20523 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
20528 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
20533 A line from the head of an article.
20537 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
20538 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
20542 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
20543 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
20544 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
20545 normal @sc{head} format.
20549 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
20550 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
20551 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
20552 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
20553 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
20554 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
20556 @item killed groups
20557 @cindex killed groups
20558 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
20559 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
20561 @item zombie groups
20562 @cindex zombie groups
20563 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
20566 @cindex active file
20567 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
20568 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
20569 is rather large, as you might surmise.
20572 @cindex bogus groups
20573 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
20574 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
20575 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
20578 @cindex activating groups
20579 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
20580 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
20581 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
20585 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
20587 @item select method
20588 @cindex select method
20589 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
20592 @item virtual server
20593 @cindex virtual server
20594 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
20595 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
20596 whole is a virtual server.
20600 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
20601 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
20604 @item ephemeral groups
20605 @cindex ephemeral groups
20606 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
20607 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
20608 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
20611 @cindex solid groups
20612 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
20613 group buffer are solid groups.
20615 @item sparse articles
20616 @cindex sparse articles
20617 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
20618 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
20622 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
20623 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
20627 @cindex thread root
20628 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
20629 articles in the thread.
20633 An article that has responses.
20637 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
20641 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
20642 specified by RFC 1153.
20648 @node Customization
20649 @section Customization
20650 @cindex general customization
20652 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
20653 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
20654 for some quite common situations.
20657 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
20658 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
20659 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
20660 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
20664 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
20665 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
20667 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
20668 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
20669 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
20673 @item gnus-read-active-file
20674 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
20675 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
20676 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
20677 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
20678 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
20680 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
20681 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
20682 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
20683 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
20687 @node Slow Terminal Connection
20688 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
20690 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
20691 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
20692 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
20696 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
20697 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
20698 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
20699 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
20700 horizontal and vertical recentering.
20702 @item gnus-visible-headers
20703 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
20704 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
20705 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
20706 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
20708 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
20710 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
20711 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
20712 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
20715 @item gnus-use-full-window
20716 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
20717 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
20718 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
20719 want to read them anyway.
20721 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
20722 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
20725 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
20726 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
20727 lines, which might save some time.
20731 @node Little Disk Space
20732 @subsection Little Disk Space
20735 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
20736 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
20740 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
20741 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
20742 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
20743 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
20746 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
20747 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
20748 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
20749 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
20752 @item gnus-save-killed-list
20753 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
20754 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
20755 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
20756 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
20762 @subsection Slow Machine
20763 @cindex slow machine
20765 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
20766 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
20768 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
20769 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
20771 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
20772 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
20773 summary buffer faster.
20777 @node Troubleshooting
20778 @section Troubleshooting
20779 @cindex troubleshooting
20781 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
20789 Make sure your computer is switched on.
20792 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
20793 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
20797 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
20798 like @samp{T-gnus 6.15.* (based on Oort Gnus v0.*; for SEMI 1.1*, FLIM
20799 1.1*)} you have the right files loaded. If, on the other hand, you get
20800 something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp flee}, you have some old
20801 @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
20804 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
20808 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
20809 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
20810 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
20811 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
20812 something like that.
20815 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
20818 @cindex reporting bugs
20820 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
20822 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
20823 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
20824 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
20825 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
20827 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
20828 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
20829 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
20830 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
20833 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
20834 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
20835 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
20836 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
20837 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
20838 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
20840 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
20841 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
20842 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
20845 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
20846 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
20848 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
20849 @cindex ding mailing list
20850 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
20851 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
20855 @node Gnus Reference Guide
20856 @section Gnus Reference Guide
20858 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
20859 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
20860 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
20861 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
20864 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
20865 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
20866 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
20867 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
20868 and general methods of operation.
20871 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
20872 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
20873 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
20874 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
20875 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
20876 * Group Info:: The group info format.
20877 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
20878 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
20879 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
20883 @node Gnus Utility Functions
20884 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
20885 @cindex Gnus utility functions
20886 @cindex utility functions
20888 @cindex internal variables
20890 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
20891 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
20892 Below is a list of the most common ones.
20896 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
20897 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
20898 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
20900 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
20901 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
20902 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
20904 @item gnus-group-real-name
20905 @findex gnus-group-real-name
20906 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
20909 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
20910 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
20911 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
20912 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
20914 @item gnus-get-info
20915 @findex gnus-get-info
20916 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
20918 @item gnus-group-unread
20919 @findex gnus-group-unread
20920 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
20924 @findex gnus-active
20925 The active entry for @var{group}.
20927 @item gnus-set-active
20928 @findex gnus-set-active
20929 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
20931 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
20932 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
20933 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
20936 @item gnus-continuum-version
20937 @findex gnus-continuum-version
20938 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
20939 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
20942 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
20943 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
20944 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
20946 @item gnus-news-group-p
20947 @findex gnus-news-group-p
20948 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
20950 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
20951 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
20952 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
20954 @item gnus-server-to-method
20955 @findex gnus-server-to-method
20956 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
20958 @item gnus-server-equal
20959 @findex gnus-server-equal
20960 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
20962 @item gnus-group-native-p
20963 @findex gnus-group-native-p
20964 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
20966 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
20967 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
20968 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
20970 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
20971 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
20972 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
20974 @item group-group-find-parameter
20975 @findex group-group-find-parameter
20976 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
20977 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
20979 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
20980 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
20981 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
20983 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
20984 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
20985 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
20987 @item gnus-check-backend-function
20988 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
20989 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
20990 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
20993 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
20997 @item gnus-read-method
20998 @findex gnus-read-method
20999 Prompts the user for a select method.
21004 @node Backend Interface
21005 @subsection Backend Interface
21007 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
21008 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
21009 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
21010 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
21011 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
21012 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
21014 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
21015 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
21016 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
21017 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
21018 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
21019 been opened, the function should fail.
21021 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
21022 name. Take this example:
21026 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
21027 (nntp-port-number 4324))
21030 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
21031 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
21033 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
21034 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
21035 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
21037 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
21038 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
21039 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
21041 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
21042 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
21043 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
21044 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
21045 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
21046 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
21049 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
21050 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
21051 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
21052 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
21055 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
21058 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
21061 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
21062 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
21063 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
21064 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
21065 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
21066 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
21070 @node Required Backend Functions
21071 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
21075 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
21077 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
21078 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
21079 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
21080 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
21082 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
21083 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
21084 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
21085 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
21087 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
21088 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
21089 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
21090 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
21091 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
21092 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
21093 number, do maximum fetches.
21095 Here's an example HEAD:
21098 221 1056 Article retrieved.
21099 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
21100 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
21101 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
21102 Subject: Re: Something very droll
21103 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
21104 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
21106 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
21107 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
21108 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
21112 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
21113 these in the data buffer.
21115 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
21119 head = error / valid-head
21120 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
21121 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
21122 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
21123 header = <text> eol
21126 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
21127 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
21131 nov-buffer = *nov-line
21132 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
21133 field = <text except TAB>
21136 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
21140 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
21142 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
21143 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
21145 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
21146 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
21147 server. In fact, it should do so.
21149 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
21150 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
21153 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
21155 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
21156 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
21159 There should be no data returned.
21162 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
21164 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
21165 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
21166 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
21167 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
21169 There should be no data returned.
21172 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
21174 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
21175 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
21176 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
21177 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
21179 There should be no data returned.
21182 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
21184 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
21186 There should be no data returned.
21189 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
21191 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
21192 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
21193 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
21194 it would be nice if that were possible.
21196 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
21197 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
21198 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
21199 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
21200 into its article buffer.
21202 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
21203 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
21204 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
21205 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
21206 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
21207 on successful article retrieval.
21210 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
21212 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
21213 making @var{group} the current group.
21215 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
21218 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
21221 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
21224 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
21225 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
21226 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
21227 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
21228 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
21229 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
21230 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
21231 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
21234 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
21235 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
21236 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
21240 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
21242 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
21243 a no-op on most backends.
21245 There should be no data returned.
21248 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
21250 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
21253 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
21256 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
21257 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
21260 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
21261 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
21264 active-file = *active-line
21265 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
21267 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
21270 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
21271 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
21272 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
21275 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
21277 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
21278 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
21279 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
21280 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
21281 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
21282 clear if the posting could not be completed.
21284 There should be no result data from this function.
21289 @node Optional Backend Functions
21290 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
21294 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
21296 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
21297 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
21298 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
21300 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
21301 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
21302 former is in the same format as the data from
21303 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
21304 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
21307 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
21311 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
21313 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
21314 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
21315 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
21316 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
21317 should return the (altered) group info.
21319 There should be no result data from this function.
21322 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
21324 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
21325 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
21326 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
21327 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
21328 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
21329 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
21330 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
21331 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
21333 There should be no result data from this function.
21336 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
21338 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
21339 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
21340 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some backends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
21341 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
21342 propagate the mark information to the server.
21344 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
21347 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
21350 RANGE is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. ACTION is
21351 @code{set}, @code{add} or @code{del}, respectively used for removing all
21352 existing marks and setting them as specified, adding (preserving the
21353 marks not mentioned) mark and removing (preserving the marks not
21354 mentioned) marks. MARK is a list of marks; where each mark is a symbol.
21355 Currently used marks are @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply},
21356 @code{expire}, @code{killed}, @code{dormant}, @code{save},
21357 @code{download} and @code{unsend}, but your backend should, if possible,
21358 not limit itself to these.
21360 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
21361 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
21362 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
21363 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
21365 An example action list:
21368 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
21369 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
21370 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
21373 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
21374 mark on (currently not used for anything).
21376 There should be no result data from this function.
21378 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
21380 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
21381 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
21382 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
21383 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
21384 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
21386 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
21387 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
21388 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
21391 There should be no result data from this function.
21394 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
21396 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
21397 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
21398 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
21399 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
21400 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
21401 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
21402 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
21404 There should be no result data from this function.
21407 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
21409 The result data from this function should be a description of
21413 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
21415 description = <text>
21418 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
21420 The result data from this function should be the description of all
21421 groups available on the server.
21424 description-buffer = *description-line
21428 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
21430 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
21431 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
21432 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
21435 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
21437 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
21439 There should be no return data.
21442 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
21444 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
21445 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
21446 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
21447 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
21448 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
21451 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
21454 There should be no result data returned.
21457 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
21460 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
21461 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
21463 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
21464 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
21465 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
21466 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
21467 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
21468 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
21470 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
21471 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
21474 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
21475 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
21477 There should be no data returned.
21480 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
21482 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
21483 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
21484 this function in short order.
21486 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
21487 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
21489 There should be no data returned.
21492 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
21494 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
21495 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
21497 There should be no data returned.
21500 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
21502 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
21503 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
21504 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
21506 There should be no data returned.
21509 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
21511 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
21512 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
21514 There should be no data returned.
21519 @node Error Messaging
21520 @subsubsection Error Messaging
21522 @findex nnheader-report
21523 @findex nnheader-get-report
21524 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
21525 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
21526 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
21527 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
21528 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
21529 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
21532 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
21534 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
21537 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
21538 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
21539 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
21540 takes one argument---the server symbol.
21542 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
21543 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
21544 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
21547 @node Writing New Backends
21548 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
21550 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
21551 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
21552 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
21553 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
21554 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
21557 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
21558 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
21559 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
21561 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
21562 package called @code{nnoo}.
21564 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
21565 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
21571 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
21572 parameters. For instance:
21575 (nnoo-declare nndir
21579 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
21580 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
21583 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
21584 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
21585 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
21587 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
21588 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
21589 a function in those backends.
21592 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
21593 "Where nndir will look for groups."
21594 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
21597 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
21598 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
21599 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
21601 @item nnoo-define-basics
21602 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
21606 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
21610 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
21611 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
21612 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
21614 @item nnoo-map-functions
21615 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
21616 functions from the parent backends.
21619 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
21620 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
21621 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
21624 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
21625 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
21626 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
21627 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
21630 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
21631 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
21632 haven't already been defined.
21638 nnmh-request-newgroups)
21642 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
21643 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
21644 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
21649 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
21652 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
21653 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
21657 (require 'nnheader)
21661 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
21663 (nnoo-declare nndir
21666 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
21667 "Where nndir will look for groups."
21668 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
21670 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
21671 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
21674 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
21675 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
21676 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
21678 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
21679 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
21681 ;;; Interface functions.
21683 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
21685 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
21686 (setq nndir-directory
21687 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
21689 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
21690 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
21691 (push `(nndir-current-group
21692 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
21694 (push `(nndir-top-directory
21695 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
21697 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
21699 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
21700 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
21701 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
21702 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
21703 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
21707 nnmh-status-message
21709 nnmh-request-newgroups))
21715 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
21716 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
21718 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
21719 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
21720 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
21721 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
21723 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
21724 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
21729 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
21732 The abilities can be:
21736 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
21738 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
21740 This backend supports both mail and news.
21742 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
21745 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
21746 articles and groups.
21748 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
21749 true for almost all backends.
21750 @item prompt-address
21751 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
21752 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
21753 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
21757 @node Mail-like Backends
21758 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
21760 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
21761 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
21762 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
21763 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
21766 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
21767 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
21768 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
21771 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
21772 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
21775 This function takes four parameters.
21779 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
21782 @item exit-function
21783 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
21785 @item temp-directory
21786 Where the temporary files should be stored.
21789 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
21790 performed for one group only.
21793 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
21794 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
21795 find the article number assigned to this article.
21797 The function also uses the following variables:
21798 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
21799 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
21800 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
21801 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
21805 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
21806 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
21810 @node Score File Syntax
21811 @subsection Score File Syntax
21813 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
21814 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
21815 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
21817 Here's a typical score file:
21821 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
21828 BNF definition of a score file:
21831 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
21832 element = rule / atom
21833 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
21834 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
21835 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
21836 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
21838 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
21839 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
21840 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
21841 date-header = "date"
21842 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
21843 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
21844 score = "nil" / <integer>
21845 date = "nil" / <natural number>
21846 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
21847 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
21848 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
21849 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
21850 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
21851 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
21852 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
21853 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
21854 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
21855 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
21856 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
21857 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
21858 exclude-files / read-only / touched
21859 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
21860 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
21861 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
21862 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
21863 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
21864 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
21865 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
21866 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
21867 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
21868 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
21869 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
21870 eval = "eval" space <form>
21871 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
21874 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
21877 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
21878 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
21879 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
21880 one looong line, then that's ok.
21882 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
21883 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
21887 @subsection Headers
21889 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
21890 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
21891 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
21892 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
21894 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
21895 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
21896 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
21897 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
21898 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
21899 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
21900 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
21902 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
21903 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
21904 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
21905 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
21906 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
21908 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
21909 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
21915 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
21916 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
21918 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
21919 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
21920 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
21921 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
21923 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
21927 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
21930 is transformed into
21933 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
21936 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
21937 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
21940 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
21943 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
21944 is slightly tricky:
21947 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
21953 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
21956 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
21962 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
21969 and is equal to the previous range.
21971 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
21972 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
21973 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
21977 range = simple-range / normal-range
21978 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
21979 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
21980 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
21981 number *[ " " contents ]
21984 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
21985 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
21986 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
21987 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
21988 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
21993 @subsection Group Info
21995 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
21996 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
21997 describes the group.
21999 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
22000 second is a more complex one:
22003 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
22005 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
22006 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
22008 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
22011 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
22012 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
22013 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
22014 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
22015 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
22016 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
22017 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
22018 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
22019 this section is about.
22021 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
22022 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
22023 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
22025 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
22028 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
22029 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
22030 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
22031 group = quote <string> quote
22032 ralevel = rank / level
22033 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
22034 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
22035 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
22037 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
22038 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
22039 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
22040 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
22043 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
22044 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
22047 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
22048 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
22051 @item gnus-info-group
22052 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
22053 @findex gnus-info-group
22054 @findex gnus-info-set-group
22055 Get/set the group name.
22057 @item gnus-info-rank
22058 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
22059 @findex gnus-info-rank
22060 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
22061 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
22063 @item gnus-info-level
22064 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
22065 @findex gnus-info-level
22066 @findex gnus-info-set-level
22067 Get/set the group level.
22069 @item gnus-info-score
22070 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
22071 @findex gnus-info-score
22072 @findex gnus-info-set-score
22073 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
22075 @item gnus-info-read
22076 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
22077 @findex gnus-info-read
22078 @findex gnus-info-set-read
22079 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
22081 @item gnus-info-marks
22082 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
22083 @findex gnus-info-marks
22084 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
22085 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
22087 @item gnus-info-method
22088 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
22089 @findex gnus-info-method
22090 @findex gnus-info-set-method
22091 Get/set the group select method.
22093 @item gnus-info-params
22094 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
22095 @findex gnus-info-params
22096 @findex gnus-info-set-params
22097 Get/set the group parameters.
22100 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
22101 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
22103 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
22104 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
22105 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
22106 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
22109 @node Extended Interactive
22110 @subsection Extended Interactive
22111 @cindex interactive
22112 @findex gnus-interactive
22114 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
22115 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
22116 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
22119 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
22120 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
22125 The best thing to do would have been to implement
22126 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
22127 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
22128 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
22129 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
22130 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
22131 @code{interactive}.
22133 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
22138 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
22139 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
22143 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
22144 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
22145 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
22148 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
22152 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
22156 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
22162 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
22163 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
22167 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
22168 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
22169 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
22171 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
22172 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
22173 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
22174 Gnus, that's very useful.
22176 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
22177 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
22178 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
22179 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
22180 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
22181 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
22182 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
22183 following function:
22186 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
22190 (,function ,@@args))
22194 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
22195 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
22196 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
22199 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
22200 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
22201 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
22203 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
22204 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
22205 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
22208 @node Various File Formats
22209 @subsection Various File Formats
22212 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
22213 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
22217 @node Active File Format
22218 @subsubsection Active File Format
22220 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
22221 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
22224 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
22227 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
22228 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
22229 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
22230 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
22231 no.general 1000 900 y
22234 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
22237 active = *group-line
22238 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
22239 group = <non-white-space string>
22241 high-number = <non-negative integer>
22242 low-number = <positive integer>
22243 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
22246 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
22247 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
22250 @node Newsgroups File Format
22251 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
22253 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
22254 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
22255 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
22258 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
22259 Here's the definition:
22263 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
22264 group = <non-white-space string>
22266 description = <string>
22271 @node Emacs for Heathens
22272 @section Emacs for Heathens
22274 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
22275 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
22276 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
22277 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
22278 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
22279 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
22280 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
22284 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
22285 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
22290 @subsection Keystrokes
22294 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
22297 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
22300 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
22301 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
22302 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
22303 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
22304 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
22305 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
22307 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
22308 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
22309 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
22310 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
22311 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
22312 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
22313 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
22315 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
22316 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
22317 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
22318 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
22319 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
22320 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
22321 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
22323 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
22324 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
22325 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
22326 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
22327 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
22333 @subsection Emacs Lisp
22335 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
22336 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
22337 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
22338 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
22340 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
22341 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
22342 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
22343 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
22344 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
22345 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
22346 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
22349 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
22350 write the following:
22353 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
22356 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
22357 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
22358 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
22361 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
22362 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
22363 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
22364 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
22365 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
22367 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
22368 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
22369 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
22373 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
22377 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
22380 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
22381 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
22384 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
22387 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
22388 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
22391 @include gnus-faq.texi
22412 % LocalWords: Backend BNF mucho Backends backends detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
22413 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
22414 % LocalWords: nnmbox backend newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
22415 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
22416 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref