4 @settitle T-gnus 6.15 Manual
10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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282 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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291 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
292 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
295 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
296 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
297 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
298 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
299 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
300 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
301 License'' in the Emacs manual.
303 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
304 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
305 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
307 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
308 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
309 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
310 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
318 This file documents gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
320 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
321 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
323 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
324 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
325 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
326 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
327 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
328 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
329 License'' in the Emacs manual.
331 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
332 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
333 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
335 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
336 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
337 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
338 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
344 @title T-gnus 6.15 Manual
346 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
349 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
350 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
351 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
353 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
354 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
355 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
356 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
357 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
358 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
359 License'' in the Emacs manual.
361 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
362 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
363 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
365 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
366 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
367 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
368 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
377 @top The gnus Newsreader
381 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using gnus. The news
382 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
383 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
386 T-gnus provides @sc{mime} features based on @sc{semi} API. So T-gnus
387 supports your right to read strange messages including big images or
388 other various kinds of formats. T-gnus also supports
389 internationalization/localization and multiscript features based on MULE
390 API. So T-gnus does not discriminate various language communities.
391 Oh, if you are a Klingon, please wait Unicode Next Generation.
393 This manual corresponds to T-gnus 6.15.
404 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
405 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
407 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
408 being accused of plagiarism:
410 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
411 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
412 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
413 can even read news with it!
415 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
416 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
417 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend gnus to make it behave
418 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
419 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
425 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
426 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
427 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
428 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
429 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
430 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
431 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
432 * Various:: General purpose settings.
433 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
434 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
435 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
436 * Key Index:: Key Index.
439 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
443 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
444 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
445 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
446 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
447 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
448 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
449 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
450 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
451 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
452 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
453 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
457 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
458 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
459 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
463 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
464 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
465 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
466 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
467 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
468 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
469 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
470 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
471 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
472 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
473 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
474 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
475 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
476 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
477 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
478 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
479 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
483 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
484 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
485 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
489 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
490 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
491 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
492 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
493 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
497 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
498 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
499 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
500 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
501 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
505 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
506 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
507 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
508 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
509 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
510 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
511 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
512 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
513 * Threading:: How threads are made.
514 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
515 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
516 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
517 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
518 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
519 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
520 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
521 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
522 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
523 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
524 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
525 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
526 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
527 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
528 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
529 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
530 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
531 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
532 or reselecting the current group.
533 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
534 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
535 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
536 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
538 Summary Buffer Format
540 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
541 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
542 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
543 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
547 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
548 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
550 Reply, Followup and Post
552 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
553 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
554 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
555 * Canceling and Superseding::
559 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
560 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
561 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
563 * Generic Marking Commands::
564 * Setting Process Marks::
568 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
569 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
570 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
574 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
575 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
577 Customizing Threading
579 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
580 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
581 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
582 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
586 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
587 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
588 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
589 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
590 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
591 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
595 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
596 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
597 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
601 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
602 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
603 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
604 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
605 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
606 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
607 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
608 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
609 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
610 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
612 Alternative Approaches
614 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
615 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
617 Various Summary Stuff
619 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
620 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
621 * Summary Generation Commands::
622 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
626 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
627 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
628 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
629 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
630 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
634 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
635 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
636 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
637 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
638 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
639 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
640 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
641 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
645 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
646 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
647 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
648 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
649 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
650 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
651 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
652 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
656 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
657 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
658 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
659 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
660 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
661 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
662 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
666 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
667 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
671 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
672 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
673 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
677 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
678 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
679 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
680 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
681 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
682 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
683 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
684 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
685 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
686 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
687 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
688 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
689 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
693 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
694 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
695 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
697 Choosing a Mail Back End
699 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
700 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
701 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
702 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
703 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
704 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
709 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
710 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
711 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
712 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
713 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
714 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
718 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
719 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
720 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
721 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
722 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
726 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
727 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
728 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
729 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
730 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
734 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
738 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
739 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
740 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
744 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
745 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
749 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
750 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
751 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
752 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
753 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
754 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
755 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
756 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
757 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
758 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
759 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
763 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
764 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
765 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
769 * Group Agent Commands::
770 * Summary Agent Commands::
771 * Server Agent Commands::
775 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
776 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
777 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
778 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
779 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
780 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
781 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
782 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
783 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
784 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
785 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
786 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
787 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
788 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
789 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
790 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
791 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
795 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
796 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
797 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
798 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
802 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
803 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
804 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
808 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
809 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
810 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
811 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
812 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
813 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
814 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
815 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
816 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
817 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
818 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
819 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
820 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
821 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
822 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
823 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
824 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
825 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
826 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
830 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
831 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
832 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
833 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
834 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
835 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
836 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
837 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
841 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
842 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
843 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
844 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
845 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
849 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
850 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
851 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
852 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
853 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
857 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
858 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
859 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
860 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
861 * Filtering Spam Using spam.el::
862 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics (spam-stat.el)::
866 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
867 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
868 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
869 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
870 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
871 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
872 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
873 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
874 * Frequently Asked Questions::
878 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
879 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
880 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
881 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
882 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
883 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
884 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
885 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
886 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
890 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
891 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
892 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
893 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
894 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
898 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
899 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
900 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
901 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
905 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
906 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
907 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
908 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
909 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
910 * Group Info:: The group info format.
911 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
912 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
913 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
917 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
918 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
919 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
920 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
921 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
922 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
926 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
927 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
931 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
932 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
938 @chapter Starting gnus
943 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting gnus
944 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
947 @findex gnus-other-frame
948 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
949 If you want to start gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
950 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
952 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
953 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
954 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
956 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
957 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
960 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
961 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
962 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
963 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
964 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
965 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
966 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
967 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
968 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
969 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
970 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
974 @node Finding the News
975 @section Finding the News
978 @vindex gnus-select-method
980 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where gnus should look for
981 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
982 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
983 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
986 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
987 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
990 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
993 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
996 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
999 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
1000 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
1001 server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1003 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1005 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
1006 If this variable is not set, gnus will take a look at the
1007 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1008 gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1009 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
1010 that fails as well, gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
1012 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1013 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1014 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1015 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1017 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1018 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1019 You can also make gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1020 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1021 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), gnus will let you choose between the servers
1022 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1023 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1024 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1025 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1028 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1030 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
1031 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1032 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1033 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1034 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1035 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1037 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1039 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1040 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1041 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1042 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1043 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1044 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1047 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1048 you would typically set this variable to
1051 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1055 @node The First Time
1056 @section The First Time
1057 @cindex first time usage
1059 If no startup files exist, gnus will try to determine what groups should
1060 be subscribed by default.
1062 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1063 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, gnus
1064 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1065 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1068 Since she hasn't, gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1069 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1070 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1072 You'll also be subscribed to the gnus documentation group, which should
1073 help you with most common problems.
1075 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, gnus will just
1076 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1080 @node The Server is Down
1081 @section The Server is Down
1082 @cindex server errors
1084 If the default server is down, gnus will understandably have some
1085 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1086 the news groups, you may want to start gnus anyway.
1088 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1089 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1090 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1091 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1092 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1093 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1094 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1096 @findex gnus-no-server
1097 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1099 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1100 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1101 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start gnus. That might come in handy
1102 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1103 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1104 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1105 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1109 @section Slave Gnusae
1112 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one gnus at the
1113 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1114 are using the two different gnusae to read from two different servers),
1115 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1117 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1118 @code{.newsrc} file.
1120 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the gnus
1121 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1122 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1123 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1124 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1125 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1126 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1128 Anyway, you start one gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1129 however you do it). Each subsequent slave gnusae should be started with
1130 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1131 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1132 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master gnus
1133 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1134 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1135 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1137 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1138 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
1140 If the @code{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1141 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1142 file. If you answer "yes", the unsaved changes to the master will be
1143 incorporated into the slave. If you answer "no", the slave may see some
1144 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1146 @node Fetching a Group
1147 @section Fetching a Group
1148 @cindex fetching a group
1150 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1151 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1152 group and I don't care whether gnus has been started or not''. This is
1153 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1154 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1155 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1161 @cindex subscription
1163 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1164 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1165 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1166 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1167 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1168 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1169 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1170 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1171 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1174 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1175 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1176 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1180 @node Checking New Groups
1181 @subsection Checking New Groups
1183 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1184 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1185 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1186 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, gnus will ask the
1187 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1188 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1189 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1190 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1191 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1192 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1194 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1195 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1196 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1197 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1198 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1199 work. I could write a function to make gnus guess whether the server
1200 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1201 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1202 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1203 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1204 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1206 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, gnus will
1207 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1208 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1209 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1210 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1211 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1214 @node Subscription Methods
1215 @subsection Subscription Methods
1217 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1218 What gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1219 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1221 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1222 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1224 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1228 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1229 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1230 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1231 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1232 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1234 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1235 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1236 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1237 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1239 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1240 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1241 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1243 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1244 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1245 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1246 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1247 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1248 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1249 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1250 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1251 up. Or something like that.
1253 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1254 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1255 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that gnus will ask
1256 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1257 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1259 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1260 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1261 Kill all new groups.
1263 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1264 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1265 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1266 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1267 topic parameter that looks like
1273 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1276 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1281 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1282 A closely related variable is
1283 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1284 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will ask you in a
1285 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1286 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1289 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1290 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1291 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1292 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1295 @node Filtering New Groups
1296 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1298 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1299 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1300 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1303 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1306 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1307 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1308 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1309 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1310 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1311 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1312 subscribing these groups.
1313 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1314 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1316 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1317 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1318 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1319 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1320 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1321 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1322 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1323 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1325 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1326 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1327 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1328 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1329 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1330 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1331 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1332 that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1333 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1334 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1337 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1338 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1341 @node Changing Servers
1342 @section Changing Servers
1343 @cindex changing servers
1345 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1346 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1347 very flaky and you want to use another.
1349 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1350 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1354 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1355 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1356 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1357 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1360 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1361 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1362 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1363 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1365 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1366 @findex gnus-change-server
1367 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1368 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1369 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1370 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1371 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1373 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1374 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1375 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1376 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1377 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1379 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1380 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1381 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1382 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1383 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1384 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1386 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1387 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1388 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1389 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1391 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1392 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1393 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1394 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1395 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1396 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1397 cache for all groups).
1401 @section Startup Files
1402 @cindex startup files
1407 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1408 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1410 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1411 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1412 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1413 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1414 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1415 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1416 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1418 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1419 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1420 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1421 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1422 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1423 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1425 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1426 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1427 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1428 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1429 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from gnus faster.
1430 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1431 gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1432 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes gnus ignore the
1433 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1434 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1436 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1437 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1438 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1439 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1440 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1441 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1442 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1443 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1444 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1445 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1446 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1447 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1449 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1450 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1451 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1452 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1454 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1455 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1456 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1457 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1458 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1459 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1460 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1461 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1462 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1463 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1466 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1467 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1469 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1470 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1473 @vindex gnus-init-file
1474 When gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1475 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1476 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1477 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1478 @file{site-init} files with gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1479 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1480 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1481 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1482 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1488 @cindex dribble file
1491 Whenever you do something that changes the gnus data (reading articles,
1492 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1493 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1494 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1495 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1498 If gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1499 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1502 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1503 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, gnus won't create and
1504 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1506 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1507 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1508 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, gnus will dribble
1509 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1510 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1511 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
1513 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1514 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1515 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1518 @node The Active File
1519 @section The Active File
1521 @cindex ignored groups
1523 When gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1524 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1525 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1527 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1528 Before examining the active file, gnus deletes all lines that match the
1529 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1530 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make gnus
1531 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1532 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1533 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1536 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1537 @c if you set it to anything else.
1539 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1541 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1542 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent gnus from
1543 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1545 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1546 you actually subscribe to.
1548 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1549 variable to @code{nil} will probably make gnus slower, not faster. At
1550 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow gnus down
1551 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1553 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1554 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1555 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1556 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1557 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1558 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1560 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1561 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1562 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1565 If this variable is @code{nil}, gnus will ask for group info in total
1566 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1567 @sc{nntp} server, gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1568 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1569 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1570 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1572 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1573 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1575 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1576 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1578 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1579 secondary select methods.
1582 @node Startup Variables
1583 @section Startup Variables
1587 @item gnus-load-hook
1588 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1589 A hook run while gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1590 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1591 times you start gnus.
1593 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1594 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1595 A hook run after starting up gnus successfully.
1597 @item gnus-startup-hook
1598 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1599 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1601 @item gnus-started-hook
1602 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1603 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up gnus
1606 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1607 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1608 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1609 generating the group buffer.
1611 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1612 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1613 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1614 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1615 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1616 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1617 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1618 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1620 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1621 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1622 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1623 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1624 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1625 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1627 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1628 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1629 Message displayed by gnus when no groups are available.
1631 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1632 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1633 If non-@code{nil}, play the gnus jingle at startup.
1635 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1636 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1637 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1638 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1644 @chapter Group Buffer
1645 @cindex group buffer
1647 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1649 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1650 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1651 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1652 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1653 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1654 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1655 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1656 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1657 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1658 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1659 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1660 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1661 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1662 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1663 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1664 @c human rights at 9...
1667 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1668 is the first buffer shown when gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1669 long as gnus is active.
1673 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1674 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1675 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1676 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1677 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1678 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1679 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1680 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1686 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1687 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1688 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1689 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1690 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1691 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1692 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1693 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1694 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1695 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1696 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1697 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1698 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1699 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1700 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1701 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1702 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1706 @node Group Buffer Format
1707 @section Group Buffer Format
1710 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1711 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1712 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1716 @node Group Line Specification
1717 @subsection Group Line Specification
1718 @cindex group buffer format
1720 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1721 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1723 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1726 25: news.announce.newusers
1727 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1732 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1733 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1734 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1735 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1737 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1738 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1739 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1740 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1741 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1742 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1744 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1746 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1747 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1748 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1749 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1750 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1752 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1753 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1754 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1756 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1761 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1764 Whether the group is subscribed.
1767 Level of subscribedness.
1770 Number of unread articles.
1773 Number of dormant articles.
1776 Number of ticked articles.
1779 Number of read articles.
1782 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1783 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1785 Gnus uses this estimation because the @sc{nntp} protocol provides
1786 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1787 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1788 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1789 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1790 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1791 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1792 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1795 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1798 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1807 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1808 comment element in the group parameters.
1811 Newsgroup description.
1814 @samp{m} if moderated.
1817 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1826 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1830 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1833 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1834 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1835 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1836 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1837 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1840 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1842 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1846 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1849 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1853 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1854 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1855 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1856 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1857 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1858 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1863 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1864 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1865 group, or a bogus native group.
1868 @node Group Modeline Specification
1869 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1870 @cindex group modeline
1872 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1873 The mode line can be changed by setting
1874 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1875 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1879 The native news server.
1881 The native select method.
1885 @node Group Highlighting
1886 @subsection Group Highlighting
1887 @cindex highlighting
1888 @cindex group highlighting
1890 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1891 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1892 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1893 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1894 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1896 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1900 (cond (window-system
1901 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1902 (defface my-group-face-1
1903 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1904 (defface my-group-face-2
1905 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1906 (defface my-group-face-3
1907 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1908 (defface my-group-face-4
1909 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1910 (defface my-group-face-5
1911 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1913 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1914 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1915 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1916 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1917 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1918 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1921 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1923 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1930 The number of unread articles in the group.
1934 Whether the group is a mail group.
1936 The level of the group.
1938 The score of the group.
1940 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1942 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1943 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1945 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1946 topic being inserted.
1949 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1950 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal gnus
1951 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1953 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1954 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1955 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1956 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1957 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1960 @node Group Maneuvering
1961 @section Group Maneuvering
1962 @cindex group movement
1964 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1965 expected, hopefully.
1971 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1972 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1973 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1979 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1980 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1981 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1985 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1986 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1990 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1991 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1995 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1996 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1997 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2001 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2002 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2003 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2006 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2012 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2013 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2014 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2019 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2020 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2021 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2025 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2026 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2027 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2030 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2031 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2032 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2033 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2037 @node Selecting a Group
2038 @section Selecting a Group
2039 @cindex group selection
2044 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2045 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2046 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2047 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2048 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2049 this command, gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2050 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
2051 determines the number of articles gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
2052 positive, gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
2053 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
2055 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2056 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2057 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2059 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2060 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2065 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2066 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2067 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2068 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2069 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2073 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2074 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2075 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2076 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2077 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2078 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2079 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2080 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2081 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2082 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2085 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2086 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2087 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2088 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2089 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2092 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2093 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2094 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2095 doing any processing of its contents
2096 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2097 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2098 manner will have no permanent effects.
2102 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2103 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what gnus should consider
2104 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
2105 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, gnus will query the user
2106 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2107 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2108 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2109 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2112 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2113 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2114 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2115 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2116 Which article this is is controlled by the
2117 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2123 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2126 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2129 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2131 @item unseen-or-unread
2132 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2133 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2137 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2141 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2142 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2144 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2145 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2146 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2147 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2151 @node Subscription Commands
2152 @section Subscription Commands
2153 @cindex subscription
2161 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2162 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2163 Toggle subscription to the current group
2164 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2170 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2171 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2172 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2173 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2179 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2180 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2181 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2187 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2188 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2191 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2192 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2193 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2194 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2195 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2201 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2202 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2206 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2207 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2210 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2211 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2212 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2213 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2214 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2215 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2216 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2217 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2218 @file{.newsrc} file.
2222 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2232 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2233 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2234 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2235 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2236 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2237 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2242 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2243 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2244 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2248 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2249 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2250 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2252 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2253 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2254 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2255 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2256 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2257 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2264 @section Group Levels
2268 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2269 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2270 can ask gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2271 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2272 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2274 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2280 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2281 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2282 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2283 prompted for a level.
2286 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2287 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2288 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2289 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2290 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2291 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2292 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2293 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2294 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2295 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2296 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2297 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2298 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2299 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2300 reasons of efficiency.
2302 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2303 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2305 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2306 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2307 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2308 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2309 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2310 groups are hidden, in a way.
2312 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2313 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2314 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2315 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2316 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2317 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2319 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2320 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2321 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2322 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2323 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2324 list of killed groups.)
2326 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2327 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2328 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2330 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2331 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2332 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2333 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2334 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2335 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2336 relevant valid ranges.
2338 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2339 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2340 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2341 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2342 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2343 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2346 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2347 one with the best level.
2349 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2350 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2351 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2354 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2355 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2356 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2357 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2360 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2361 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2362 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2363 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2365 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2366 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2367 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2368 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2369 to 5. The default is 6.
2373 @section Group Score
2378 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2379 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2380 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2383 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2384 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2385 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2386 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2387 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2388 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2389 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2390 least significant part.))
2392 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2393 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2394 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2395 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2396 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2397 action after each summary exit, you can add
2398 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2399 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2400 slow things down somewhat.
2403 @node Marking Groups
2404 @section Marking Groups
2405 @cindex marking groups
2407 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2408 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2409 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2410 bidding on those groups.
2412 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2413 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2414 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2422 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2423 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2429 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2430 Remove the mark from the current group
2431 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2435 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2436 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2440 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2441 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2445 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2446 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2450 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2451 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2452 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2455 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2457 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2458 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2459 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2460 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2461 the command to be executed.
2464 @node Foreign Groups
2465 @section Foreign Groups
2466 @cindex foreign groups
2468 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2469 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2470 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2471 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2478 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2479 @cindex making groups
2480 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2481 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2482 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2486 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2487 @cindex renaming groups
2488 Rename the current group to something else
2489 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2490 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2496 @findex gnus-group-customize
2497 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2501 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2502 @cindex renaming groups
2503 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2504 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2508 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2509 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2510 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2514 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2515 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2516 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2520 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2522 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2523 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2528 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2529 Make the gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2533 @cindex (ding) archive
2534 @cindex archive group
2535 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2536 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2537 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2538 Make a gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2539 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2540 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2541 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2545 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2547 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2548 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2549 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2550 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2554 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2556 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2557 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2558 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2562 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2563 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2565 Make a group based on some file or other
2566 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2567 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2568 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2569 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2570 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2571 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2572 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2573 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2574 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2578 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2579 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2580 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2581 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2585 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2589 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2590 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2591 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2592 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2593 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2594 @xref{Web Searches}.
2596 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2597 to a particular group by using a match string like
2598 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2601 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2602 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2603 This function will delete the current group
2604 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2605 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2606 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2607 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2608 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2612 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2613 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2614 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2618 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2619 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2620 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2623 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2626 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2627 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2628 gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2629 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2630 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2631 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2635 @node Group Parameters
2636 @section Group Parameters
2637 @cindex group parameters
2639 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2640 Here's an example group parameter list:
2643 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2647 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2648 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2649 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2650 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2652 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2653 is an alist of regexps and values.
2655 The following group parameters can be used:
2660 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2663 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2666 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2667 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2668 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2669 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2670 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2672 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2673 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2674 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2675 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2676 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2677 list address instead.
2679 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2683 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2686 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2689 It is totally ignored
2690 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2691 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2693 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2694 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2695 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2696 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2697 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2699 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2700 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2701 sending the message.
2703 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2704 @cindex Mail List Groups
2705 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2706 entering summary buffer.
2708 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2713 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2714 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2715 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2716 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2717 headers for your posts to these lists. Look here @pxref{(message)Mailing
2718 Lists} for a complete treatment of available MFT support.
2720 See also @code{gnus-find-subscribed-addresses}, the function that
2721 directly uses this group parameter.
2725 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2726 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2727 of whether it has any unread articles.
2729 @item broken-reply-to
2730 @cindex broken-reply-to
2731 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2732 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2733 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2734 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2735 broken behavior. So there!
2739 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2740 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2744 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, gnus
2745 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2746 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2751 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2752 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2753 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2754 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2755 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2756 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2757 (@pxref{Archived Messages}). CAVEAT:: It yields an error putting
2758 @code{(gcc-self . t)} in groups of a @code{nntp} server or so, because
2759 a @code{nntp} server doesn't accept artciles.
2763 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2764 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2765 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2767 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2770 @cindex total-expire
2771 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2772 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2773 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2774 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2777 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2781 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2782 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2783 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2784 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2785 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2786 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2787 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2790 @cindex score file group parameter
2791 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2792 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2793 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2796 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2797 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2798 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2799 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2802 @cindex admin-address
2803 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2804 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2805 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2806 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2810 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2811 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2815 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2818 Display the last INTEGER articles in the group. This is the same as
2819 entering the group with C-u INTEGER.
2822 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2826 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2828 Here are some examples:
2832 Display only unread articles.
2835 Display everything except expirable articles.
2837 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2838 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2842 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2843 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2844 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2845 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2846 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
2850 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2851 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2852 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2856 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2857 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
2858 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
2862 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2863 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2864 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2866 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2868 @item ignored-charsets
2869 @cindex ignored-charset
2870 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2871 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2872 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2874 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2877 @cindex posting-style
2878 You can store additional posting style information for this group only
2879 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2880 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2881 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2882 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2884 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2885 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2886 like this in the group parameters:
2891 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2896 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2897 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2901 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2902 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2903 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2904 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2905 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2909 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
2910 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
2911 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
2912 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
2914 For example, if the INBOX.list.sieve group has the @code{(sieve
2915 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
2916 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
2917 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
2920 if address \"sender\" \"sieve-admin@@extundo.com\" @{
2921 fileinto \"INBOX.list.sieve\";
2925 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, , Top, sieve,
2928 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2929 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2930 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2931 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2932 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2933 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2934 @code{eval}ed there.
2936 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
2937 A use for this feature, is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
2938 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
2939 @samp{nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps} has the tag
2940 @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this tag can be
2941 removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for the group by
2942 putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")} into the group
2943 parameters for the group.
2946 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2947 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2948 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2949 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2950 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2954 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2955 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2956 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2957 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2958 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2960 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
2961 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
2965 (setq gnus-parameters
2967 (gnus-show-threads nil)
2968 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
2969 (gnus-summary-line-format
2970 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
2974 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
2978 (gnus-use-scoring t))
2982 (broken-reply-to . t))))
2985 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
2986 the @code{to-group} example shows.
2989 @node Listing Groups
2990 @section Listing Groups
2991 @cindex group listing
2993 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3001 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3002 List all groups that have unread articles
3003 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3004 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3005 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
3006 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3013 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3014 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3015 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3016 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3017 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3018 unsubscribed groups).
3022 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3023 List all unread groups on a specific level
3024 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3025 with no unread articles.
3029 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3030 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3031 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3032 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3037 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3038 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3042 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3043 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3044 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3048 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3049 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3053 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3054 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3055 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3056 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3057 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3058 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3059 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3060 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3064 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3065 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3066 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3070 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3071 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3072 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3076 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3077 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3081 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3082 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3086 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3087 List groups limited within the current selection
3088 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3092 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3093 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3097 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3098 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3102 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3103 @cindex visible group parameter
3104 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3105 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3106 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3107 get the same effect.
3109 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3110 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3111 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3112 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3113 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3116 @node Sorting Groups
3117 @section Sorting Groups
3118 @cindex sorting groups
3120 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3121 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3122 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3123 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3124 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3125 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3130 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3131 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3132 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3134 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3135 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3136 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3138 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3139 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3140 Sort by group level.
3142 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3143 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3144 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3146 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3147 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3148 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3149 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3151 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3152 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3153 Sort by number of unread articles.
3155 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3156 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3157 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3159 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3160 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3161 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3166 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3167 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3171 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3172 some sorting criteria:
3176 @kindex G S a (Group)
3177 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3178 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3179 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3182 @kindex G S u (Group)
3183 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3184 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3185 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3188 @kindex G S l (Group)
3189 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3190 Sort the group buffer by group level
3191 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3194 @kindex G S v (Group)
3195 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3196 Sort the group buffer by group score
3197 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3200 @kindex G S r (Group)
3201 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3202 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3203 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3206 @kindex G S m (Group)
3207 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3208 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name
3209 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3213 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3214 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3216 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3217 commands will sort in reverse order.
3219 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3223 @kindex G P a (Group)
3224 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3225 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3226 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3229 @kindex G P u (Group)
3230 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3231 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3232 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3235 @kindex G P l (Group)
3236 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3237 Sort the groups by group level
3238 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3241 @kindex G P v (Group)
3242 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3243 Sort the groups by group score
3244 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3247 @kindex G P r (Group)
3248 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3249 Sort the groups by group rank
3250 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3253 @kindex G P m (Group)
3254 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3255 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name
3256 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3259 @kindex G P s (Group)
3260 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3261 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3265 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3269 @node Group Maintenance
3270 @section Group Maintenance
3271 @cindex bogus groups
3276 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3277 Find bogus groups and delete them
3278 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3282 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3283 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3284 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3285 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3286 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3290 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3291 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3292 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3293 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3294 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3295 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3298 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3299 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3300 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3301 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3306 @node Browse Foreign Server
3307 @section Browse Foreign Server
3308 @cindex foreign servers
3309 @cindex browsing servers
3314 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3315 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3316 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3317 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3320 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3321 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3322 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3323 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3325 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3330 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3331 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3335 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3336 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3339 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3340 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3341 Enter the current group and display the first article
3342 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3345 @kindex RET (Browse)
3346 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3347 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3351 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3352 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3353 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3359 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3360 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3364 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3365 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3369 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3370 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3371 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3376 @section Exiting gnus
3377 @cindex exiting gnus
3379 Yes, gnus is ex(c)iting.
3384 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3385 Suspend gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit gnus,
3386 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3387 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3391 @findex gnus-group-exit
3392 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3393 Quit gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3397 @findex gnus-group-quit
3398 Quit gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3399 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3402 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3403 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3404 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend gnus and
3405 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit gnus, while
3406 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3411 If you wish to completely unload gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3412 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3413 trying to customize meta-variables.
3418 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3419 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3420 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3426 @section Group Topics
3429 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3430 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3431 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3432 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3433 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3434 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3438 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3439 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3450 2: alt.religion.emacs
3453 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3455 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3456 13: comp.sources.unix
3459 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3461 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3462 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3463 is a toggling command.)
3465 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3466 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and
3467 now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3468 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3471 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3472 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3473 @file{~/.gnus} file:
3476 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3480 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3481 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3482 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3483 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3484 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3488 @node Topic Commands
3489 @subsection Topic Commands
3490 @cindex topic commands
3492 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3493 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3494 definitions slightly.
3496 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3497 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3498 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3499 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3500 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3501 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3503 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3510 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3511 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3512 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3516 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3518 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3519 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3520 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3521 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3524 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3525 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3526 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3527 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3531 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3532 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3533 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3534 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3540 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3541 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3542 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3546 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3547 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3548 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3551 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3552 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the `cut' part of cut and paste. Then,
3553 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the `Gnus'
3554 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the `paste' part of cut and
3555 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3557 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3558 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3562 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3563 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3570 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3572 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3573 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3574 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3575 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3576 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3577 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3581 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3587 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3588 Move the current group to some other topic
3589 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3590 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3594 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3595 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3599 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3600 Copy the current group to some other topic
3601 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3602 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3606 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3607 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3608 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3612 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3613 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3614 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3618 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3619 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3620 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3621 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3622 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3623 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3624 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3627 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3628 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3632 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3633 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3634 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3638 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3639 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3640 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3644 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3645 Toggle hiding empty topics
3646 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3650 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3651 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3652 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
3655 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3656 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3657 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3658 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
3661 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3662 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3663 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3664 expiry process (if any)
3665 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3669 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3670 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3673 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3674 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3675 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3679 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3680 List all groups that gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3681 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3684 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3685 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3686 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3689 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3690 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3691 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3695 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3696 @cindex group parameters
3697 @cindex topic parameters
3699 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3700 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3705 @node Topic Variables
3706 @subsection Topic Variables
3707 @cindex topic variables
3709 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3710 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3712 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3713 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3714 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3727 Number of groups in the topic.
3729 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3731 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3734 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3735 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3736 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3739 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3740 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3742 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3743 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3744 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3748 @subsection Topic Sorting
3749 @cindex topic sorting
3751 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3757 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3758 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3759 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3760 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3763 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3764 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3765 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3766 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3769 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3770 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3771 Sort the current topic by group level
3772 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3775 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3776 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3777 Sort the current topic by group score
3778 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3781 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3782 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3783 Sort the current topic by group rank
3784 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3787 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3788 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3789 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
3790 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3793 @kindex T S e (Topic)
3794 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
3795 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
3796 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
3800 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
3801 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
3802 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
3803 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
3807 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
3808 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
3812 @node Topic Topology
3813 @subsection Topic Topology
3814 @cindex topic topology
3817 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3823 2: alt.religion.emacs
3826 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3828 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3829 13: comp.sources.unix
3832 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3833 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3834 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3839 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3840 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3844 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3845 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3846 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3847 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3848 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3849 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3851 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3852 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3853 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3856 @node Topic Parameters
3857 @subsection Topic Parameters
3858 @cindex topic parameters
3860 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3861 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3862 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3864 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3869 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3870 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3871 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3874 @item subscribe-level
3875 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
3876 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
3877 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
3881 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3882 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3883 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3884 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3890 2: alt.religion.emacs
3894 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3896 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3897 13: comp.sources.unix
3901 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3902 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3903 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3904 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3905 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3906 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3908 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3909 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3910 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3911 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3912 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3914 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3915 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3916 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3917 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3918 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3919 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3920 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3921 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3924 @node Misc Group Stuff
3925 @section Misc Group Stuff
3928 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3929 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3930 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3931 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3932 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
3939 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3940 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3941 @xref{Server Buffer}.
3945 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3946 Start composing a message (a news by default)
3947 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
3948 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
3949 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
3950 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
3951 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3955 @findex gnus-group-mail
3956 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
3957 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
3958 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
3959 @xref{Composing Messages}.
3963 @findex gnus-group-news
3964 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
3965 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
3966 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3968 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
3969 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
3970 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
3971 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
3972 for this to work though.
3976 Variables for the group buffer:
3980 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
3981 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
3982 is called after the group buffer has been
3985 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
3986 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3987 is called after the group buffer is
3988 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
3991 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
3992 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3993 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
3994 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
3996 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3997 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3998 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
3999 whether they are empty or not.
4001 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4002 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4003 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
4004 non-ASCII group names.
4008 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4009 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4012 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4013 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4014 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4015 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names. It
4016 is used to show non-ASCII group names. @code{((".*" utf-8))} is the
4017 default value if UTF-8 is supported, otherwise the default is nil.
4021 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4022 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
4027 @node Scanning New Messages
4028 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4029 @cindex new messages
4030 @cindex scanning new news
4036 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4037 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4038 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4039 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4040 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4041 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4046 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4047 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4048 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4049 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4050 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4051 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4052 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4054 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4055 @cindex activating groups
4057 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4058 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4063 @findex gnus-group-restart
4064 Restart gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4065 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4066 gnus variables, and then starts gnus all over again.
4070 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4071 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4073 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4074 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4078 @node Group Information
4079 @subsection Group Information
4080 @cindex group information
4081 @cindex information on groups
4088 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4089 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4092 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
4093 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
4094 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
4095 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
4096 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4097 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
4098 for fetching the file.
4100 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, gnus will attempt to go
4101 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4105 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
4106 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
4108 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
4109 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
4112 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
4113 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
4114 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
4118 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
4119 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
4120 @cindex control message
4121 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
4122 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
4123 group if given a prefix argument.
4125 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-nil, Gnus
4126 will open the control messages in a browser using @code{browse-url}.
4127 Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp} and displayed in an
4130 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
4131 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode}
4132 (@pxref{(emacs)Compressed Files}).
4136 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4138 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4139 @cindex describing groups
4140 @cindex group description
4141 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4142 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4143 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4147 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4148 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4149 prefix, force gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4156 @findex gnus-version
4157 Display current gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4161 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4162 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4165 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4168 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4169 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4173 @node Group Timestamp
4174 @subsection Group Timestamp
4176 @cindex group timestamps
4178 It can be convenient to let gnus keep track of when you last read a
4179 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4180 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4183 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4186 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4188 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4189 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4192 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4193 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4196 This will result in lines looking like:
4199 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4200 0: custom 19961002T012713
4203 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4204 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4208 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4209 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4212 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4213 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4217 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4218 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4219 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4220 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4222 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4228 @subsection File Commands
4229 @cindex file commands
4235 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4236 @vindex gnus-init-file
4237 @cindex reading init file
4238 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4239 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4243 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4244 @cindex saving .newsrc
4245 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4246 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4247 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4250 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4251 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4252 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4257 @node Sieve Commands
4258 @subsection Sieve Commands
4259 @cindex group sieve commands
4261 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4262 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4263 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4264 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4265 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4267 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4268 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4269 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4270 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4271 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4272 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4273 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4274 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4275 regenerate the Sieve script.
4277 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4278 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4279 is generated. If it is non-nil (the default) articles is placed in
4280 all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article is only
4281 placed in the group with the first matching rule. For example, the
4282 group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4283 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4284 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is nil. (When
4285 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-nil, it looks the same except that
4286 the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4289 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4290 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4295 @xref{Top, ,Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4301 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4302 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4303 @cindex generating sieve script
4304 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4305 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4309 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4310 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4311 @cindex updating sieve script
4312 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4313 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4314 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4319 @node Summary Buffer
4320 @chapter Summary Buffer
4321 @cindex summary buffer
4323 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4324 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4326 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4327 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4329 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4332 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4333 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4334 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4335 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4336 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4337 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4338 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4339 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4340 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4341 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4342 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4343 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4344 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4345 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4346 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4347 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4348 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4349 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4350 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4351 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4352 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4353 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4354 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4355 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4356 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4357 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4358 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4359 or reselecting the current group.
4360 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4361 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4362 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4363 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4367 @node Summary Buffer Format
4368 @section Summary Buffer Format
4369 @cindex summary buffer format
4373 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4374 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4375 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4381 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4382 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4383 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4384 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4387 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4388 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4389 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4390 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4391 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4392 @code{From} header. Three pre-defined functions exist:
4393 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4394 fast, and too simplistic solution;
4395 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works nicely, but is
4396 slower; and @code{std11-extract-address-components}, which works very
4397 nicely, but is slower. The default function will return the wrong
4398 answer in 5% of the cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the
4399 other function instead:
4402 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4403 'mail-extract-address-components)
4406 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4407 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4408 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4409 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4412 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4413 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4415 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4416 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4417 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4418 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4419 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4421 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4422 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4423 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4424 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4425 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4426 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4428 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4430 The following format specification characters and extended format
4431 specification(s) are understood:
4437 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4438 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4440 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4441 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4442 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4444 Full @code{From} header.
4446 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4448 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4451 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4452 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4453 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4454 may be more thorough.
4456 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4459 Number of lines in the article.
4461 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4462 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4464 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4465 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4467 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4469 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4472 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4473 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4475 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4476 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4478 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4479 for adopted articles.
4481 One space for each thread level.
4483 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4485 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4488 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4489 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4490 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4493 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4495 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4496 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4497 default level. If the difference between
4498 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4499 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4507 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4509 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4515 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4516 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4518 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4519 article has any children.
4525 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4526 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4528 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4529 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4530 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4531 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4532 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4533 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4536 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4537 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4538 There can only be one such area.
4540 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4541 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, gnus will
4542 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4543 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4544 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4545 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4547 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4548 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4550 This restriction may disappear in later versions of gnus.
4553 @node To From Newsgroups
4554 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4558 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4559 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4560 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4561 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4562 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4566 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4567 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4568 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4572 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4573 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4576 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4577 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4580 @findex gnus-extra-header
4581 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4582 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4583 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4586 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4590 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4591 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4592 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4593 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4594 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4595 headers are used instead.
4599 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4600 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4601 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
4602 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
4603 this variable, by entering the server buffer using `^', and then `g' on
4604 the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause regeneration.
4606 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4607 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4608 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4609 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4611 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4615 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4617 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4618 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4619 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4620 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4624 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
4627 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
4628 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
4631 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4632 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4633 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
4639 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4640 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4643 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4644 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4646 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4647 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4648 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4649 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4651 Here are the elements you can play with:
4657 Unprefixed group name.
4659 Current article number.
4661 Current article score.
4665 Number of unread articles in this group.
4667 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4670 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4671 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4672 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4673 and no unselected ones.
4675 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4676 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4678 Subject of the current article.
4680 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4682 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4684 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4686 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4688 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4690 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4694 @node Summary Highlighting
4695 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4699 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4700 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4701 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4702 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4703 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4705 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4706 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4707 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4708 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4710 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4711 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4712 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4713 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4715 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4716 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4717 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4718 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4719 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4720 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4723 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4724 ((> score default) . bold))
4726 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4727 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4731 @node Summary Maneuvering
4732 @section Summary Maneuvering
4733 @cindex summary movement
4735 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4736 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4738 None of these commands select articles.
4743 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4744 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4745 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4746 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4747 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4751 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4752 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4753 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4754 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4755 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4758 @kindex G g (Summary)
4759 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4760 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4761 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4764 If gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4765 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4766 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4767 to the group buffer.
4769 Variables related to summary movement:
4773 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4774 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4775 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4776 no more unread articles after the current one, gnus will offer to go to
4777 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4778 empty, gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4779 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, gnus will select the
4780 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
4781 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
4782 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
4783 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
4784 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
4785 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
4786 @pxref{Group Levels}.
4788 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4789 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4790 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4791 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4792 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4793 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4794 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4796 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4798 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4799 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4800 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4801 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4802 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4804 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4805 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4806 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4807 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4808 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4809 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4810 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4811 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4814 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4815 the given number of lines from the top.
4820 @node Choosing Articles
4821 @section Choosing Articles
4822 @cindex selecting articles
4825 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4826 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4830 @node Choosing Commands
4831 @subsection Choosing Commands
4833 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4834 and they all select and display an article.
4836 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4837 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4841 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4842 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4843 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4844 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4849 @kindex G n (Summary)
4850 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4851 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4852 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4857 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4858 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4859 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4864 @kindex G N (Summary)
4865 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4866 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4871 @kindex G P (Summary)
4872 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4873 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4876 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4877 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4878 Go to the next article with the same subject
4879 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4882 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4883 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4884 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4885 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4889 @kindex G f (Summary)
4891 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4892 Go to the first unread article
4893 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4897 @kindex G b (Summary)
4899 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4900 Go to the unread article with the highest score
4901 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
4902 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
4907 @kindex G l (Summary)
4908 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4909 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4912 @kindex G o (Summary)
4913 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4915 @cindex article history
4916 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4917 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4918 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4919 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
4920 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
4921 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
4926 @kindex G j (Summary)
4927 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
4928 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
4929 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
4934 @node Choosing Variables
4935 @subsection Choosing Variables
4937 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
4940 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4941 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4942 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
4943 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
4944 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
4945 the server and display it in the article buffer.
4947 @item gnus-select-article-hook
4948 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
4949 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
4950 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
4952 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
4953 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
4954 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
4955 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
4956 @findex gnus-unread-mark
4957 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
4958 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
4959 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
4960 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
4961 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
4962 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
4963 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
4964 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
4965 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
4970 @node Paging the Article
4971 @section Scrolling the Article
4972 @cindex article scrolling
4977 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4978 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4979 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
4980 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
4981 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4984 @kindex DEL (Summary)
4985 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
4986 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
4989 @kindex RET (Summary)
4990 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
4991 Scroll the current article one line forward
4992 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
4995 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
4996 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
4997 Scroll the current article one line backward
4998 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5002 @kindex A g (Summary)
5004 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5005 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5006 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5007 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
5008 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
5009 the way it came from the server.
5011 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5012 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5013 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5016 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5021 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5026 @kindex A < (Summary)
5027 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5028 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5029 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5034 @kindex A > (Summary)
5035 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5036 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5040 @kindex A s (Summary)
5042 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5043 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5044 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5048 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5049 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5054 @node Reply Followup and Post
5055 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5058 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5059 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5060 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5061 * Canceling and Superseding::
5065 @node Summary Mail Commands
5066 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5068 @cindex composing mail
5070 Commands for composing a mail message:
5076 @kindex S r (Summary)
5078 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5079 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5080 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5081 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5082 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5087 @kindex S R (Summary)
5088 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5089 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5090 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5091 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5092 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5095 @kindex S w (Summary)
5096 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5097 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5098 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5099 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5100 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
5103 @kindex S W (Summary)
5104 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5105 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5106 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5107 the process/prefix convention.
5110 @kindex S v (Summary)
5111 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5112 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5113 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5114 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5115 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5116 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5119 @kindex S V (Summary)
5120 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5121 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5122 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5123 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5126 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5127 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5128 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5129 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5132 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5133 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5134 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5135 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5136 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5140 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5141 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5142 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5143 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5144 Forward the current article to some other person
5145 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5146 headers of the forwarded article.
5151 @kindex S m (Summary)
5152 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5153 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5154 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5155 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5156 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5161 @kindex S i (Summary)
5162 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5163 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5164 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5165 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5167 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5168 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
5169 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5170 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5171 for this to work though.
5174 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5175 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5176 @cindex bouncing mail
5177 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5178 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5179 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5180 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5181 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5182 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, gnus will try to fetch
5183 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5184 very well fail, though.
5187 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5188 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5189 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5190 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5191 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5192 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5193 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5194 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5195 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5196 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5198 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5199 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5200 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5201 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5202 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5204 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5205 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5208 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5209 @findex gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward
5210 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5211 result using mail (@code{gnus-summary-digest-mail-forward}). This
5212 command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5215 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5216 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5217 @cindex crossposting
5218 @cindex excessive crossposting
5219 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5220 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5222 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5223 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5224 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5225 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5226 command understands the process/prefix convention
5227 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5231 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5232 Manual}, for more information.
5235 @node Summary Post Commands
5236 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5238 @cindex composing news
5240 Commands for posting a news article:
5246 @kindex S p (Summary)
5247 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5248 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5249 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5250 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5251 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5256 @kindex S f (Summary)
5257 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5258 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5259 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5263 @kindex S F (Summary)
5265 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5266 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5267 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5268 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5269 process/prefix convention.
5272 @kindex S n (Summary)
5273 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5274 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5275 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5278 @kindex S N (Summary)
5279 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5280 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5281 message through mail and include the original message
5282 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5283 the process/prefix convention.
5286 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5287 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5288 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5289 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
5290 headers of the forwarded article.
5293 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5294 @findex gnus-summary-digest-post-forward
5296 @cindex making digests
5297 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5298 (@code{gnus-summary-digest-post-forward}). This command uses the
5299 process/prefix convention.
5302 @kindex S u (Summary)
5303 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5304 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5305 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5306 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5309 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5310 Manual}, for more information.
5313 @node Summary Message Commands
5314 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5318 @kindex S y (Summary)
5319 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5320 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5321 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5322 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5323 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5328 @node Canceling and Superseding
5329 @subsection Canceling Articles
5330 @cindex canceling articles
5331 @cindex superseding articles
5333 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5334 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5336 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5338 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5340 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5341 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5342 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5343 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5344 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5345 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5347 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5348 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5351 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5352 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5353 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5355 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5356 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5357 your original article.
5359 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5361 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5362 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5363 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5366 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5367 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5368 have posted almost the same article twice.
5370 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5371 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5372 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5373 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5374 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5375 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5376 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5377 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5378 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5379 canceled/superseded.
5381 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5383 @node Delayed Articles
5384 @section Delayed Articles
5385 @cindex delayed sending
5386 @cindex send delayed
5388 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5389 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5390 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5391 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5394 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5397 @findex gnus-delay-article
5398 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5399 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5400 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5401 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5405 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5406 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5407 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5408 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5411 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5412 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5413 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5416 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5417 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5418 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5419 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5420 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5421 that means a time tomorrow.
5424 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5425 couple of variables:
5428 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5429 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5430 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5431 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5433 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5434 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5435 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5436 formats described above.
5438 @item gnus-delay-group
5439 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5440 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5441 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5442 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5444 @item gnus-delay-header
5445 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5446 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5447 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5448 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5451 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5452 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5453 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5454 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5455 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5457 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5458 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5459 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5460 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5461 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5462 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5465 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5466 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5468 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5469 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
5470 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-nil,
5471 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
5472 argument is ignored.
5474 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
5475 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
5476 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
5480 @node Marking Articles
5481 @section Marking Articles
5482 @cindex article marking
5483 @cindex article ticking
5486 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5488 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5489 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5490 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5492 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5495 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5496 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5497 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
5501 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
5505 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
5506 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
5507 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
5511 @node Unread Articles
5512 @subsection Unread Articles
5514 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5519 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5520 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5522 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5523 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5524 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5525 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5526 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5527 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5528 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5531 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5532 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5534 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5535 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5536 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5537 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5541 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5542 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5544 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5549 @subsection Read Articles
5550 @cindex expirable mark
5552 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5557 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5558 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5559 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5562 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5563 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5566 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5567 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5568 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5571 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5572 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5575 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5576 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5579 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5580 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5583 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5584 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5587 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5588 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5591 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5592 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5595 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5596 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5600 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5601 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5602 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5606 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5607 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5609 One more special mark, though:
5613 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5614 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5616 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5617 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5618 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5619 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by gnus at
5625 @subsection Other Marks
5626 @cindex process mark
5629 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5635 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5636 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5637 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5638 in the article, and gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5639 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5642 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5643 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5644 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5645 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5648 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5649 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5650 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5653 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5654 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5655 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5658 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5659 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5660 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5661 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5664 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5665 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
5666 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
5667 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
5668 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
5669 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
5672 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5673 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
5674 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5675 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
5678 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
5679 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, some articles might not
5680 have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you are
5681 offline (unplugged). These articles get the @samp{@@} mark in the
5682 first column. (The variable @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls
5683 which character to use.)
5686 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
5687 The Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics} downloads some articles
5688 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
5689 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
5690 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
5691 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
5695 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5696 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5697 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5698 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5699 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5702 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5703 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5704 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5705 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5706 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5707 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5711 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5712 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5713 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5715 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5716 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5717 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5721 @subsection Setting Marks
5722 @cindex setting marks
5724 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5729 @kindex M c (Summary)
5730 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5731 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5732 @cindex mark as unread
5733 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5734 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5740 @kindex M t (Summary)
5741 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5742 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5743 @xref{Article Caching}.
5748 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5749 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5750 Mark the current article as dormant
5751 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5755 @kindex M d (Summary)
5757 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5758 Mark the current article as read
5759 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5763 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5764 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5765 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5770 @kindex M k (Summary)
5771 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5772 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5773 and then select the next unread article
5774 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5778 @kindex M K (Summary)
5779 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5780 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5781 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5782 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5785 @kindex M C (Summary)
5786 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5787 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5788 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5791 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5792 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5793 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5794 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5797 @kindex M H (Summary)
5798 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5799 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
5800 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5803 @kindex M h (Summary)
5804 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
5805 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
5806 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
5809 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5810 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5811 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5812 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5815 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5816 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5817 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5818 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5822 @kindex M e (Summary)
5824 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5825 Mark the current article as expirable
5826 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5829 @kindex M b (Summary)
5830 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5831 Set a bookmark in the current article
5832 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5835 @kindex M B (Summary)
5836 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5837 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5838 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5841 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5842 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5843 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5844 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5847 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5848 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5849 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5850 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5853 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5854 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5855 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5856 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5857 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5860 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5861 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5862 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5863 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5864 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5865 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5866 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5867 The default is @code{t}.
5870 @node Generic Marking Commands
5871 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5873 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5874 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5875 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5876 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5877 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5880 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
5881 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5884 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5885 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5886 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5887 to list in this manual.
5889 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5890 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5891 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5892 article, you could say something like:
5895 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5896 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5897 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
5903 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5904 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
5908 @node Setting Process Marks
5909 @subsection Setting Process Marks
5910 @cindex setting process marks
5917 @kindex M P p (Summary)
5918 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
5919 Mark the current article with the process mark
5920 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
5921 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
5925 @kindex M P u (Summary)
5926 @kindex M-# (Summary)
5927 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
5928 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
5931 @kindex M P U (Summary)
5932 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
5933 Remove the process mark from all articles
5934 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
5937 @kindex M P i (Summary)
5938 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
5939 Invert the list of process marked articles
5940 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
5943 @kindex M P R (Summary)
5944 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
5945 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5946 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
5949 @kindex M P G (Summary)
5950 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
5951 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5952 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
5955 @kindex M P r (Summary)
5956 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
5957 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
5961 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
5962 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
5965 @kindex M P t (Summary)
5966 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5967 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5968 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5971 @kindex M P T (Summary)
5972 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5973 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5974 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5977 @kindex M P v (Summary)
5978 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
5979 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
5980 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
5983 @kindex M P s (Summary)
5984 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
5985 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5988 @kindex M P S (Summary)
5989 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
5990 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
5991 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
5994 @kindex M P a (Summary)
5995 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
5996 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5999 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6000 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6001 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6002 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6005 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6006 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6007 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6008 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6011 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6012 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6013 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6014 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6017 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6018 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6019 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6020 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6024 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
6025 set process marks based on article body contents.
6032 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6033 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6034 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6037 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
6038 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
6039 additional articles.
6045 @kindex / / (Summary)
6046 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6047 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6048 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6052 @kindex / a (Summary)
6053 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6054 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6055 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6059 @kindex / x (Summary)
6060 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6061 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6062 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6063 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6068 @kindex / u (Summary)
6070 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6071 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6072 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6073 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6074 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6077 @kindex / m (Summary)
6078 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6079 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6080 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6083 @kindex / t (Summary)
6084 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6085 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6086 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6087 articles younger than that number of days.
6090 @kindex / n (Summary)
6091 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6092 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
6093 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
6094 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6097 @kindex / w (Summary)
6098 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6099 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6100 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6104 @kindex / . (Summary)
6105 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6106 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6107 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6110 @kindex / v (Summary)
6111 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6112 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6113 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6116 @kindex / p (Summary)
6117 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6118 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6119 group parameter predicate
6120 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). See @pxref{Group
6121 Parameters} for more on this predicate.
6125 @kindex M S (Summary)
6126 @kindex / E (Summary)
6127 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6128 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6129 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6132 @kindex / D (Summary)
6133 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6134 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6135 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6138 @kindex / * (Summary)
6139 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6140 Include all cached articles in the limit
6141 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6144 @kindex / d (Summary)
6145 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6146 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6147 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6150 @kindex / M (Summary)
6151 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6152 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6155 @kindex / T (Summary)
6156 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6157 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6160 @kindex / c (Summary)
6161 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6162 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
6163 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6166 @kindex / C (Summary)
6167 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6168 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6169 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6170 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6173 @kindex / N (Summary)
6174 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6175 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6176 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6179 @kindex / o (Summary)
6180 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6181 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6182 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6190 @cindex article threading
6192 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6193 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6194 hierarchical fashion.
6196 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6197 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6198 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6199 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6200 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6201 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6202 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
6204 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6208 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6211 A tree-like article structure.
6214 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6217 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6218 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6219 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6220 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6221 called loose threads.
6223 @item thread gathering
6224 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6226 @item sparse threads
6227 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6228 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6234 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6235 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6239 @node Customizing Threading
6240 @subsection Customizing Threading
6241 @cindex customizing threading
6244 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6245 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6246 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6247 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
6252 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6255 @cindex loose threads
6258 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6259 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6260 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6261 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6262 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6263 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6265 When there is no real root of a thread, gnus will have to fudge
6266 something. This variable says what fudging method gnus should use.
6267 There are four possible values:
6271 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6272 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6273 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6274 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6275 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6280 @cindex adopting articles
6285 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6286 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6287 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6288 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6291 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6292 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6293 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6294 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6295 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6296 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6297 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6298 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6299 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6300 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to t.
6303 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6304 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6305 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6309 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6310 display them after one another.
6313 Don't gather loose threads.
6316 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6317 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6318 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6319 variable is @code{nil}, gnus requires an exact match between the
6320 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6321 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6322 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6323 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6324 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6325 variable to a really low number, you'll find that gnus will gather
6326 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6328 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6329 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, gnus will
6330 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6333 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6334 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6335 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6336 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6337 simplification is used.
6339 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6340 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6341 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6342 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6344 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6346 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6352 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6353 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6354 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6355 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6360 (mapconcat 'identity
6361 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6363 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6366 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6369 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6370 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6371 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6372 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6373 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6374 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6376 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6379 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6380 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6381 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6383 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6384 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6387 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6388 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6389 Remove excessive whitespace.
6391 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6392 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6393 Remove all whitespace.
6396 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6399 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6400 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6401 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6402 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6403 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6404 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6405 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6406 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6408 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6409 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6410 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6411 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6412 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6413 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6414 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6415 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6416 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6420 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6421 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6422 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6423 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6425 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6426 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6427 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6430 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6434 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6435 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6441 @node Filling In Threads
6442 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6445 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6446 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6447 If non-@code{nil}, gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6448 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
6449 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
6450 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
6451 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
6452 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
6453 fetching old headers only works if the back end you are using carries
6454 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
6455 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
6456 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do
6459 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
6460 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
6461 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
6463 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
6464 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
6465 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
6466 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
6467 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
6468 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
6469 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where gnus guesses that an article
6470 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
6471 lines. If you select a gap, gnus will try to fetch the article in
6472 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, gnus will display all these
6473 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
6474 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, gnus won't cut
6475 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
6476 @code{nil} by default.
6478 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
6479 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
6480 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
6481 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
6482 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
6483 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
6484 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
6486 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
6487 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
6488 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
6493 @node More Threading
6494 @subsubsection More Threading
6497 @item gnus-show-threads
6498 @vindex gnus-show-threads
6499 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
6500 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
6501 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
6502 slower and more awkward.
6504 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6505 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6506 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
6509 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
6510 Avaliable predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
6511 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}).
6516 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6517 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
6518 gnus-article-unseen-p))
6521 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
6522 unread, but you get my drift.)
6525 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
6526 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
6527 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
6528 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
6529 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
6530 threads are expunged.
6532 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
6533 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
6534 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
6537 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6538 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6539 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
6540 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
6541 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
6542 result in a new thread.
6544 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
6545 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
6546 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
6549 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6550 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6551 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
6552 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
6553 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
6554 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
6555 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
6556 Setting this variable to an alternate value
6557 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
6558 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
6559 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
6564 @node Low-Level Threading
6565 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
6569 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
6570 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
6571 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
6572 @code{(gnus-set-summary-default-charset)}, which sets up local value of
6573 @code{default-mime-charset} in summary buffer based on variable
6574 @code{gnus-newsgroup-default-charset-alist}.
6576 @item gnus-alter-header-function
6577 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
6578 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
6579 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
6580 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
6581 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
6582 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
6583 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
6584 meaningful. Here's one example:
6587 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
6589 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
6590 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
6592 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
6594 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6601 @node Thread Commands
6602 @subsection Thread Commands
6603 @cindex thread commands
6609 @kindex T k (Summary)
6610 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
6611 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6612 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6613 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6614 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6619 @kindex T l (Summary)
6620 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
6621 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6622 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6623 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6626 @kindex T i (Summary)
6627 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6628 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6629 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6632 @kindex T # (Summary)
6633 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6634 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6635 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6638 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6639 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6640 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
6641 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6644 @kindex T T (Summary)
6645 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
6646 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
6649 @kindex T s (Summary)
6650 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
6651 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
6652 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
6655 @kindex T h (Summary)
6656 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
6657 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
6660 @kindex T S (Summary)
6661 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
6662 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
6665 @kindex T H (Summary)
6666 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
6667 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
6670 @kindex T t (Summary)
6671 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6672 Re-thread the current article's thread
6673 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6674 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6677 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6678 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6679 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6680 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6684 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6685 understand the numeric prefix.
6690 @kindex T n (Summary)
6692 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
6694 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6695 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6696 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6699 @kindex T p (Summary)
6701 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
6703 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6704 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6705 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6708 @kindex T d (Summary)
6709 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6710 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6713 @kindex T u (Summary)
6714 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6715 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6718 @kindex T o (Summary)
6719 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6720 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6723 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6724 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6725 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6726 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6727 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6728 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6729 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6730 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6731 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6732 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6733 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6734 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6738 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6739 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6741 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6742 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6743 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6744 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6745 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6746 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6747 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
6748 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6749 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-thread
6750 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6751 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6752 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6753 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6755 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6756 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6757 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6758 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
6759 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
6760 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
6761 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
6762 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6764 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6765 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6766 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6768 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6769 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6770 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6771 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6772 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6773 ascending article order.
6775 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6776 by number, you could do something like:
6779 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6780 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6781 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6782 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6785 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6786 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6787 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6788 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6789 which the articles arrived.
6791 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6795 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6797 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6798 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6801 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6802 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6803 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6804 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6807 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6808 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6809 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6810 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6811 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6812 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
6813 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6814 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
6815 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
6816 variable. It is very similar to the
6817 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
6818 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
6819 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6820 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
6821 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
6822 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
6823 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6825 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6829 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6830 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6831 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6836 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6837 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6838 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6839 @cindex article pre-fetch
6842 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6843 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6844 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6845 article appears. Why can't gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6846 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6848 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6849 article fetching, especially the way gnus does it.
6851 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6852 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6853 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6854 article 3, but since gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6855 connection is blocked.
6857 To avoid these situations, gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6858 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6859 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6860 extra connection takes some time, so gnus startup will be slower.
6862 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6863 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6864 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6865 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6868 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
6871 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6872 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6873 happen automatically.
6875 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6876 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6877 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6878 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
6879 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
6880 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6881 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6883 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6884 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6885 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6886 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
6887 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
6888 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
6889 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
6890 data structure as the only parameter.
6892 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
6895 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
6896 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
6897 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
6898 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
6901 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
6904 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
6905 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down gnus too much.
6906 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
6908 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
6909 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
6910 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
6911 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
6915 Remove articles when they are read.
6918 Remove articles when exiting the group.
6921 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
6923 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
6924 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
6925 @c from the next group.
6928 @node Article Caching
6929 @section Article Caching
6930 @cindex article caching
6933 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
6934 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
6935 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
6936 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
6937 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
6939 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
6941 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6942 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
6943 @vindex gnus-use-cache
6944 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
6945 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
6946 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
6947 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
6948 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
6950 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
6951 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
6952 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
6953 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
6954 as dormant, and don't worry.
6956 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
6958 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
6959 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
6960 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
6961 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
6962 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
6963 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
6964 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
6965 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
6966 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
6967 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
6969 @findex gnus-jog-cache
6970 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
6971 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
6972 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
6973 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
6974 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
6975 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
6976 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
6977 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
6978 not then be downloaded by this command.
6980 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
6981 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
6982 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
6983 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
6984 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
6985 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
6987 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
6988 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
6989 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
6990 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
6991 variables, the group is not cached.
6993 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
6994 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
6995 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
6996 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
6997 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
6998 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, gnus
6999 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7000 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
7001 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7004 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7005 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7006 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7007 where, isn't that cool?
7009 @node Persistent Articles
7010 @section Persistent Articles
7011 @cindex persistent articles
7013 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7014 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7015 useful in my opinion.
7017 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7018 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7019 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7020 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7021 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7022 the expiry going on at the news server.
7024 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7025 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7026 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7032 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7033 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7036 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7037 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7038 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7039 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7043 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7045 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7046 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7047 interested in persistent articles:
7050 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7054 @node Article Backlog
7055 @section Article Backlog
7057 @cindex article backlog
7059 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7060 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7061 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where gnus will buffer
7062 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7063 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7064 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7065 that, turning the backlog on will slow gnus down a little bit, and
7066 increase memory usage some.
7068 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7069 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, gnus will store
7070 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7071 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, gnus will store
7072 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7073 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7074 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7076 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
7079 @node Saving Articles
7080 @section Saving Articles
7081 @cindex saving articles
7083 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7084 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7085 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7086 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7087 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7089 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7090 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7091 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7093 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7094 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, gnus will not delete
7095 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7097 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7098 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7099 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7100 deleted before saving.
7106 @kindex O o (Summary)
7108 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7109 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7110 Save the current article using the default article saver
7111 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7114 @kindex O m (Summary)
7115 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7116 Save the current article in mail format
7117 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7120 @kindex O r (Summary)
7121 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7122 Save the current article in rmail format
7123 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7126 @kindex O f (Summary)
7127 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7128 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7129 Save the current article in plain file format
7130 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7133 @kindex O F (Summary)
7134 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7135 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7136 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7139 @kindex O b (Summary)
7140 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7141 Save the current article body in plain file format
7142 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7145 @kindex O h (Summary)
7146 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7147 Save the current article in mh folder format
7148 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7151 @kindex O v (Summary)
7152 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7153 Save the current article in a VM folder
7154 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7158 @kindex O p (Summary)
7160 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7161 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7162 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7165 @kindex O P (Summary)
7166 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7167 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7168 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7169 external program Muttprint (see
7170 @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/}). The program name and
7171 options to use is controlled by the variable
7172 @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}. (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7176 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7177 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7178 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7179 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7180 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7181 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7182 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7183 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7184 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7185 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7186 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7187 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7191 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7192 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7193 gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
7194 functions below, or you can create your own.
7198 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7199 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7200 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7201 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7202 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
7203 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7204 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7206 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7207 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7208 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7209 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7210 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7211 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7213 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7214 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7215 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7216 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7217 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7218 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7219 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7221 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7222 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7223 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7224 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7225 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7226 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7228 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7229 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7230 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7231 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7232 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7234 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7235 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7236 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7237 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7238 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7241 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7242 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7243 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7244 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7245 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7247 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7248 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7249 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7250 reader to use this setting.
7253 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7254 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7255 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7256 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7259 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7260 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7261 available functions that generate names:
7265 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7266 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7267 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7269 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7270 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7271 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7273 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7274 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7275 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7277 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7278 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7279 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7281 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7282 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7283 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7286 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7287 You can have gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7288 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7289 save articles related to gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7290 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7294 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7295 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7296 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7297 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7300 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7301 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
7302 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
7303 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
7304 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
7305 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
7306 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
7307 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
7308 called returns a string or a list of strings.
7310 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
7311 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
7312 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
7313 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
7315 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
7316 means that gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
7317 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
7320 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
7321 lots of mail groups called things like
7322 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
7323 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
7324 following will do just that:
7327 (defun my-save-name (group)
7328 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
7329 (substring group (match-end 0))))
7331 (setq gnus-split-methods
7332 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
7337 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7338 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
7339 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
7340 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
7341 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
7342 all the files in the top level directory
7343 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
7344 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
7345 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
7346 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
7348 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
7349 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
7350 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
7351 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
7352 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
7355 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
7359 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
7360 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
7361 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
7364 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
7365 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
7366 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
7367 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
7370 @node Decoding Articles
7371 @section Decoding Articles
7372 @cindex decoding articles
7374 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
7375 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
7378 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
7379 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
7380 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
7381 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
7382 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
7383 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
7387 @cindex article series
7388 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
7389 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
7390 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
7391 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
7392 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
7394 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
7395 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
7396 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
7398 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, gnus
7399 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
7400 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
7402 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
7403 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
7404 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
7407 @node Uuencoded Articles
7408 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
7410 @cindex uuencoded articles
7415 @kindex X u (Summary)
7416 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
7417 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
7418 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
7421 @kindex X U (Summary)
7422 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
7423 Uudecodes and saves the current series
7424 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7427 @kindex X v u (Summary)
7428 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
7429 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
7432 @kindex X v U (Summary)
7433 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
7434 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
7435 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
7439 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
7440 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
7441 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
7442 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
7443 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7445 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
7446 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
7447 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
7448 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
7451 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
7452 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
7453 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
7454 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
7455 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
7456 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
7460 @node Shell Archives
7461 @subsection Shell Archives
7463 @cindex shell archives
7464 @cindex shared articles
7466 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
7467 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
7468 some commands to deal with these:
7473 @kindex X s (Summary)
7474 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
7475 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
7478 @kindex X S (Summary)
7479 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
7480 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
7483 @kindex X v s (Summary)
7484 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
7485 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
7488 @kindex X v S (Summary)
7489 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
7490 Unshars, views and saves the current series
7491 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
7495 @node PostScript Files
7496 @subsection PostScript Files
7502 @kindex X p (Summary)
7503 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
7504 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
7507 @kindex X P (Summary)
7508 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
7509 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
7510 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
7513 @kindex X v p (Summary)
7514 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
7515 View the current PostScript series
7516 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
7519 @kindex X v P (Summary)
7520 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
7521 View and save the current PostScript series
7522 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
7527 @subsection Other Files
7531 @kindex X o (Summary)
7532 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
7533 Save the current series
7534 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
7537 @kindex X b (Summary)
7538 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
7539 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
7540 doesn't really work yet.
7544 @node Decoding Variables
7545 @subsection Decoding Variables
7547 Adjective, not verb.
7550 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
7551 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
7552 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
7556 @node Rule Variables
7557 @subsubsection Rule Variables
7558 @cindex rule variables
7560 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
7561 variables are of the form
7564 (list '(regexp1 command2)
7571 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7572 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7574 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
7575 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
7578 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7579 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
7582 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7583 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7584 This variable is consulted if gnus couldn't make any matches from the
7585 user and default view rules.
7587 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7588 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7589 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
7594 @node Other Decode Variables
7595 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
7598 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7600 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7601 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
7602 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
7603 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
7604 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
7608 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
7609 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
7612 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
7613 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
7614 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
7617 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7618 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7619 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
7620 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
7621 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
7624 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7625 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7626 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
7628 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7629 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7630 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
7631 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
7632 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
7635 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7636 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7637 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
7639 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7640 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7641 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
7642 looking for files to display.
7644 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
7645 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
7646 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
7649 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7650 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7651 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
7654 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7655 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7656 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
7659 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7660 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7661 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
7664 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7665 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7666 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
7667 decoded articles as unread.
7669 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7670 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7671 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
7672 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
7674 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7675 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7676 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
7678 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7679 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7681 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
7682 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
7683 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
7684 @code{metamail} for viewing.
7686 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7687 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7688 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
7689 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
7690 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
7691 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
7692 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
7693 simply dropped them.
7698 @node Uuencoding and Posting
7699 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
7703 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7704 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7705 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
7706 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
7707 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7708 for you when you post the article.
7710 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7711 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7712 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7713 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7715 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7716 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7717 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7718 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7719 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7720 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7721 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
7723 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7724 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7725 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7726 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7727 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7728 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7729 Default is @code{t}.
7735 @subsection Viewing Files
7736 @cindex viewing files
7737 @cindex pseudo-articles
7739 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, gnus will attempt
7740 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7741 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7742 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, gnus will
7743 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7744 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7745 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7747 Finally, gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7748 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
7749 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
7750 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
7752 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7753 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7754 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7756 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7757 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7758 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7759 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7760 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7762 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7763 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7764 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7765 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7766 a list of parameters to that command.
7768 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7769 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7770 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7772 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7773 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7774 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7777 @node Article Treatment
7778 @section Article Treatment
7780 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7781 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7782 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7783 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7784 these articles easier.
7787 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7788 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7789 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7790 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7791 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
7792 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7793 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7794 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
7795 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7796 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7800 @node Article Highlighting
7801 @subsection Article Highlighting
7802 @cindex highlighting
7804 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7805 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7810 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7811 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7812 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7813 Do much highlighting of the current article
7814 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7815 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7818 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7819 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7820 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7821 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7822 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7823 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7824 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7825 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7826 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7827 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7828 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7829 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7832 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7833 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7834 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7836 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7839 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7841 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7842 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7843 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7845 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7846 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7847 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7849 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7850 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7851 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7852 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7853 gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7854 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7856 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7857 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7858 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
7860 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7861 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7862 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
7864 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7865 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7866 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7867 that it's a citation.
7869 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7870 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7871 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7873 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7874 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7875 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7877 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7878 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7879 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7880 cited text belonging to the attribution.
7886 @kindex W H s (Summary)
7887 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7888 @vindex gnus-signature-face
7889 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
7890 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
7891 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
7892 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
7893 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
7898 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
7901 @node Article Fontisizing
7902 @subsection Article Fontisizing
7904 @cindex article emphasis
7906 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
7907 @kindex W e (Summary)
7908 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
7909 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
7910 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
7911 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
7913 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
7914 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
7915 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
7916 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
7917 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
7918 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
7919 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
7920 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
7924 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
7925 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
7926 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
7935 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
7936 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
7937 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
7938 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
7939 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
7940 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
7941 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
7942 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
7943 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
7944 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
7945 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
7946 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
7947 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
7949 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
7950 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
7951 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
7955 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
7958 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
7960 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
7961 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
7962 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
7963 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
7965 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
7968 @node Article Hiding
7969 @subsection Article Hiding
7970 @cindex article hiding
7972 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
7973 too much cruft in most articles.
7978 @kindex W W a (Summary)
7979 @findex gnus-article-hide
7980 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
7981 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
7982 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
7985 @kindex W W h (Summary)
7986 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
7987 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
7991 @kindex W W b (Summary)
7992 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7993 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
7994 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
7997 @kindex W W s (Summary)
7998 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
7999 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8003 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8004 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8005 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8006 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8007 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8008 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8009 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8010 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8014 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8015 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8016 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8017 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8022 @kindex W W p (Summary)
8023 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
8024 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
8025 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
8026 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
8027 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
8028 articles that have signatures in them do:
8030 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
8032 (setq gnus-treat-strip-pgp t)
8034 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
8035 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
8037 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
8040 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
8045 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8046 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8047 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8048 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8051 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8052 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8053 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8054 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8057 @cindex stripping advertisements
8058 @cindex advertisements
8059 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8060 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8061 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8062 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8063 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8064 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8065 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8066 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8067 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8068 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8071 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8072 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8073 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8077 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8078 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8079 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8080 @code{(ADDRESS . BANNER)}, where ADDRESS is a regexp matching a mail
8081 address in the From header, BANNER is one of a symbol @code{signature},
8082 an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}, a regexp and @code{nil}.
8083 If ADDRESS matches author's mail address, it will remove things like
8084 advertisements. For example, if a sender has the mail address
8085 @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a banner something like
8086 @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he sends, you can use the
8087 following element to remove them:
8090 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" . "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8096 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8097 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8098 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8099 customizing the hiding:
8103 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8104 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8105 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8106 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8107 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8108 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8109 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8114 Starting point of the hidden text.
8116 Ending point of the hidden text.
8118 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8120 Number of lines of hidden text.
8123 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8124 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8125 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8126 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8127 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8132 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8133 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8135 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8136 following two variables:
8139 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8140 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8141 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8142 50), hide the cited text.
8144 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8145 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8146 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8151 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8152 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8153 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8154 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8155 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8156 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8160 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8161 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8162 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8164 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8165 citation customization.
8167 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8171 @node Article Washing
8172 @subsection Article Washing
8174 @cindex article washing
8176 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8177 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8179 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8180 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8183 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8184 articles by default.
8189 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8190 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8194 @kindex W l (Summary)
8195 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8196 Remove page breaks from the current article
8197 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8201 @kindex W r (Summary)
8202 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8203 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8204 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8205 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8206 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8207 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8209 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8210 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8211 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8212 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8215 @kindex W m (Summary)
8216 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8217 @c @icon{gnus-summary-morse-message}
8218 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8222 @kindex W t (Summary)
8224 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8225 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8226 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8229 @kindex W v (Summary)
8230 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8231 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8232 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8235 @kindex W m (Summary)
8236 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
8237 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
8238 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
8241 @kindex W o (Summary)
8242 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8243 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8246 @kindex W d (Summary)
8247 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8248 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8250 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8252 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8253 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8254 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8255 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8258 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8259 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8260 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8261 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8264 @kindex W k (Summary)
8265 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8266 @cindex Outlook Express
8267 Deuglify broken Outlook (Express) articles and redisplay
8268 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8271 @kindex W w (Summary)
8272 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
8273 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
8275 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
8279 @kindex W Q (Summary)
8280 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
8281 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
8284 @kindex W C (Summary)
8285 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
8286 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
8287 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
8290 @kindex W c (Summary)
8291 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
8292 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
8293 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
8294 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
8295 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
8298 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
8299 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
8300 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
8301 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
8302 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is usually done
8303 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8304 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
8306 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8309 @kindex W Z (Summary)
8310 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
8311 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
8312 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
8313 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
8316 @kindex W u (Summary)
8317 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
8318 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
8319 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
8320 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
8321 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
8324 @kindex W h (Summary)
8325 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
8326 Treat @sc{html} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
8327 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8328 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @sc{html}.
8330 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8332 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
8333 The default is to use the function specified by
8334 @code{mm-inline-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{Customization, , , emacs-mime})
8335 to convert the @sc{html}, but this is controlled by the
8336 @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions you
8344 Use emacs-w3m (see @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/} for more
8348 Use Links (see @uref{http://artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mikulas/links/}).
8351 Use Lynx (see @uref{http://lynx.browser.org/}).
8354 Use html2text -- a simple @sc{html} converter included with Gnus.
8359 @kindex W b (Summary)
8360 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
8361 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
8362 @xref{Article Buttons}.
8365 @kindex W B (Summary)
8366 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
8367 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
8368 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
8371 @kindex W p (Summary)
8372 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
8373 Verify a signed control message (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}).
8374 Control messages such as @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are
8375 usually signed by the hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the PGP
8376 public key of the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
8377 message.@footnote{PGP keys for many hierarchies are available at
8378 @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
8381 @kindex W s (Summary)
8382 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
8383 Verify a signed (PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}) message
8384 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
8387 @kindex W a (Summary)
8388 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
8389 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
8390 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
8393 @kindex W E l (Summary)
8394 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
8395 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
8396 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
8399 @kindex W E m (Summary)
8400 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8401 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
8402 lines with a single empty line.
8403 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
8406 @kindex W E t (Summary)
8407 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
8408 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
8409 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
8412 @kindex W E a (Summary)
8413 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
8414 Do all the three commands above
8415 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
8418 @kindex W E A (Summary)
8419 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
8420 Remove all blank lines
8421 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
8424 @kindex W E s (Summary)
8425 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
8426 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
8427 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
8430 @kindex W E e (Summary)
8431 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
8432 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
8433 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
8437 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
8440 @node Article Header
8441 @subsection Article Header
8443 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
8448 @kindex W G u (Summary)
8449 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
8450 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
8453 @kindex W G n (Summary)
8454 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
8455 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
8456 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
8459 @kindex W G f (Summary)
8460 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
8461 Fold all the message headers
8462 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
8466 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
8467 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
8468 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
8473 @node Article Buttons
8474 @subsection Article Buttons
8477 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
8478 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
8479 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
8480 button on these references.
8482 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8483 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
8484 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links and man pages.
8485 This is controlled by two variables, one that handles article bodies and
8486 one that handles article heads:
8490 @item gnus-button-alist
8491 @vindex gnus-button-alist
8492 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
8495 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8501 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
8502 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
8503 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a variable containing a
8504 regexp, useful variables to use include @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}.
8507 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
8508 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
8509 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
8512 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
8513 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
8514 avoid false matches.
8517 This function will be called when you click on this button.
8520 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
8521 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
8525 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
8528 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
8531 @item gnus-header-button-alist
8532 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
8533 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
8534 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
8535 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
8538 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8541 @var{header} is a regular expression.
8543 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
8544 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
8545 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
8546 default values of the variables above.
8548 @item gnus-article-button-face
8549 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
8550 Face used on buttons.
8552 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
8553 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
8554 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
8558 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
8562 @subsection Article Date
8564 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
8565 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
8566 when the article was sent.
8571 @kindex W T u (Summary)
8572 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
8573 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
8574 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
8577 @kindex W T i (Summary)
8578 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
8580 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
8581 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
8584 @kindex W T l (Summary)
8585 @findex gnus-article-date-local
8586 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
8589 @kindex W T p (Summary)
8590 @findex gnus-article-date-english
8591 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
8592 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
8595 @kindex W T s (Summary)
8596 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
8597 @findex gnus-article-date-user
8598 @findex format-time-string
8599 Display the date using a user-defined format
8600 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
8601 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
8602 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
8603 for a list of possible format specs.
8606 @kindex W T e (Summary)
8607 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
8608 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
8609 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
8610 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
8611 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
8614 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
8617 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
8618 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
8621 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
8622 into wonderful absurdities.
8624 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
8627 (gnus-start-date-timer)
8630 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
8631 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
8635 @kindex W T o (Summary)
8636 @findex gnus-article-date-original
8637 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
8638 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
8639 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
8640 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
8641 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
8645 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
8646 preferred format automatically.
8649 @node Article Display
8650 @subsection Article Display
8655 These commands add various frivolous display gimmics to the article
8656 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
8658 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
8659 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
8661 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
8662 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
8664 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
8665 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
8667 All these functions are toggles--if the elements already exist,
8672 @kindex W D x (Summary)
8673 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
8674 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
8675 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
8678 @kindex W D s (Summary)
8679 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
8680 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
8683 @kindex W D f (Summary)
8684 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
8685 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
8688 @kindex W D m (Summary)
8689 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
8690 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
8691 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
8694 @kindex W D n (Summary)
8695 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
8696 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
8697 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
8700 @kindex W D D (Summary)
8701 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
8702 Remove all images from the article buffer
8703 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
8709 @node Article Signature
8710 @subsection Article Signature
8712 @cindex article signature
8714 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8715 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
8716 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
8717 that says what is to be considered a signature is
8718 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
8719 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
8720 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
8721 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
8722 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
8725 (setq gnus-signature-separator
8726 '("^-- $" ; The standard
8727 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
8728 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
8729 ; line of dashes. Shame!
8730 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
8731 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
8732 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
8735 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
8738 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
8739 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
8740 signature when displaying articles.
8744 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
8747 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
8750 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
8751 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
8753 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
8754 in question is not a signature.
8757 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
8758 listed above. Here's an example:
8761 (setq gnus-signature-limit
8762 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
8765 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
8766 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
8767 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
8768 signature after all.
8771 @node Article Miscellania
8772 @subsection Article Miscellania
8776 @kindex A t (Summary)
8777 @findex gnus-article-babel
8778 Translate the article from one language to another
8779 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
8785 @section MIME Commands
8786 @cindex MIME decoding
8788 @cindex viewing attachments
8790 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
8791 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
8797 @kindex K v (Summary)
8798 View the @sc{mime} part.
8801 @kindex K o (Summary)
8802 Save the @sc{mime} part.
8805 @kindex K c (Summary)
8806 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
8809 @kindex K e (Summary)
8810 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
8813 @kindex K i (Summary)
8814 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
8817 @kindex K | (Summary)
8818 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
8821 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
8826 @kindex K b (Summary)
8827 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
8828 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
8832 @kindex K m (Summary)
8833 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
8834 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
8835 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
8836 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
8837 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
8840 @kindex X m (Summary)
8841 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
8842 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
8843 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
8844 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8847 @kindex M-t (Summary)
8848 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
8849 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
8850 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
8853 @kindex W M w (Summary)
8854 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
8855 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
8856 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
8859 @kindex W M c (Summary)
8860 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
8861 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
8862 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
8864 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
8865 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
8866 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
8867 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
8868 include @sc{mime} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
8869 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
8872 @kindex W M v (Summary)
8873 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
8874 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
8875 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
8882 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
8883 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
8884 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8885 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
8888 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
8891 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
8895 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8896 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8897 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8898 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
8899 displayed or this variable is overriden by
8900 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
8903 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
8904 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
8905 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8906 this list will have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
8907 displayed. This variable overrides
8908 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
8910 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
8911 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
8912 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
8914 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
8915 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
8916 If this is non-nil, then all @sc{mime} parts get buttons. The default
8917 value is @code{nil}.
8919 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
8920 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
8921 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
8922 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
8923 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
8924 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
8925 save all jpegs into some directory).
8927 Here's an example function the does the latter:
8930 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
8931 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
8933 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
8934 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
8935 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
8936 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
8937 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
8940 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8941 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8942 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
8944 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
8945 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
8946 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @sc{mime} parts.
8947 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
8949 Ready-made functions include@*
8950 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
8951 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
8952 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
8953 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
8954 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
8955 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
8956 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
8957 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
8958 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
8959 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
8960 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
8961 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
8963 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
8964 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
8966 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
8967 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
8968 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
8971 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
8972 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
8973 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
8974 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
8978 to your @file{.gnus} file.
8987 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
8988 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
8989 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
8990 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
8991 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
8992 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
8993 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
8995 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
8996 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
8997 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
8998 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
9000 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
9001 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
9002 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
9003 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
9004 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
9005 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
9006 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
9007 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
9009 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
9010 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
9011 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
9012 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
9013 quoted-printable header encoding.
9015 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
9016 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
9017 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
9021 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
9024 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
9025 means encode all charsets),
9027 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
9028 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
9029 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
9036 @cindex coding system aliases
9037 @cindex preferred charset
9039 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
9041 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
9042 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
9045 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
9046 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
9049 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
9050 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
9052 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
9055 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
9058 This will almost do the right thing.
9060 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
9064 (codepage-setup 1251)
9065 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
9069 @node Article Commands
9070 @section Article Commands
9077 @kindex A P (Summary)
9078 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
9079 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
9080 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
9081 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
9082 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
9083 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
9088 @node Summary Sorting
9089 @section Summary Sorting
9090 @cindex summary sorting
9092 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
9093 can't really see why you'd want that.
9098 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
9099 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
9100 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
9103 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
9104 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
9105 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
9108 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
9109 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
9110 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
9113 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
9114 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
9115 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
9118 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
9119 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
9120 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
9123 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
9124 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
9125 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
9128 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
9129 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
9130 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
9133 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
9134 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
9135 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
9138 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
9139 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
9140 Sort using the default sorting method
9141 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
9144 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
9145 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
9146 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
9147 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
9148 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
9152 @node Finding the Parent
9153 @section Finding the Parent
9154 @cindex parent articles
9155 @cindex referring articles
9160 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
9161 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
9162 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
9163 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
9164 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
9165 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
9166 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
9167 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
9168 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
9170 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
9171 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
9172 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, gnus will fetch the parent, the
9173 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
9174 @kbd{-3 ^}, gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
9178 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
9179 @kindex A R (Summary)
9180 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
9181 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
9184 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
9185 @kindex A T (Summary)
9186 Display the full thread where the current article appears
9187 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
9188 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
9189 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
9190 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
9191 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
9192 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
9194 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
9195 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
9196 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
9197 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
9198 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
9199 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
9202 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
9203 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
9205 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
9206 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
9207 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
9208 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
9209 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
9210 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
9211 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
9214 The current select method will be used when fetching by
9215 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
9216 by giving this command a prefix.
9218 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
9219 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
9220 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
9221 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
9222 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
9223 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
9226 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
9227 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
9228 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
9231 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
9232 then ask Google if that fails:
9235 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
9237 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
9240 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
9241 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
9242 @code{nnbabyl}, and @code{nnmaildir} are able to locate articles from
9243 any groups, while @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
9244 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current group.
9245 (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not
9246 support this at all.
9249 @node Alternative Approaches
9250 @section Alternative Approaches
9252 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
9253 gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
9256 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
9257 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
9262 @subsection Pick and Read
9263 @cindex pick and read
9265 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
9266 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
9267 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
9268 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
9270 @findex gnus-pick-mode
9271 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
9272 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
9273 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
9274 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
9275 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
9277 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
9282 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
9283 Pick the article or thread on the current line
9284 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9285 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
9286 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
9287 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
9288 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
9289 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
9292 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
9293 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
9294 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
9295 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
9299 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
9300 Unpick the thread or article
9301 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9302 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
9303 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
9304 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
9305 the thread or article at that line.
9309 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
9310 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
9311 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
9312 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
9313 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
9314 will still be visible when you are reading.
9318 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
9319 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
9320 which is mapped to the same function
9321 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
9323 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
9326 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
9329 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
9330 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
9332 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
9333 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
9334 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
9336 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
9337 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
9338 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
9339 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
9340 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
9341 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
9342 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
9346 @subsection Binary Groups
9347 @cindex binary groups
9349 @findex gnus-binary-mode
9350 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
9351 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
9352 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
9353 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
9354 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
9355 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
9358 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
9359 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
9360 command, when you have turned on this mode
9361 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
9363 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
9364 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
9368 @section Tree Display
9371 @vindex gnus-use-trees
9372 If you don't like the normal gnus summary display, you might try setting
9373 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
9374 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
9377 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
9380 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
9381 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
9382 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
9384 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9385 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9386 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
9387 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
9388 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
9390 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
9391 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
9392 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
9393 default is @code{modeline}.
9395 @item gnus-tree-line-format
9396 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
9397 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
9398 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
9399 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
9400 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
9401 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
9407 The name of the poster.
9409 The @code{From} header.
9411 The number of the article.
9413 The opening bracket.
9415 The closing bracket.
9420 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
9422 Variables related to the display are:
9425 @item gnus-tree-brackets
9426 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
9427 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
9428 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
9429 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
9430 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
9432 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9433 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9434 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
9435 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
9439 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
9440 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
9441 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, gnus will try to keep the tree
9442 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other gnus
9443 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
9444 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
9445 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
9446 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
9447 other windows displayed next to it.
9449 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
9453 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
9454 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
9457 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
9458 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
9459 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9460 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
9461 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
9462 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
9463 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
9467 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
9470 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
9480 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
9484 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
9485 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
9487 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
9489 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
9494 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
9495 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
9496 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
9499 (setq gnus-use-trees t
9500 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9501 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
9502 (gnus-add-configuration
9506 (summary 0.75 point)
9511 @xref{Window Layout}.
9514 @node Mail Group Commands
9515 @section Mail Group Commands
9516 @cindex mail group commands
9518 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
9519 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
9521 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
9522 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9527 @kindex B e (Summary)
9528 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
9529 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
9530 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
9531 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
9532 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
9535 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
9536 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
9537 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
9538 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
9539 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
9540 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
9543 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
9544 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
9545 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
9546 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
9547 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
9548 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
9551 @kindex B m (Summary)
9553 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
9554 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
9555 Move the article from one mail group to another
9556 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9557 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9560 @kindex B c (Summary)
9562 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
9563 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
9564 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
9565 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9566 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9569 @kindex B B (Summary)
9570 @cindex crosspost mail
9571 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
9572 Crosspost the current article to some other group
9573 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
9574 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
9575 be properly updated.
9578 @kindex B i (Summary)
9579 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
9580 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
9581 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
9582 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9585 @kindex B I (Summary)
9586 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
9587 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
9588 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
9589 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9592 @kindex B r (Summary)
9593 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
9594 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
9595 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
9596 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
9597 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
9598 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
9599 (which is the default).
9603 @kindex B w (Summary)
9605 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
9606 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
9607 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
9608 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
9609 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
9610 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
9611 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, gnus won't re-highlight the article.
9614 @kindex B q (Summary)
9615 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
9616 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
9617 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
9618 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
9621 @kindex B t (Summary)
9622 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
9623 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
9624 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
9627 @kindex B p (Summary)
9628 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
9629 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
9630 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
9631 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
9632 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
9633 article from your news server (or rather, from
9634 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
9635 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
9636 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
9637 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
9638 just not have arrived yet.
9641 @kindex K E (Summary)
9642 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
9643 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
9644 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
9645 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
9646 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
9650 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
9651 @cindex moving articles
9652 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have gnus
9653 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
9654 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
9655 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
9656 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
9657 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
9658 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
9661 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
9662 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
9663 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
9664 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
9668 @node Various Summary Stuff
9669 @section Various Summary Stuff
9672 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
9673 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
9674 * Summary Generation Commands::
9675 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
9679 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
9680 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
9681 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
9683 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
9684 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
9685 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
9686 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
9687 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
9688 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
9691 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9692 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9693 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
9694 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
9695 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
9697 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9698 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9699 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
9702 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9703 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9704 When gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
9705 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
9706 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
9707 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
9708 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), gnus will rename the
9709 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
9710 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
9711 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
9713 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9714 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9715 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
9716 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
9717 list of articles to be selected.
9719 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
9720 the list in one particular group:
9723 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
9724 (if (string= group "some.group")
9725 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
9729 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
9730 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
9731 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
9732 variables and their default values (when the default values are not
9733 nil), that should be made global while the summary buffer is active.
9734 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
9735 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
9736 buffers. For example:
9739 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
9740 '(message-use-followup-to
9741 (gnus-visible-headers .
9742 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
9748 @node Summary Group Information
9749 @subsection Summary Group Information
9754 @kindex H f (Summary)
9755 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
9756 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
9757 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
9758 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
9759 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
9760 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
9761 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
9762 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
9763 be used for fetching the file.
9766 @kindex H d (Summary)
9767 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
9768 Give a brief description of the current group
9769 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
9770 rereading the description from the server.
9773 @kindex H h (Summary)
9774 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
9775 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
9776 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
9779 @kindex H i (Summary)
9780 @findex gnus-info-find-node
9781 Go to the gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
9785 @node Searching for Articles
9786 @subsection Searching for Articles
9791 @kindex M-s (Summary)
9792 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
9793 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
9794 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
9797 @kindex M-r (Summary)
9798 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
9799 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
9800 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
9804 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
9805 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
9806 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
9807 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
9808 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
9809 search backward instead.
9811 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
9812 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
9815 @kindex M-& (Summary)
9816 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
9817 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
9818 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
9821 @node Summary Generation Commands
9822 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
9827 @kindex Y g (Summary)
9828 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
9829 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
9832 @kindex Y c (Summary)
9833 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
9834 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
9835 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
9840 @node Really Various Summary Commands
9841 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
9847 @kindex C-d (Summary)
9848 @kindex A D (Summary)
9849 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
9850 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
9851 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
9852 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
9853 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
9854 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
9855 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
9856 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
9860 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
9861 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
9862 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
9863 several documents into one biiig group
9864 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
9865 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
9866 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
9867 command understands the process/prefix convention
9868 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9871 @kindex C-t (Summary)
9872 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
9873 Toggle truncation of summary lines
9874 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
9875 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
9876 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
9880 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
9881 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
9882 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
9885 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
9886 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
9887 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
9888 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
9891 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
9892 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
9893 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
9894 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
9899 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
9900 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
9901 @cindex summary exit
9902 @cindex exiting groups
9904 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
9905 group and return you to the group buffer.
9911 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
9913 @findex gnus-summary-exit
9914 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
9915 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
9916 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
9917 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
9918 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
9919 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
9920 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
9921 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
9922 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
9923 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
9927 @kindex Z E (Summary)
9929 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
9930 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
9931 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
9935 @kindex Z c (Summary)
9937 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
9938 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
9939 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
9940 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
9943 @kindex Z C (Summary)
9944 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
9945 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
9946 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
9949 @kindex Z n (Summary)
9950 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
9951 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
9952 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
9955 @kindex Z R (Summary)
9956 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
9957 Exit this group, and then enter it again
9958 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
9959 all articles, both read and unread.
9963 @kindex Z G (Summary)
9964 @kindex M-g (Summary)
9965 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
9966 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
9967 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
9968 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
9969 articles, both read and unread.
9972 @kindex Z N (Summary)
9973 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
9974 Exit the group and go to the next group
9975 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
9978 @kindex Z P (Summary)
9979 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
9980 Exit the group and go to the previous group
9981 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
9984 @kindex Z s (Summary)
9985 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
9986 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
9987 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
9988 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
9989 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
9992 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
9993 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
9994 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
9995 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
9997 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
9998 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
9999 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
10000 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
10001 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
10002 If you do that, gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
10003 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
10004 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
10005 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
10006 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
10007 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
10008 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
10010 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
10012 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
10013 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
10014 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
10015 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
10016 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
10017 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
10018 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
10019 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
10020 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
10023 @node Crosspost Handling
10024 @section Crosspost Handling
10028 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
10029 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
10030 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
10031 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
10032 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
10033 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
10036 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
10037 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
10038 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
10039 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
10040 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
10042 @cindex cross-posting
10045 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
10046 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
10047 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
10048 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
10049 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
10050 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
10051 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
10052 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
10053 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
10054 the cross reference mechanism.
10056 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
10057 @cindex overview.fmt
10058 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
10059 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
10060 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
10061 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
10062 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
10063 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
10066 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
10067 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
10068 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
10073 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
10076 @node Duplicate Suppression
10077 @section Duplicate Suppression
10079 By default, gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
10080 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
10081 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
10082 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
10087 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
10088 is evil and not very common.
10091 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
10092 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
10095 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
10096 different @sc{nntp} servers.
10099 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
10102 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
10103 well, but these four are the most common situations.
10105 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
10106 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
10107 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
10108 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
10109 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
10110 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
10111 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
10114 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
10115 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
10116 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
10117 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
10118 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
10119 saw the article in.
10122 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
10123 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
10124 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
10126 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
10127 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
10128 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
10129 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
10130 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single gnus
10131 session are suppressed.
10133 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
10134 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
10135 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
10136 suppression list. The default is 10000.
10138 @item gnus-duplicate-file
10139 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
10140 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
10141 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
10144 If you have a tendency to stop and start gnus often, setting
10145 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
10146 you leave gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
10147 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
10148 so that means that if you stop and start gnus often, you should set
10149 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
10150 to you to figure out, I think.
10155 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
10156 The formats that are supported are PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} and @sc{s/mime},
10157 however you need some external programs to get things to work:
10161 To handle PGP messages, you have to install mailcrypt or gpg.el as
10162 well as a OpenPGP implementation (such as GnuPG).
10165 To handle @sc{s/mime} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
10166 or newer is recommended.
10170 More information on how to set things up can be found in the message
10171 manual (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
10174 @item mm-verify-option
10175 @vindex mm-verify-option
10176 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
10177 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
10178 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10180 @item mm-decrypt-option
10181 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
10182 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
10183 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
10184 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10189 @section Mailing List
10191 @kindex A M (summary)
10192 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
10193 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
10194 either add a `to-list' group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
10195 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
10196 summary buffer, or say:
10199 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-mailing-list-mode)
10202 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
10207 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
10208 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
10209 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
10212 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
10213 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
10214 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
10217 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
10218 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
10219 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
10223 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
10224 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
10225 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
10228 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
10229 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10230 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
10233 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
10234 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10235 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
10239 @node Article Buffer
10240 @chapter Article Buffer
10241 @cindex article buffer
10243 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
10244 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
10245 tell gnus otherwise.
10248 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
10249 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
10250 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
10251 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
10252 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
10256 @node Hiding Headers
10257 @section Hiding Headers
10258 @cindex hiding headers
10259 @cindex deleting headers
10261 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
10262 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
10264 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
10265 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
10266 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
10267 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
10268 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
10269 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
10270 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
10271 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
10272 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
10274 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
10278 @item gnus-visible-headers
10279 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
10280 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
10281 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
10282 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
10284 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
10285 the article and the subject, you'd say:
10288 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
10291 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10294 @item gnus-ignored-headers
10295 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
10296 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
10297 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
10298 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
10299 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
10301 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} field
10302 and the @code{Xref} field, you might say:
10305 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
10308 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10311 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
10312 variable will have no effect.
10316 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
10317 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
10318 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
10319 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
10320 the headers are to be displayed.
10322 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
10323 and then the subject, you might say something like:
10326 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
10329 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
10330 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
10332 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
10333 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
10334 You can hide further boring headers by setting
10335 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
10336 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
10337 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
10338 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
10341 These conditions are:
10344 Remove all empty headers.
10346 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
10347 @code{Newsgroups} header.
10349 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
10350 @code{From} header.
10352 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
10355 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10356 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
10358 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
10361 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
10363 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
10366 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
10369 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
10370 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
10373 This is also the default value for this variable.
10377 @section Using MIME
10380 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
10381 while people stand around yawning.
10383 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
10384 while all newsreaders die of fear.
10386 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
10387 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
10388 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
10390 @vindex gnus-show-mime
10391 @vindex gnus-article-display-method-for-mime
10392 @findex gnus-article-display-mime-message
10393 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
10394 @code{gnus-article-display-method-for-mime}, which is
10395 @code{gnus-article-display-mime-message} by default. This function
10396 calls the @sc{semi} MIME-View program to actually do the work. For more
10397 information on @sc{semi} MIME-View, see its manual page (however it is
10398 not existed yet, sorry).
10400 Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
10401 @sc{mime} all the time. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime} set, then
10402 you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article buffer.
10403 These can't be avoided.
10405 In GNUS or Gnus, it might be best to just use the toggling functions
10406 from the summary buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance,
10407 you enter the group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it,
10408 @sc{mime} has decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible
10409 sing-a-long song comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find
10410 the volume button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to
10411 look at you, and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you
10412 can't find the program to control the volume, and everybody else in the
10413 room suddenly decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel
10416 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
10418 To avoid such kind of situation, gnus stops to use
10419 @code{metamail-buffer}. So now, you can set @code{gnus-show-mime} to
10420 non-@code{nil} every-time, then you can push button in the article
10421 buffer when there are nobody else.
10423 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
10426 @node Customizing Articles
10427 @section Customizing Articles
10428 @cindex article customization
10430 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
10431 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
10432 called automatically when you select the articles.
10434 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
10435 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
10436 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
10437 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
10439 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
10440 for sensible values.
10444 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
10447 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
10450 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
10453 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
10456 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
10460 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
10461 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
10462 regexps in the list.
10465 A list where the first element is not a string:
10467 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
10468 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
10469 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
10473 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
10477 @code{mime}: Do this treatment if the value of @code{gnus-show-mime}' is
10482 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
10483 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
10484 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
10485 considered to contain just a single part.
10487 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
10488 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
10489 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
10490 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
10491 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
10492 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
10493 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
10495 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
10496 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
10497 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
10498 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
10501 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
10502 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
10504 @xref{Article Buttons}.
10506 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
10507 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
10508 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
10509 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
10510 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
10511 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
10512 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
10513 @item gnus-treat-strip-pgp (t, last, integer)
10514 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
10515 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
10516 @item gnus-treat-decode-article-as-default-mime-charset (t, integer)
10518 @xref{Article Washing}.
10520 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
10521 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
10522 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
10523 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
10524 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
10525 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
10526 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
10528 @xref{Article Date}.
10530 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
10531 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
10532 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
10536 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
10538 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
10540 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
10541 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
10542 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
10546 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
10550 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
10551 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
10552 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
10553 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
10554 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
10555 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
10556 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
10557 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
10559 @xref{Article Hiding}.
10561 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
10562 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
10563 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
10565 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
10567 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
10568 @item gnus-treat-translate
10569 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
10571 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
10572 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
10573 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
10574 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
10576 @xref{Article Header}.
10581 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
10582 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
10583 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
10584 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
10585 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
10589 @node Article Keymap
10590 @section Article Keymap
10592 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
10593 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
10594 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
10595 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
10598 A few additional keystrokes are available:
10603 @kindex SPACE (Article)
10604 @findex gnus-article-next-page
10605 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
10608 @kindex DEL (Article)
10609 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
10610 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
10613 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
10614 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
10615 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
10616 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
10617 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
10620 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
10621 @findex gnus-article-mail
10622 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
10623 given a prefix, include the mail.
10626 @kindex s (Article)
10627 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
10628 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
10629 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
10632 @kindex ? (Article)
10633 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
10634 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
10635 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
10638 @kindex TAB (Article)
10639 @findex gnus-article-next-button
10640 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
10641 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
10644 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
10645 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
10646 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
10649 @kindex R (Article)
10650 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
10651 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
10652 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If given a prefix, make a
10653 wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10657 @kindex F (Article)
10658 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
10659 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
10660 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If given a prefix, make
10661 a wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10669 @section Misc Article
10673 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
10674 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
10675 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
10676 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
10679 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
10680 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
10682 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
10683 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
10685 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
10686 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
10687 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
10688 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
10689 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
10690 the contents of the article buffer.
10692 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
10693 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
10694 Hook called in article mode buffers.
10696 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10697 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10698 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
10699 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
10701 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
10702 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
10703 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
10704 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
10705 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
10711 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
10712 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
10713 performed. The characters and their meaning:
10718 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
10721 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
10724 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
10725 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
10726 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
10729 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
10732 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
10735 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
10740 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
10744 @vindex gnus-break-pages
10746 @item gnus-break-pages
10747 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
10748 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
10749 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
10750 paging will not be done.
10752 @item gnus-page-delimiter
10753 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
10754 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
10759 @node Composing Messages
10760 @chapter Composing Messages
10761 @cindex composing messages
10764 @cindex sending mail
10769 @cindex using s/mime
10770 @cindex using smime
10772 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
10773 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
10774 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
10775 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
10776 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
10777 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
10780 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
10781 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
10782 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
10783 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
10784 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
10785 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
10786 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
10787 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
10790 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
10791 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
10797 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
10800 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
10801 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
10802 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
10803 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
10804 @code{nil} include all headers.
10806 @item gnus-add-to-list
10807 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
10808 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
10809 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
10811 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
10812 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
10813 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus requests confirmation when replying to news.
10814 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
10815 press R anyway, this variable might be for you.
10820 @node Posting Server
10821 @section Posting Server
10823 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
10824 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
10826 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
10828 It can be quite complicated.
10830 @vindex gnus-post-method
10831 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
10832 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
10833 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
10834 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
10835 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
10836 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
10837 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
10838 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
10839 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
10842 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
10845 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
10846 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
10847 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
10848 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
10850 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
10851 gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
10853 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
10854 If that's the case, gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
10857 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
10858 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
10860 When sending mail, Message invokes @code{message-send-mail-function}.
10861 The default function, @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, pipes
10862 your article to the @code{sendmail} binary for further queuing and
10863 sending. When your local system is not configured for sending mail
10864 using @code{sendmail}, and you have access to a remote @sc{smtp}
10865 server, you can set @code{message-send-mail-function} to
10866 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and make sure to setup the @code{smtpmail}
10867 package correctly. An example:
10870 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
10871 smtpmail-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
10874 To the thing similar to this, there is @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}.
10875 It is useful if your ISP requires the POP-before-SMTP authentication.
10876 See the documentation for the function @code{mail-source-touch-pop}.
10878 Other possible choises for @code{message-send-mail-function} includes
10879 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
10880 and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
10882 @node Mail and Post
10883 @section Mail and Post
10885 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
10889 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
10890 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
10891 @cindex mailing lists
10893 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
10894 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
10895 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
10896 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
10897 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
10898 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
10899 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
10900 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
10901 still a pain, though.
10905 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
10906 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
10907 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
10910 @findex ispell-message
10912 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
10915 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
10916 you're in, you could say something like the following:
10919 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
10923 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
10924 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
10926 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
10929 Modify to suit your needs.
10932 @node Archived Messages
10933 @section Archived Messages
10934 @cindex archived messages
10935 @cindex sent messages
10937 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
10938 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
10939 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
10940 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
10943 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
10944 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
10947 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
10948 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server gnus is to
10949 use to store sent messages. The default is:
10952 (nnfolder "archive"
10953 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
10954 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
10955 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
10956 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
10959 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
10960 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
10961 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
10962 directory chosen, you could say something like:
10965 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
10966 '(nnfolder "archive"
10967 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
10968 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
10969 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
10972 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
10974 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
10975 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
10976 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
10978 This variable can be used to do the following:
10983 Messages will be saved in that group.
10985 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
10986 message will not be stored in the select method given by
10987 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
10988 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
10989 has the default value shown above. Then setting
10990 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
10991 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
10992 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
10996 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
10998 an alist of regexps, functions and forms
10999 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
11002 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
11007 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
11009 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
11012 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
11014 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
11017 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
11019 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11020 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
11021 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
11022 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
11025 More complex stuff:
11027 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11028 '((if (message-news-p)
11033 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
11034 messages in one file per month:
11037 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11038 '((if (message-news-p)
11040 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
11043 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
11044 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
11046 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
11047 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
11048 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
11049 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
11050 gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
11051 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
11052 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
11053 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
11054 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
11055 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
11057 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
11058 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
11059 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
11060 this will disable archiving.
11063 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
11064 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
11065 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
11066 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
11067 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
11070 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
11071 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
11072 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
11075 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
11076 but the latter is the preferred method.
11078 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11079 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11080 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
11082 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11083 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11084 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
11085 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
11086 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
11087 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
11088 changed in the future.
11093 @node Posting Styles
11094 @section Posting Styles
11095 @cindex posting styles
11098 All them variables, they make my head swim.
11100 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
11101 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
11102 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
11105 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
11106 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
11107 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
11108 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
11109 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
11114 (signature "Peace and happiness")
11115 (organization "What me?"))
11117 (signature "Death to everybody"))
11118 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
11119 (organization "Emacs is it")))
11122 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
11123 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
11124 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
11125 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
11126 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
11127 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
11128 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
11129 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
11131 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
11132 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
11133 If it is the form @code{(header MATCH REGEXP)}, then Gnus will look in
11134 the original article for a header whose name is MATCH and compare that
11135 REGEXP. MATCH and REGEXP are strings. (There original article is the
11136 one you are replying or following up to. If you are not composing a
11137 reply or a followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
11138 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with no
11139 arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
11140 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
11141 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
11144 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
11145 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
11146 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
11147 @code{x-face-file}, @code{address} (overriding
11148 @code{user-mail-address}), @code{name} (overriding
11149 @code{(user-full-name)}) or @code{body}. The attribute name can also
11150 be a string or a symbol. In that case, this will be used as a header
11151 name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the article; if
11152 the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed. If the
11153 attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the result
11156 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
11157 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
11158 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
11159 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
11160 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
11161 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
11162 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
11163 references chars lines xref extra.
11165 @vindex message-reply-headers
11167 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
11168 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
11169 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
11171 @findex message-mail-p
11172 @findex message-news-p
11174 So here's a new example:
11177 (setq gnus-posting-styles
11179 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11181 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11182 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11184 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
11185 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; A form
11186 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
11187 (message-news-p ;; A function symbol
11188 (signature my-news-signature))
11189 (window-system ;; A value symbol
11190 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
11191 ;; If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.
11192 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
11193 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
11194 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; A user defined function
11195 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
11196 (address "user@@bar.foo")
11197 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
11198 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
11200 (From (save-excursion
11201 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
11202 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
11204 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
11207 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
11208 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
11209 if you fill many roles.
11211 Setting the @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} variable will make
11212 posting-styles allow to have distinctive names. You can specify an
11213 arbitrary posting-style when article posting with @kbd{S P} in the
11214 summary buffer. @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} is an alist which maps
11215 the names to styles. Once a posting-style is added to the alist, we can
11216 import it from @code{gnus-posting-styles}. If an attribute whose name
11217 is @code{import} is found, Gnus will look for the attribute value in
11218 @code{gnus-named-posting-styles} and expand it in place.
11223 (setq gnus-named-posting-styles
11225 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11227 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11228 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11231 (organization "The Church of Emacs"))))
11234 The posting-style named "Emacs" will inherit all the attributes from
11235 "Default" except @code{organization}.
11242 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
11243 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
11244 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
11245 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
11246 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
11248 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
11249 some sort using the gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
11250 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
11251 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
11252 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
11256 @vindex nndraft-directory
11257 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
11258 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
11259 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
11260 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
11261 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
11262 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
11264 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
11265 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
11268 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
11269 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
11270 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
11271 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
11272 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
11273 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
11274 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
11275 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
11276 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
11277 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
11278 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
11279 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
11280 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
11281 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
11283 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
11284 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
11285 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
11287 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
11288 @kindex D e (Draft)
11289 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
11290 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
11291 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
11293 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
11296 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
11297 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
11298 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
11299 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
11300 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
11301 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
11302 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
11305 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
11306 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
11307 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
11310 @node Rejected Articles
11311 @section Rejected Articles
11312 @cindex rejected articles
11314 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
11315 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
11316 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
11317 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
11319 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of gnus.
11320 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
11321 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
11322 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So gnus saves these
11323 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
11325 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
11326 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
11327 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
11329 @node Signing and encrypting
11330 @section Signing and encrypting
11332 @cindex using s/mime
11333 @cindex using smime
11335 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla PGP
11336 format or @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}. For decoding such messages,
11337 see the @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} options
11338 (@pxref{Security}).
11340 For PGP, Gnus supports two external libraries, @sc{gpg.el} and
11341 @sc{Mailcrypt}, you need to install at least one of them. The
11342 @sc{s/mime} support in Gnus requires the external program OpenSSL.
11344 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
11345 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
11346 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
11347 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
11348 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
11349 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
11350 automatically encrypted messages.
11352 Instructing MML to perform security operations on a @sc{mime} part is
11353 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c
11354 C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
11359 @kindex C-c C-m s s
11360 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
11362 Digitally sign current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11365 @kindex C-c C-m s o
11366 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11368 Digitally sign current message using PGP.
11371 @kindex C-c C-m s p
11372 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11374 Digitally sign current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11377 @kindex C-c C-m c s
11378 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
11380 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11383 @kindex C-c C-m c o
11384 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
11386 Digitally encrypt current message using PGP.
11389 @kindex C-c C-m c p
11390 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
11392 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11395 @kindex C-c C-m C-n
11396 @findex mml-unsecure-message
11397 Remove security related MML tags from message.
11401 Also @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}.
11403 @node Select Methods
11404 @chapter Select Methods
11405 @cindex foreign groups
11406 @cindex select methods
11408 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
11409 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
11410 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
11411 personal mail group.
11413 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
11414 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
11415 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
11416 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
11417 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
11418 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
11420 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
11421 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
11423 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
11426 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
11427 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
11428 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
11429 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
11430 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
11432 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
11435 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
11436 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
11437 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
11438 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
11439 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
11440 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
11441 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
11442 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
11446 @node Server Buffer
11447 @section Server Buffer
11449 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
11450 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
11451 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
11452 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
11453 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
11454 back end represents a virtual server.
11456 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
11457 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
11458 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
11459 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
11461 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
11462 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
11463 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
11464 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
11465 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
11466 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
11467 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
11469 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
11470 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
11473 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
11474 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
11475 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
11476 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
11477 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
11478 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
11479 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
11482 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
11483 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
11486 @node Server Buffer Format
11487 @subsection Server Buffer Format
11488 @cindex server buffer format
11490 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
11491 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
11492 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
11493 variable, with some simple extensions:
11498 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
11501 The name of this server.
11504 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
11507 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
11510 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
11511 The mode line can also be customized by using the
11512 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
11513 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
11523 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
11526 @node Server Commands
11527 @subsection Server Commands
11528 @cindex server commands
11534 @findex gnus-server-add-server
11535 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
11539 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
11540 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
11543 @kindex SPACE (Server)
11544 @findex gnus-server-read-server
11545 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
11549 @findex gnus-server-exit
11550 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
11554 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
11555 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
11559 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
11560 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
11564 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
11565 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
11569 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
11570 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
11574 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
11575 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
11576 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
11581 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
11582 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
11583 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
11584 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
11589 @node Example Methods
11590 @subsection Example Methods
11592 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
11595 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
11598 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
11604 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
11605 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
11608 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
11609 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
11611 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
11612 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
11616 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
11619 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
11620 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
11622 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
11623 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
11624 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
11628 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
11631 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
11634 Here's the method for a public spool:
11638 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
11639 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
11645 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
11646 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
11647 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
11648 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
11649 should probably look something like this:
11653 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
11654 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
11655 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
11656 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11659 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
11660 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
11661 configuration to the example above:
11664 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
11667 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}.
11669 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
11670 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
11671 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
11675 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
11676 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
11677 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
11678 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11681 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
11682 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
11683 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
11684 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
11687 @node Creating a Virtual Server
11688 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
11690 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
11691 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
11693 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
11694 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
11695 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
11697 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
11699 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
11700 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
11701 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
11702 will contain the following:
11712 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
11713 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
11714 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
11717 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
11718 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
11719 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
11722 @node Server Variables
11723 @subsection Server Variables
11725 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
11726 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
11727 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
11728 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
11729 won't change the "derived" variables.
11731 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
11732 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
11733 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
11734 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
11735 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
11736 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
11737 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
11738 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
11739 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
11743 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
11744 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
11745 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
11749 @node Servers and Methods
11750 @subsection Servers and Methods
11752 Wherever you would normally use a select method
11753 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
11754 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
11755 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
11759 @node Unavailable Servers
11760 @subsection Unavailable Servers
11762 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
11763 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
11764 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
11765 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
11766 actually the case or not.
11768 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
11769 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
11770 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
11771 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
11772 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
11773 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
11774 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
11775 it will regard that server as ``down''.
11777 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
11778 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
11780 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
11781 with the following commands:
11787 @findex gnus-server-open-server
11788 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
11789 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
11793 @findex gnus-server-close-server
11794 Close the connection (if any) to the server
11795 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
11799 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
11800 Mark the current server as unreachable
11801 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
11804 @kindex M-o (Server)
11805 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
11806 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
11807 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
11810 @kindex M-c (Server)
11811 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
11812 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
11813 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
11817 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
11818 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
11819 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
11823 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
11824 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
11830 @section Getting News
11831 @cindex reading news
11832 @cindex news back ends
11834 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
11835 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
11836 or it can read from a local spool.
11839 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
11840 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
11848 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
11849 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
11850 server as the, uhm, address.
11852 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
11853 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
11854 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
11855 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
11857 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
11858 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
11859 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
11861 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
11866 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
11867 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
11868 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
11870 @cindex authentification
11871 @cindex nntp authentification
11872 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
11873 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
11874 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
11875 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
11876 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
11877 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
11878 present in this hook.
11880 @item nntp-authinfo-function
11881 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
11882 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
11883 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
11884 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
11885 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
11886 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
11887 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
11888 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
11889 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
11890 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
11891 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
11895 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
11898 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
11900 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
11901 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
11902 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
11903 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
11904 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
11905 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
11906 @samp{force} is explained below.
11910 Here's an example file:
11913 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
11914 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
11917 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
11918 have to be first, for instance.
11920 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
11921 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
11922 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
11923 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
11924 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
11925 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
11926 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
11928 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
11929 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
11935 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
11936 previously mentioned.
11938 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
11940 @item nntp-server-action-alist
11941 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
11942 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
11943 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
11944 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
11947 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
11948 '(("innd" (ding))))
11951 You probably don't want to do that, though.
11953 The default value is
11956 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
11957 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
11958 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
11961 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
11962 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
11964 @item nntp-maximum-request
11965 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
11966 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this back end
11967 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
11968 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
11969 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
11970 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
11971 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
11973 @item nntp-connection-timeout
11974 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
11975 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
11976 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
11977 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
11978 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
11979 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
11980 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
11981 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
11982 no timeouts are done.
11984 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
11985 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
11986 @c @cindex PPP connections
11987 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
11988 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
11989 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
11990 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
11991 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
11992 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
11993 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
11994 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
11995 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
11996 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
11998 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
11999 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
12000 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
12001 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
12002 @c described above.
12004 @item nntp-server-hook
12005 @vindex nntp-server-hook
12006 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
12009 @item nntp-buggy-select
12010 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
12011 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
12013 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
12014 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
12015 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
12016 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
12019 @item nntp-xover-commands
12020 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
12023 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
12024 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
12028 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
12029 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
12030 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
12031 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
12032 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
12033 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
12034 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
12035 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
12036 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
12037 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
12038 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
12040 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
12041 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
12042 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
12044 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12045 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12046 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
12047 server closes connection.
12049 @item nntp-record-commands
12050 @vindex nntp-record-commands
12051 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
12052 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
12053 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
12054 that doesn't seem to work.
12056 @item nntp-open-connection-function
12057 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
12058 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
12059 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
12060 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
12061 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
12062 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
12063 indirect ones (two pre-made).
12065 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
12066 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
12067 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
12068 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
12069 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
12070 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
12071 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
12074 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
12077 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
12078 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
12080 @item nntp-list-options
12081 @vindex nntp-list-options
12082 List of newsgroup name used for a option of the LIST command to restrict
12083 the listing output to only the specified newsgroups. Each newsgroup name
12084 can be a shell-style wildcard, for instance, @dfn{fj.*}, @dfn{japan.*},
12085 etc. Fortunately, if the server can accept such a option, it will
12086 probably make gnus run faster. You may use it as a server variable as
12090 (setq gnus-select-method
12091 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12092 (nntp-list-options ("fj.*" "japan.*"))))
12095 @item nntp-options-subscribe
12096 @vindex nntp-options-subscribe
12097 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will be subscribed
12098 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12099 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12100 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12101 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12104 (setq gnus-select-method
12105 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12106 (nntp-options-subscribe "^fj\\.\\|^japan\\.")))
12109 @item nntp-options-not-subscribe
12110 @vindex nntp-options-not-subscribe
12111 Regexp matching the newsgroup names which will not be subscribed
12112 unconditionally. Use @dfn{ } instead of @dfn{$} for a regexp string.
12113 It may be effective as well as @code{nntp-list-options} even though the
12114 server could not accept a shell-style wildcard as a option of the LIST
12115 command. You may use it as a server variable as follows:
12118 (setq gnus-select-method
12119 '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"
12120 (nntp-options-not-subscribe "\\.binaries\\.")))
12125 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
12126 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
12127 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
12131 @node Direct Functions
12132 @subsubsection Direct Functions
12133 @cindex direct connection functions
12135 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
12136 between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server. The behavior of these
12137 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
12138 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12141 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
12142 @item nntp-open-network-stream
12143 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
12146 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
12147 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
12148 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12149 this you must have OpenSSL (@uref{http://www.openssl.org}) or SSLeay
12150 installed (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also
12151 need @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distribution, for instance). You then
12152 define a server as follows:
12155 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
12157 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
12158 ;; however, openssl s_client -port doesn't like named ports
12160 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12161 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
12162 (nntp-port-number 563)
12163 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12166 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
12167 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
12168 Opens a connection to an @sc{nntp} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
12169 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
12170 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
12171 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
12172 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
12173 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
12177 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12178 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
12179 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
12182 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
12183 session, which is not a good idea.
12187 @node Indirect Functions
12188 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
12189 @cindex indirect connection functions
12191 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
12192 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @sc{nntp} server.
12193 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
12194 the "via" family of connection: they're all prefixed with "via" to make
12195 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
12196 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12199 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12200 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12201 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
12202 to the real @sc{nntp} server from there. This is useful for instance if
12203 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
12205 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12208 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
12209 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
12210 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
12211 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
12213 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12214 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12215 List of strings to be used as the switches to
12216 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
12217 @samp{ssh} for `nntp-via-rlogin-command', you may set this to
12218 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
12219 this to @samp{("-t")} or @samp{("-C" "-t")} if the telnet command
12220 requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate host.
12223 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12224 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12225 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
12226 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
12228 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12231 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
12232 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
12233 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
12236 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
12237 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
12238 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
12239 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
12241 @item nntp-via-user-password
12242 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
12243 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
12245 @item nntp-via-envuser
12246 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
12247 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
12248 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
12249 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
12251 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
12252 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
12253 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
12254 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
12261 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
12266 @item nntp-via-user-name
12267 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
12268 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
12270 @item nntp-via-address
12271 @vindex nntp-via-address
12272 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
12277 @node Common Variables
12278 @subsubsection Common Variables
12280 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
12281 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
12286 @item nntp-pre-command
12287 @vindex nntp-pre-command
12288 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native connection
12289 function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream} and
12290 @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is where you would put a @samp{SOCKS}
12291 wrapper for instance.
12294 @vindex nntp-address
12295 The address of the @sc{nntp} server.
12297 @item nntp-port-number
12298 @vindex nntp-port-number
12299 Port number to connect to the @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{nntp}.
12300 If you use @sc{nntp} over @sc{ssl}, you may want to use integer ports rather
12301 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews}), because
12302 external SSL tools may not work with named ports.
12304 @item nntp-end-of-line
12305 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
12306 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
12307 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
12308 using a non native connection function.
12310 @item nntp-telnet-command
12311 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
12312 Command to use when connecting to the @sc{nntp} server through
12313 @samp{telnet}. This is NOT for an intermediate host. This is just for
12314 the real @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{telnet}.
12316 @item nntp-telnet-switches
12317 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
12318 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
12325 @subsection News Spool
12329 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
12330 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
12331 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
12334 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
12335 anything else) as the address.
12337 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
12338 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
12339 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
12340 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
12344 @item nnspool-inews-program
12345 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
12346 Program used to post an article.
12348 @item nnspool-inews-switches
12349 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
12350 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
12352 @item nnspool-spool-directory
12353 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
12354 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
12355 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
12357 @item nnspool-nov-directory
12358 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
12359 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
12360 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
12362 @item nnspool-lib-dir
12363 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
12364 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
12366 @item nnspool-active-file
12367 @vindex nnspool-active-file
12368 The path to the active file.
12370 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
12371 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
12372 The path to the group descriptions file.
12374 @item nnspool-history-file
12375 @vindex nnspool-history-file
12376 The path to the news history file.
12378 @item nnspool-active-times-file
12379 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
12380 The path to the active date file.
12382 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
12383 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
12384 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
12387 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12388 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12390 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
12391 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
12392 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
12398 @section Getting Mail
12399 @cindex reading mail
12402 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
12406 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
12407 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
12408 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
12409 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
12410 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
12411 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
12412 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
12413 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
12414 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
12415 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
12416 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
12417 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
12418 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
12422 @node Mail in a Newsreader
12423 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
12425 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
12426 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
12427 of a culture shock.
12429 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
12430 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
12432 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
12433 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
12434 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
12435 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
12437 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
12439 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
12440 deleted? How awful!
12442 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
12443 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
12444 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
12445 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
12448 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
12449 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
12450 they want to treat a message.
12452 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
12453 via @sc{smtp}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
12454 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
12455 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
12456 archived somewhere else.
12458 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
12459 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
12460 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
12461 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
12462 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
12464 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
12465 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
12466 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
12468 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
12469 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
12472 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
12473 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
12474 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
12475 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
12476 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
12478 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
12479 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
12480 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
12481 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
12482 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
12483 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
12487 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
12488 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
12490 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
12491 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
12492 and things will happen automatically.
12494 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
12495 mail" back end), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
12498 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
12501 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
12502 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
12503 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
12504 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
12505 like any other group.
12507 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
12510 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12511 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12512 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12516 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
12517 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
12518 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
12521 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
12522 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
12523 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
12526 @node Splitting Mail
12527 @subsection Splitting Mail
12528 @cindex splitting mail
12529 @cindex mail splitting
12531 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
12532 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
12533 to be split into groups.
12536 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12537 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12538 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12539 ("mail.other" "")))
12542 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
12543 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
12544 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
12545 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
12546 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
12547 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
12548 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
12551 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
12554 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
12555 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
12556 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
12557 mail belongs in that group.
12559 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
12560 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
12561 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
12562 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
12563 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
12564 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
12566 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
12567 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
12568 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
12569 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
12570 thinks should carry this mail message.
12572 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
12573 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
12574 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
12575 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
12577 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
12578 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
12579 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
12580 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
12581 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
12583 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
12586 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
12587 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
12588 links. If that's the case for you, set
12589 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
12590 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
12592 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
12593 @kindex nnmail-split-history
12594 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
12595 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
12596 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
12597 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
12600 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
12601 Header lines longer than the value of
12602 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
12605 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
12606 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
12607 By default the splitting codes MIME decodes headers so you can match
12608 on non-ASCII strings. The @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset}
12609 variable specifies the default charset for decoding. The behaviour
12610 can be turned off completely by binding
12611 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} to nil, which is useful if you
12612 want to match articles based on the raw header data.
12614 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
12615 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If
12616 you specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable
12617 @code{mail-sources} @pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}, however, then
12618 splitting does @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
12619 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-nil value to make splitting
12620 happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on other kinds
12623 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
12624 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
12625 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
12626 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
12627 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
12628 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
12629 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
12630 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
12631 month's rent money.
12635 @subsection Mail Sources
12637 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
12638 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
12642 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
12643 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
12644 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
12648 @node Mail Source Specifiers
12649 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
12651 @cindex mail server
12654 @cindex mail source
12656 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
12657 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
12662 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
12665 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
12666 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
12667 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
12670 The following mail source types are available:
12674 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
12680 The path of the file. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
12681 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
12682 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
12685 An example file mail source:
12688 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
12691 Or using the default path:
12697 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
12698 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
12699 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
12702 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
12706 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
12709 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
12713 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
12716 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
12718 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
12721 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
12725 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
12726 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
12727 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files. That is,
12728 there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that directory and
12729 groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool} will be put in
12730 the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix to be used instead
12731 of @code{.spool}.) Setting
12732 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil forces Gnus to
12733 scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful if you want
12734 to scan mail groups at a specified level.
12736 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
12737 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
12738 that to a non-nil value, then the normal splitting process is applied
12739 to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
12745 The path of the directory where the files are. There is no default
12749 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
12753 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
12754 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
12755 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
12756 predicate are considered.
12760 Script run before/after fetching mail.
12764 An example directory mail source:
12767 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
12772 Get mail from a POP server.
12778 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
12779 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
12782 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
12783 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
12784 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
12785 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
12786 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
12789 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
12793 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
12797 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
12798 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
12801 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
12804 The valid format specifier characters are:
12808 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
12809 included in this string.
12812 The name of the server.
12815 The port number of the server.
12818 The user name to use.
12821 The password to use.
12824 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
12825 corresponding keywords.
12828 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
12829 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
12832 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
12833 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
12836 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
12837 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
12840 @item :authentication
12841 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
12842 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
12846 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this can be the symbol
12847 @code{ssl}, the symbol @code{tls} or others. The default is @code{nil}
12848 and use insecure connections. Note that for SSL/TLS, you need external
12849 programs and libraries:
12853 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL@. Requires OpenSSL (the program
12854 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
12855 library @samp{ssl.el}.
12857 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to SSL)@.
12858 Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
12863 Non-@code{nil} if mail is to be left on the server and UIDL used for
12864 message retrieval. The default is @code{nil}.
12868 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
12869 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
12871 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
12872 default user name, and default fetcher:
12878 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
12881 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
12882 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
12885 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
12888 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
12892 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
12893 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
12894 contains exactly one mail.
12900 The path of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
12901 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
12904 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
12905 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
12907 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
12908 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
12909 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
12912 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
12913 from locking problems).
12917 Two example maildir mail sources:
12920 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
12921 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
12925 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
12930 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
12931 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
12932 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
12933 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
12936 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, SSL/TLS and STARTTLS support you
12937 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
12943 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
12944 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
12947 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
12948 @samp{993} for SSL/TLS connections.
12951 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
12955 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
12959 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
12960 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
12961 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{ssl},
12962 @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
12964 @item :authentication
12965 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
12966 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
12967 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
12968 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
12971 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
12972 mapped into the `imap-shell-program' variable. This should be a
12973 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
12979 The valid format specifier characters are:
12983 The name of the server.
12986 User name from `imap-default-user'.
12989 The port number of the server.
12992 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
12993 corresponding keywords.
12996 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
12997 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
13000 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
13001 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
13002 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
13003 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
13004 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
13005 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
13008 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
13009 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
13010 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
13011 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
13014 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
13015 after finishing the fetch.
13019 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
13022 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
13024 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
13028 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{www.hotmail.com},
13029 @uref{webmail.netscape.com}, @uref{www.netaddress.com},
13030 @uref{mail.yahoo..com}.
13032 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
13033 required for url "4.0pre.46".
13035 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
13041 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
13042 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
13045 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
13049 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
13053 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
13054 folder after finishing the fetch.
13058 An example webmail source:
13061 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
13063 :password "secret")
13068 @item Common Keywords
13069 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
13075 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
13076 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
13080 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
13085 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
13086 useful when you use local mail and news.
13091 @subsubsection Function Interface
13093 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
13094 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
13095 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
13096 consider the following mail-source setting:
13099 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
13100 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
13103 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
13104 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
13105 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
13106 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
13107 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
13109 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
13112 @node Mail Source Customization
13113 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
13115 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
13116 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
13120 @item mail-source-crash-box
13121 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
13122 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
13123 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
13125 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
13126 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
13127 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
13129 @item mail-source-directory
13130 @vindex mail-source-directory
13131 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
13132 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
13133 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
13136 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13137 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13138 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
13139 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
13140 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
13141 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
13143 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
13144 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
13145 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
13147 @item mail-source-movemail-program
13148 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
13149 If non-nil, name of program for fetching new mail. If nil,
13150 @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
13155 @node Fetching Mail
13156 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
13158 @vindex mail-sources
13159 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
13160 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
13161 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
13162 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
13164 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
13165 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
13168 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
13169 mail server, you'd say something like:
13174 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13175 :password "secret")))
13178 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
13182 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
13183 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13186 :password "secret")))
13190 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
13191 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
13192 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
13193 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
13194 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
13195 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
13199 @node Mail Back End Variables
13200 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
13202 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
13206 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13207 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13208 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
13209 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
13211 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
13212 @item nnmail-split-hook
13213 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
13214 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
13215 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
13216 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
13217 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
13218 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
13219 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
13220 in the buffer will show up in any files.
13221 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
13224 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13225 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13226 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13227 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13228 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
13229 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
13230 starting to handle the new mail) and
13231 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
13232 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
13233 default file modes the new mail files get:
13236 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13237 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
13239 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13240 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
13243 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
13244 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
13245 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
13246 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
13247 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
13248 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
13249 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
13251 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
13252 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
13253 @findex delete-file
13254 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
13256 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13257 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13258 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
13259 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
13260 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
13262 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13263 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13264 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
13265 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
13266 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
13268 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
13269 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
13270 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
13275 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
13276 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
13277 @cindex mail splitting
13278 @cindex fancy mail splitting
13280 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
13281 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
13282 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
13283 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
13284 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
13285 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
13287 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
13290 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
13291 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
13292 ;; from real errors.
13293 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
13295 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
13296 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
13297 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
13298 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
13299 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
13300 ;; Other mailing lists...
13301 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
13302 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
13303 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
13304 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
13305 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
13306 ;; message was really cross-posted.
13307 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
13308 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
13310 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
13311 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
13315 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
13316 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
13317 the five possible split syntaxes:
13322 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
13323 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
13327 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
13328 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
13329 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
13330 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
13331 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
13332 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
13333 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
13334 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
13337 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13338 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
13339 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
13340 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
13343 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13344 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
13347 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
13348 (i.e., delete) this message. Use with extreme caution.
13351 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
13352 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
13353 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
13354 function should return a @var{split}.
13357 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
13358 body of the messages:
13361 (defun split-on-body ()
13363 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
13364 (goto-char (point-min))
13365 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
13369 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
13370 when the @code{:} function is run.
13373 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13374 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
13375 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
13379 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
13383 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
13384 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
13385 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
13386 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
13387 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
13389 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
13390 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
13391 are expanded as specified by the variable
13392 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
13393 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
13396 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
13397 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
13398 when all this splitting is performed.
13400 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
13401 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
13402 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
13405 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
13408 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
13409 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
13411 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
13412 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
13413 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
13414 groupings 1 through 9.
13416 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
13417 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
13418 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
13419 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
13420 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
13421 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
13422 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
13423 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
13424 it once per thread.
13426 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} and
13427 @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-nil value. And then
13428 you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon
13431 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; or 'delete
13432 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
13434 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
13435 ;; other splits go here
13439 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
13440 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
13441 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
13442 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
13443 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
13444 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
13445 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
13446 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
13447 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name
13448 unless the group name matches the regexp
13449 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is recommended
13450 that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a somewhat higher
13451 number than the default so that the message ids are still in the cache.
13452 (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300 kBytes in size.)
13453 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13454 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
13455 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
13456 messages goes into the new group.
13458 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
13459 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
13460 outgoing messages are written to an `outgoing' group, you could set
13461 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
13462 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
13466 @node Group Mail Splitting
13467 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
13468 @cindex mail splitting
13469 @cindex group mail splitting
13471 @findex gnus-group-split
13472 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
13473 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
13474 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
13475 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
13476 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
13477 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
13478 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
13479 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
13481 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
13482 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
13483 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
13484 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
13486 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
13487 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
13488 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
13489 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
13490 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
13491 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
13492 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
13494 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
13495 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
13496 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
13497 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
13498 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
13499 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
13500 @code{gnus-group-split}.
13502 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
13503 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
13504 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
13505 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
13506 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
13507 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
13508 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
13509 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
13510 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
13511 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
13512 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
13513 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
13514 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
13516 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
13521 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
13522 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
13524 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
13525 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
13526 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
13527 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
13529 ((split-spec . catch-all))
13532 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
13533 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
13534 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
13537 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
13538 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
13539 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
13543 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
13544 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
13545 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
13549 (: gnus-group-split-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
13552 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
13553 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
13554 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
13555 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
13556 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
13557 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
13558 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
13559 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
13560 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
13562 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
13563 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
13564 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
13565 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
13566 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
13567 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
13568 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
13569 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
13570 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
13572 @findex gnus-group-split-update
13573 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
13574 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
13575 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
13576 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
13577 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus}:
13580 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
13583 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
13584 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
13585 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
13586 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
13587 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
13590 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
13591 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
13592 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
13593 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
13595 @node Incorporating Old Mail
13596 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
13597 @cindex incorporating old mail
13598 @cindex import old mail
13600 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
13601 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
13602 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
13605 Doing so can be quite easy.
13607 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
13608 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
13609 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
13610 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
13611 your @code{nnml} groups.
13617 Go to the group buffer.
13620 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
13621 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13624 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
13627 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
13628 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
13631 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
13632 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
13635 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
13636 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
13637 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
13638 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
13639 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
13641 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
13642 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
13643 using the new mail back end.
13646 @node Expiring Mail
13647 @subsection Expiring Mail
13648 @cindex article expiry
13650 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
13651 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
13652 different approach to mail reading.
13654 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
13655 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
13656 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
13657 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
13658 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
13659 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
13662 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
13663 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default keybindings, this means
13664 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
13665 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
13666 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
13667 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
13668 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
13669 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
13670 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
13672 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
13673 two features, called `auto-expire' and `total-expire', that can help you
13674 with this. In a nutshell, `auto-expire' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
13675 for you when you select an article. And `total-expire' means that Gnus
13676 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
13677 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
13678 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
13681 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
13682 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
13683 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
13684 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
13685 into its own group.)
13687 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
13688 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
13689 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
13690 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
13691 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
13692 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
13693 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring @pxref{Adaptive
13694 Scoring}. Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
13697 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13698 Groups that match the regular expression
13699 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
13700 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
13701 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
13703 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
13704 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
13705 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
13706 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
13709 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
13711 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
13712 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
13713 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
13716 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
13717 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
13718 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
13719 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
13720 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
13722 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
13723 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
13726 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13727 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
13730 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
13731 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
13733 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
13734 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
13735 don't really mix very well.
13737 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
13738 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
13739 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
13740 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
13743 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
13744 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
13745 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
13746 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
13749 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13751 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13753 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
13755 ((string= group "mail.junk")
13757 ((string= group "important")
13763 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
13764 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
13766 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
13767 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
13768 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
13771 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
13772 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
13774 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
13775 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
13776 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
13777 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
13778 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
13779 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
13780 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
13781 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
13782 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
13783 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
13784 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
13785 from as its parameter) which should return a target -- either a group
13786 name or @code{delete}.
13788 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
13790 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
13793 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
13794 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
13795 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
13796 expire mail to groups according to the variable
13797 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
13800 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
13801 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
13802 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
13803 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
13804 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
13807 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
13808 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
13809 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
13810 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
13811 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
13812 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
13814 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
13815 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
13816 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
13817 easier for procmail users.
13819 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
13820 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
13821 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
13822 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
13823 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
13824 caution. Even more dangerous is the
13825 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
13826 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
13827 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
13828 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
13829 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
13830 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
13831 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
13834 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
13836 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
13837 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
13838 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
13839 auto-expire turned on.
13843 @subsection Washing Mail
13844 @cindex mail washing
13845 @cindex list server brain damage
13846 @cindex incoming mail treatment
13848 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
13849 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
13850 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
13851 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
13852 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
13853 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
13855 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
13856 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
13857 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
13860 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
13861 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
13862 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
13863 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
13866 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
13867 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
13868 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
13869 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
13870 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
13873 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
13874 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
13875 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
13876 Emacs running on MS machines.
13880 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
13881 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
13882 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
13883 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
13886 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
13887 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
13888 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
13889 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
13891 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
13892 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
13893 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
13894 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
13895 into a feature by documenting it.)
13897 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
13898 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
13899 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
13900 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
13901 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
13902 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
13903 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
13906 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
13907 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
13910 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
13911 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
13914 This can also be done non-destructively with
13915 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
13917 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
13918 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
13919 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
13921 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
13922 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
13924 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
13925 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
13926 @code{References} headers.
13930 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
13931 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
13932 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
13936 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
13937 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
13938 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
13945 @subsection Duplicates
13947 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
13948 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
13949 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
13950 @cindex duplicate mails
13951 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
13952 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
13953 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
13954 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
13955 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
13956 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
13957 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
13958 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
13959 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
13960 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
13961 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
13962 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
13963 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
13965 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
13966 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
13967 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
13968 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
13970 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
13973 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
13974 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
13978 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
13979 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
13980 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
13981 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
13982 (any mail "mail.misc")
13989 (setq nnmail-split-methods
13990 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
13995 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
13996 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
13997 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
13998 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
13999 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
14002 @node Not Reading Mail
14003 @subsection Not Reading Mail
14005 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
14006 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
14007 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
14009 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
14010 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
14011 mail, which should help.
14013 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14014 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14015 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14016 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14017 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14018 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
14019 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
14020 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
14021 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
14022 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
14023 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
14025 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
14026 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
14030 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
14031 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
14033 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
14034 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
14035 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
14037 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
14038 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
14039 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
14040 Spool}). You might notice that only five back ends are listed below;
14041 @code{nnmaildir}'s documentation has not yet been completely
14042 incorporated into this manual. Until it is, you can find it at
14043 @uref{http://multivac.cwru.edu./nnmaildir/}.
14046 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
14047 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
14048 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
14049 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
14050 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
14051 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
14055 @node Unix Mail Box
14056 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
14058 @cindex unix mail box
14060 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14061 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14062 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
14063 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
14064 which group it belongs in.
14066 Virtual server settings:
14069 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
14070 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14071 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
14074 @item nnmbox-active-file
14075 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14076 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
14077 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
14079 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
14080 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14081 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
14082 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
14087 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
14091 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14092 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14093 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
14094 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
14095 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
14097 Virtual server settings:
14100 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
14101 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14102 The name of the rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
14104 @item nnbabyl-active-file
14105 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14106 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
14107 @file{~/.rmail-active}
14109 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14110 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14111 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
14117 @subsubsection Mail Spool
14119 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
14121 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
14122 format. It should be used with some caution.
14124 @vindex nnml-directory
14125 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
14126 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
14127 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
14128 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
14130 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
14133 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
14134 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
14135 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
14136 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
14137 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
14138 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
14139 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
14140 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
14142 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
14143 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
14144 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
14145 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
14147 @cindex self contained nnml servers
14149 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
14150 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14151 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14152 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
14153 for a group is usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
14154 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
14155 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
14156 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
14159 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
14160 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
14161 them next time it starts.
14163 Virtual server settings:
14166 @item nnml-directory
14167 @vindex nnml-directory
14168 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
14169 The default is the value of `message-directory' (whose default value is
14172 @item nnml-active-file
14173 @vindex nnml-active-file
14174 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
14175 @file{~/Mail/active"}.
14177 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
14178 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
14179 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14180 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}.
14182 @item nnml-get-new-mail
14183 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14184 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
14187 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
14188 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
14189 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14190 default is @code{nil}.
14192 @item nnml-nov-file-name
14193 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
14194 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
14196 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14197 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14198 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
14200 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
14201 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
14202 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14203 default is @code{nil}.
14205 @item nnml-marks-file-name
14206 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
14207 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
14209 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
14210 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
14211 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
14216 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
14217 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
14218 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
14219 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
14220 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
14221 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
14222 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
14227 @subsubsection MH Spool
14229 @cindex mh-e mail spool
14231 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
14232 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks file.
14233 This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than @code{nnml},
14234 but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
14236 Virtual server settings:
14239 @item nnmh-directory
14240 @vindex nnmh-directory
14241 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
14242 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14245 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
14246 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14247 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
14251 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
14252 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
14253 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
14254 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
14255 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
14256 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
14257 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
14262 @subsubsection Mail Folders
14264 @cindex mbox folders
14265 @cindex mail folders
14267 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a separate
14268 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
14269 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
14272 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
14274 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
14275 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14276 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14277 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
14278 Marks for a group is usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
14279 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
14280 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder} directory.
14281 Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to backup, use
14282 @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the
14283 @code{nnfolder} directory).
14285 Virtual server settings:
14288 @item nnfolder-directory
14289 @vindex nnfolder-directory
14290 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
14291 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14294 @item nnfolder-active-file
14295 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
14296 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
14298 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14299 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14300 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14301 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}
14303 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
14304 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14305 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
14308 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14309 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14310 @cindex backup files
14311 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
14312 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
14313 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
14314 your @file{.emacs} file:
14317 (defun turn-off-backup ()
14318 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
14320 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
14323 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14324 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14325 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
14326 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
14327 extract some information from it before removing it.
14329 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14330 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14331 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14332 default is @code{nil}.
14334 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14335 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14336 The extension for @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
14338 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
14339 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
14340 The directory where the @sc{nov} files should be stored. If nil,
14341 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14343 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14344 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14345 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14346 default is @code{nil}.
14348 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14349 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14350 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
14352 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
14353 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
14354 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If nil,
14355 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14360 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
14361 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
14362 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
14363 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
14364 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
14365 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
14368 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
14369 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
14371 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
14372 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
14373 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
14374 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
14375 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
14377 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
14378 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
14379 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
14380 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
14381 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
14382 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
14383 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
14384 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
14387 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
14388 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
14389 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
14390 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
14395 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
14396 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
14397 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
14398 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
14399 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
14400 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
14401 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
14402 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
14403 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
14404 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
14405 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
14406 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
14407 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
14412 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
14413 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
14414 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
14415 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
14416 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
14417 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
14418 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
14419 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
14420 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
14421 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
14422 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
14423 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
14424 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
14425 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
14427 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
14428 filesystem, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
14433 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
14434 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
14435 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
14436 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
14437 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
14438 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
14439 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
14440 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
14441 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
14442 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
14443 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
14444 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
14445 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
14446 provided by the active file and overviews.
14448 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
14449 resource which defines available places in the filesystem to put new
14450 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
14451 tight, shared filesystems. But if you live on a personal machine where
14452 the filesystem is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
14455 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
14456 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
14461 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
14462 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
14463 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
14464 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
14465 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
14466 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
14467 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
14471 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
14472 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
14473 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
14474 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
14475 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
14476 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
14477 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
14478 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
14479 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
14481 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
14482 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
14483 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
14484 friendly mail back end all over.
14488 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
14489 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
14490 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
14491 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
14492 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
14493 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
14494 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to ReiserFS
14495 (@uref{http://www.namesys.com/}) or another non-block-structured
14498 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
14499 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
14500 This means you can skip Gnus's mail splitting if your mail is already
14501 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
14502 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
14503 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
14504 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
14505 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
14506 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
14507 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will undergo
14508 treatment such as duplicate checking.
14510 An article will not necessarily keep the same number across Gnus
14511 sessions; articles are renumbered starting from 1 for each Gnus session
14512 (more precisely, each time you open the @code{nnmaildir} server). This
14513 way, you don't get gaps in your article number ranges, and when entering
14514 large groups, Gnus is likely to give a more accurate article count. The
14515 price is that @code{nnmaildir} doesn't work with the cache or agent.
14516 This will probably be changed in the future.
14518 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
14519 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
14520 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
14521 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
14522 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
14525 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses group
14526 parameters slightly different from those of other mail back ends.
14528 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
14529 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
14530 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
14531 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
14532 parameter to somthing small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
14533 would) to make it use less memory.
14535 Startup and shutdown are likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than
14536 with other back ends. Everything in between is likely to be faster,
14537 depending in part on your filesystem.
14539 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
14540 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
14545 @node Browsing the Web
14546 @section Browsing the Web
14548 @cindex browsing the web
14552 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
14553 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
14554 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
14555 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
14556 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
14557 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
14558 even know what a news group is.
14560 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
14561 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
14562 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
14563 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
14564 you mad in the end.
14566 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
14569 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
14570 interfaces to these sources.
14574 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
14575 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
14576 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
14577 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
14578 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
14579 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
14582 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
14584 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
14585 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
14586 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
14587 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
14588 though, you should be ok.
14590 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
14591 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
14592 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
14593 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
14594 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
14596 @node Archiving Mail
14597 @subsection Archiving Mail
14598 @cindex archiving mail
14599 @cindex backup of mail
14601 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
14602 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
14603 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
14604 marks is fairly simple.
14606 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
14607 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
14610 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
14611 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
14612 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
14613 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
14614 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
14615 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
14616 might interfer with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
14617 before you restore the data.
14619 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
14620 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
14621 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
14622 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
14623 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
14624 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
14625 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
14626 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
14627 is unnecessary in that case.
14630 @subsection Web Searches
14635 @cindex Usenet searches
14636 @cindex searching the Usenet
14638 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
14639 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
14640 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
14641 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
14642 searches without having to use a browser.
14644 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
14645 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
14646 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
14647 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
14648 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
14650 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
14651 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
14652 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
14653 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
14654 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
14655 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
14656 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
14657 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
14658 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
14659 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
14662 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
14663 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
14664 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
14665 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
14666 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
14667 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
14669 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
14670 to use @code{nnweb}.
14672 Virtual server variables:
14677 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
14678 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
14679 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
14682 @vindex nnweb-search
14683 The search string to feed to the search engine.
14685 @item nnweb-max-hits
14686 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
14687 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
14690 @item nnweb-type-definition
14691 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
14692 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
14693 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
14698 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
14702 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
14705 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
14708 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
14712 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
14719 @subsection Slashdot
14723 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
14724 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
14725 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
14727 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
14728 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
14731 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
14732 '((nnslashdot "")))
14735 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
14736 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
14737 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
14738 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
14739 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
14742 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
14743 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14745 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
14746 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
14747 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
14748 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
14749 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
14750 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
14753 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
14756 @item nnslashdot-threaded
14757 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
14758 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
14759 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
14760 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
14761 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
14762 but much, much slower than untreaded.
14764 @item nnslashdot-login-name
14765 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
14766 The login name to use when posting.
14768 @item nnslashdot-password
14769 @vindex nnslashdot-password
14770 The password to use when posting.
14772 @item nnslashdot-directory
14773 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
14774 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
14775 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
14777 @item nnslashdot-active-url
14778 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
14779 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
14780 news articles and comments. The default is
14781 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
14783 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
14784 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
14785 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
14787 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
14789 @item nnslashdot-article-url
14790 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
14791 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
14793 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
14795 @item nnslashdot-threshold
14796 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
14797 The score threshold. The default is -1.
14799 @item nnslashdot-group-number
14800 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
14801 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
14802 updated. The default is 0.
14809 @subsection Ultimate
14811 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
14813 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
14814 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
14815 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
14816 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
14818 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
14819 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
14820 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
14821 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
14822 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
14823 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
14824 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
14826 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
14829 @item nnultimate-directory
14830 @vindex nnultimate-directory
14831 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
14832 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
14837 @subsection Web Archive
14839 @cindex Web Archive
14841 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
14842 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
14843 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
14844 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
14847 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
14848 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
14849 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
14850 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
14851 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
14852 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
14853 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
14855 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
14858 @item nnwarchive-directory
14859 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
14860 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
14861 @samp{~/News/warchive/}.
14863 @item nnwarchive-login
14864 @vindex nnwarchive-login
14865 The account name on the web server.
14867 @item nnwarchive-passwd
14868 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
14869 The password for your account on the web server.
14877 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
14878 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
14879 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
14882 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
14883 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
14886 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
14889 @item nnrss-directory
14890 @vindex nnrss-directory
14891 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
14892 @samp{~/News/rss/}.
14896 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
14897 the summary buffer.
14900 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
14901 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
14903 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
14905 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
14906 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
14909 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
14912 (require 'browse-url)
14914 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
14916 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
14919 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
14920 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
14923 (browse-url (cdr url))
14924 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
14925 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
14927 (eval-after-load "gnus"
14928 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
14929 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
14930 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
14933 @node Customizing w3
14934 @subsection Customizing w3
14940 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
14941 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
14942 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
14944 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
14945 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
14946 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
14949 (eval-after-load "w3"
14951 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
14952 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
14953 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
14954 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
14956 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
14959 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
14960 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
14969 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
14970 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
14971 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
14972 specify the network address of the server.
14974 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
14975 POP can, it can hence be viewed as a POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
14976 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
14977 protocol -- however, @sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp}
14978 because news is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
14980 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a POP++, use an imap entry in
14981 @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the
14982 @sc{imap} server and store them on the local disk. This is not the
14983 usage described in this section--@xref{Mail Sources}.
14985 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
14986 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
14987 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
14988 usage explained in this section.
14990 A server configuration in @code{~/.gnus} with a few @sc{imap} servers
14991 might look something like the following. (Note that for SSL/TLS, you
14992 need external programs and libraries, see below.)
14995 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
14996 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
14997 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
14999 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15000 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
15001 ; a UW server running on localhost
15003 (nnimap-server-port 143)
15004 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15005 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
15006 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
15007 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
15008 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
15009 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
15010 (nnimap-stream network))
15011 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
15013 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
15014 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
15015 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
15018 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
15023 @item nnimap-address
15024 @vindex nnimap-address
15026 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
15027 server name if not specified.
15029 @item nnimap-server-port
15030 @vindex nnimap-server-port
15031 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
15033 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
15036 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15037 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
15040 @item nnimap-list-pattern
15041 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
15042 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
15043 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
15044 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
15045 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
15046 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
15048 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
15049 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
15050 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
15053 Example server specification:
15056 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15057 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
15058 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
15061 @item nnimap-stream
15062 @vindex nnimap-stream
15063 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
15064 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
15065 of SSL/TLS. (@sc{imap} over SSL/TLS is being replaced by STARTTLS, which
15066 can be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
15068 Example server specification:
15071 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15072 (nnimap-stream ssl))
15075 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
15079 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
15080 @samp{imtest} program.
15082 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
15084 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
15085 SSL). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
15088 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Requires OpenSSL (the program
15089 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
15090 library @samp{ssl.el}.
15092 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
15094 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
15097 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
15098 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
15099 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
15100 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
15101 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
15102 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
15103 restrictions on @sc{imap} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
15104 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
15105 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
15108 @vindex imap-ssl-program
15109 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
15110 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
15111 and nnimap support it too - altough the most recent versions of
15112 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
15113 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
15114 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
15115 to OpenSSL/SSLeay. You also need @samp{ssl.el} (from the W3
15116 distribution, for instance).
15118 @vindex imap-shell-program
15119 @vindex imap-shell-host
15120 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
15121 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
15123 @item nnimap-authenticator
15124 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
15126 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
15127 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
15129 Example server specification:
15132 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15133 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
15136 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
15140 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
15141 external program @code{imtest}.
15143 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
15146 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
15147 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
15149 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
15151 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
15153 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your emailadress as password.
15156 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
15158 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
15159 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
15160 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
15161 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
15162 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
15163 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
15166 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
15167 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
15168 running in circles yet?
15170 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
15171 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
15174 The possible options are:
15179 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
15182 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
15183 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
15184 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
15185 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
15187 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
15192 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
15193 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
15195 If non-nil (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as well),
15196 for other @sc{imap} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
15197 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
15198 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @sc{imap}
15199 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @sc{imap}
15202 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
15203 enable per-user persistant dormant flags, using something like:
15206 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
15207 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15208 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
15209 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15212 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
15213 as ticked for other users.
15215 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
15217 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
15219 This variable contain the @sc{imap} search command sent to server when
15220 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
15221 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
15222 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
15224 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
15225 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
15226 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
15227 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
15229 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
15230 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
15232 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
15233 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
15234 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
15240 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
15241 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
15242 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
15243 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
15244 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
15249 @node Splitting in IMAP
15250 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
15251 @cindex splitting imap mail
15253 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
15254 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
15255 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
15256 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
15257 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
15261 Here are the variables of interest:
15265 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
15266 @cindex splitting, crosspost
15268 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
15270 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
15271 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
15273 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
15275 @item nnimap-split-inbox
15276 @cindex splitting, inbox
15278 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
15280 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
15281 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
15285 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
15286 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
15289 No nnmail equivalent.
15291 @item nnimap-split-rule
15292 @cindex Splitting, rules
15293 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
15295 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
15298 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
15299 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
15300 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
15301 Neither did I, we need examples.
15304 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15306 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
15307 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
15308 ("INBOX.private" "")))
15311 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
15312 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
15313 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
15315 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
15316 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
15320 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
15323 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
15324 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
15326 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
15327 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
15328 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
15329 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
15331 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
15332 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
15333 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
15334 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
15335 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
15336 them every time you fetch new mail.)
15338 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
15339 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
15340 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
15342 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
15343 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
15344 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15346 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
15348 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
15349 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
15350 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
15353 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15354 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
15355 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
15356 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
15357 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
15358 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
15361 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
15362 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
15363 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
15364 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
15365 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
15366 group/function elements.
15368 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
15370 @item nnimap-split-predicate
15372 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
15374 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
15375 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
15377 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
15378 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
15379 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
15382 @item nnimap-split-fancy
15383 @cindex splitting, fancy
15384 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
15385 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
15387 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15388 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
15389 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
15391 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
15392 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15393 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
15394 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15399 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
15400 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
15403 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
15407 @node Expiring in IMAP
15408 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
15409 @cindex expiring imap mail
15411 Even though @sc{nnimap} is not a proper @sc{nnmail} derived back end,
15412 it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
15413 Unlike splitting in IMAP (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}) it do not clone
15414 the @sc{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating @var{nnimap-expiry-wait})
15415 but reuse the @sc{nnmail} variables. What follows below are the
15416 variables used by the @sc{nnimap} expiry process.
15418 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @sc{imap} server is
15419 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
15420 @sc{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
15421 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
15422 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
15423 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
15424 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
15425 messages. Most do, fortunately.
15429 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
15430 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
15432 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
15433 number, the symbol @var{immediate} or @var{never}.
15435 @item nnmail-expiry-target
15437 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
15438 @sc{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
15439 that if the destination is a IMAP group on the same server, the
15440 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
15444 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
15445 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
15446 @cindex editing imap acls
15447 @cindex Access Control Lists
15448 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
15450 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
15452 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
15453 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
15454 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
15457 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
15458 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
15459 editing window with detailed instructions.
15461 Some possible uses:
15465 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
15466 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
15467 follow the list without subscribing to it.
15469 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
15470 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
15471 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
15475 @node Expunging mailboxes
15476 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
15480 @cindex Manual expunging
15482 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
15484 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
15485 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
15486 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
15488 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
15491 @node A note on namespaces
15492 @subsection A note on namespaces
15493 @cindex IMAP namespace
15496 The IMAP protocol has a concept called namespaces, described by the
15497 following text in the RFC:
15500 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
15502 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
15503 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
15504 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
15505 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
15507 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
15508 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
15509 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
15510 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
15511 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
15512 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
15515 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the IMAP
15516 implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace prefixes in a way
15517 that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
15519 Specifically, University of Washington's IMAP server uses mailbox
15520 names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only in the
15521 @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is created
15522 (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed without
15523 the namespace prefix, i.e @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do not make it
15524 possible for the user to guarantee that user entered mailbox names
15525 will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands, you should
15526 simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in Gnus.
15528 See the UoW @sc{imapd} documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
15529 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
15530 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
15532 @node Other Sources
15533 @section Other Sources
15535 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
15536 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
15540 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
15541 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
15542 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
15543 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
15544 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
15548 @node Directory Groups
15549 @subsection Directory Groups
15551 @cindex directory groups
15553 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
15554 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
15557 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
15558 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
15559 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
15560 back end to read directories. Big deal.
15562 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
15563 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
15564 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
15565 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
15566 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
15568 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
15570 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
15571 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
15572 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
15573 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
15576 @node Anything Groups
15577 @subsection Anything Groups
15580 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
15581 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
15582 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
15585 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
15586 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
15587 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
15588 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
15589 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
15590 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
15591 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
15592 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
15593 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
15594 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
15597 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
15598 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
15599 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
15600 in the article buffer, just as usual.
15602 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
15603 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
15604 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
15605 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
15607 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
15608 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
15609 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
15610 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
15611 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
15612 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
15613 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
15614 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
15619 @item nneething-map-file-directory
15620 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
15621 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
15622 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
15624 @item nneething-exclude-files
15625 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
15626 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
15627 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
15629 @item nneething-include-files
15630 @vindex nneething-include-files
15631 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
15632 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
15634 @item nneething-map-file
15635 @vindex nneething-map-file
15636 Name of the map files.
15640 @node Document Groups
15641 @subsection Document Groups
15643 @cindex documentation group
15646 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
15647 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
15654 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
15659 The standard Unix mbox file.
15661 @cindex MMDF mail box
15663 The MMDF mail box format.
15666 Several news articles appended into a file.
15669 @cindex rnews batch files
15670 The rnews batch transport format.
15671 @cindex forwarded messages
15674 Forwarded articles.
15677 Netscape mail boxes.
15680 @sc{mime} multipart messages.
15682 @item standard-digest
15683 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
15686 A @sc{mime} digest of messages.
15688 @item lanl-gov-announce
15689 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
15691 @item rfc822-forward
15692 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
15695 The Outlook mail box.
15698 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
15701 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
15704 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
15707 An RFC934-forwarded message.
15713 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
15716 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
15722 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
15723 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
15724 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
15727 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
15728 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
15729 group. And that's it.
15731 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
15732 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
15733 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
15734 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
15735 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
15736 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
15737 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
15738 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
15739 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
15740 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
15742 Virtual server variables:
15745 @item nndoc-article-type
15746 @vindex nndoc-article-type
15747 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
15748 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
15749 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
15750 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
15751 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
15753 @item nndoc-post-type
15754 @vindex nndoc-post-type
15755 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
15756 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
15761 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
15765 @node Document Server Internals
15766 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
15768 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
15769 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
15770 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
15771 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
15773 First, here's an example document type definition:
15777 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
15778 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
15781 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
15782 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
15783 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
15784 types can be defined with very few settings:
15787 @item first-article
15788 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
15789 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
15792 @item article-begin
15793 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
15794 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
15796 @item head-begin-function
15797 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
15800 @item nndoc-head-begin
15801 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
15804 @item nndoc-head-end
15805 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
15806 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
15808 @item body-begin-function
15809 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
15813 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
15816 @item body-end-function
15817 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
15821 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
15824 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
15825 regexp will be totally ignored.
15829 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
15830 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
15831 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
15832 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
15833 something that's palatable for Gnus:
15836 @item prepare-body-function
15837 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
15838 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
15839 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
15841 @item article-transform-function
15842 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
15843 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
15844 body of the article.
15846 @item generate-head-function
15847 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
15848 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
15849 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
15850 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
15854 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
15859 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
15860 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
15861 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
15862 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
15863 (head-end . "^ ?$")
15864 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
15865 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
15866 (subtype digest guess))
15869 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
15870 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
15871 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
15872 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
15873 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
15875 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
15876 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
15877 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
15878 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
15879 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
15880 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
15881 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
15882 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
15883 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
15884 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
15892 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
15893 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
15894 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
15896 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
15897 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
15898 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
15901 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
15902 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
15903 that interested in doing things properly.
15905 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
15906 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
15909 First some terminology:
15914 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
15915 get news and/or mail from.
15918 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
15919 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
15922 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
15926 @item message packets
15927 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
15928 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
15929 default, where @var{x} is a number.
15931 @item response packets
15932 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
15933 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
15934 default, where @var{x} is a number.
15944 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
15945 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
15946 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
15947 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
15950 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
15953 You put the packet in your home directory.
15956 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
15957 the native or secondary server.
15960 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
15961 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
15964 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
15968 You transfer this packet to the server.
15971 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
15974 You then repeat until you die.
15978 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
15979 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
15982 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
15983 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
15984 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
15988 @node SOUP Commands
15989 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
15991 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
15995 @kindex G s b (Group)
15996 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
15997 Pack all unread articles in the current group
15998 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
15999 process/prefix convention.
16002 @kindex G s w (Group)
16003 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
16004 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
16007 @kindex G s s (Group)
16008 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
16009 Send all replies from the replies packet
16010 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
16013 @kindex G s p (Group)
16014 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
16015 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
16018 @kindex G s r (Group)
16019 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
16020 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
16023 @kindex O s (Summary)
16024 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
16025 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
16026 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
16027 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16032 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
16037 @item gnus-soup-directory
16038 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
16039 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
16040 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
16042 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
16043 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
16044 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
16045 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
16047 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
16048 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
16049 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
16050 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
16052 @item gnus-soup-packer
16053 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
16054 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16055 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
16057 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
16058 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
16059 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16060 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16062 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
16063 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
16064 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
16066 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16067 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16068 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
16069 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
16075 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
16078 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
16079 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
16080 you can read them at leisure.
16082 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
16086 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
16087 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
16088 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
16089 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
16091 @item nnsoup-directory
16092 @vindex nnsoup-directory
16093 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
16094 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
16096 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
16097 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
16098 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
16099 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
16101 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
16102 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
16103 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
16104 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
16105 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
16107 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
16108 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
16109 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
16110 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
16112 @item nnsoup-active-file
16113 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
16114 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
16115 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
16116 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
16117 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
16119 @item nnsoup-packer
16120 @vindex nnsoup-packer
16121 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
16122 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
16124 @item nnsoup-unpacker
16125 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
16126 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
16127 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16129 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
16130 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
16131 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
16134 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
16135 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
16136 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
16139 @item nnsoup-always-save
16140 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
16141 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
16147 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
16149 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
16150 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
16151 more for that to happen.
16153 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
16154 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
16155 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
16158 In specific, this is what it does:
16161 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
16162 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
16165 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
16166 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
16167 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
16170 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
16171 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
16172 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
16175 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
16176 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
16177 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
16179 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
16185 @item nngateway-address
16186 @vindex nngateway-address
16187 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
16189 @item nngateway-header-transformation
16190 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
16191 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
16192 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
16193 transformation should be called, and defaults to
16194 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
16195 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
16198 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
16199 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
16200 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
16203 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
16206 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
16209 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
16212 The following pre-defined functions exist:
16214 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16217 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16218 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16219 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
16221 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16223 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16224 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16225 @code{nngateway-address}.
16230 (setq gnus-post-method
16232 "mail2news@@replay.com"
16233 (nngateway-header-transformation
16234 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
16242 So, to use this, simply say something like:
16245 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
16250 @node Combined Groups
16251 @section Combined Groups
16253 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
16257 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
16258 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
16262 @node Virtual Groups
16263 @subsection Virtual Groups
16265 @cindex virtual groups
16266 @cindex merging groups
16268 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
16271 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
16272 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
16273 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
16275 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
16276 regexp to match component groups.
16278 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
16279 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
16280 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
16281 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
16282 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
16283 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
16284 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
16285 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
16287 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
16288 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
16291 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
16294 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
16295 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
16297 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
16298 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
16299 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
16300 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
16303 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
16306 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
16307 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
16308 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
16310 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
16311 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
16312 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
16313 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
16314 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
16316 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
16317 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
16318 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
16320 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
16321 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
16322 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
16323 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
16324 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
16325 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
16326 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
16327 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
16328 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
16329 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
16330 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
16332 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
16333 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
16334 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
16335 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
16336 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
16337 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
16338 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
16340 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
16341 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
16343 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
16344 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
16348 @node Kibozed Groups
16349 @subsection Kibozed Groups
16353 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
16354 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will do this for
16355 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
16356 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
16358 @kindex G k (Group)
16359 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
16362 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
16363 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
16364 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
16365 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
16367 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
16368 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
16369 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
16371 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
16372 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
16373 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
16374 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
16375 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
16376 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
16377 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
16378 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
16380 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
16381 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
16382 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
16383 Stranger things have happened.
16385 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
16386 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
16388 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
16389 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
16390 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
16391 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
16392 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
16393 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
16395 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
16396 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
16399 @node Gnus Unplugged
16400 @section Gnus Unplugged
16405 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
16407 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
16408 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
16409 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
16410 read news. Believe it or not.
16412 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
16413 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
16414 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
16415 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
16416 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
16418 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
16419 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
16420 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
16421 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
16422 reading news on a machine.
16424 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
16425 fact, you don't even have to configure anything.
16427 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
16430 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
16431 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
16432 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
16433 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
16434 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
16435 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
16436 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
16437 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
16438 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
16439 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
16440 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
16445 @subsection Agent Basics
16447 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
16449 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
16450 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
16451 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
16452 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
16454 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
16455 connected to the net continuously.
16457 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
16458 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
16460 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
16465 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
16466 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
16467 already fetched while in this mode.
16470 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
16471 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
16472 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
16473 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
16474 Source Specifiers}).
16477 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
16478 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
16479 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
16480 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
16481 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
16484 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
16485 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
16486 then you read the news offline.
16489 And then you go to step 2.
16492 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
16498 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
16499 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
16500 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
16501 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
16502 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
16503 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
16504 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} groups in @code{gnus-select-method} and
16505 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
16508 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
16515 @node Agent Categories
16516 @subsection Agent Categories
16518 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
16519 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
16520 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
16521 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
16522 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
16523 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
16524 you're interested in the articles anyway.
16526 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
16527 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
16528 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
16529 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
16530 managing categories.
16533 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
16534 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
16535 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
16539 @node Category Syntax
16540 @subsubsection Category Syntax
16542 A category consists of two things.
16546 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
16547 are eligible for downloading; and
16550 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
16551 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
16552 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
16555 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
16556 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
16557 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
16558 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
16560 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
16561 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
16562 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
16564 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
16565 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
16566 operators sprinkled in between.
16568 Perhaps some examples are in order.
16570 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
16571 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
16577 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
16578 short (for some value of ``short'').
16580 Here's a more complex predicate:
16589 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
16590 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
16593 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
16594 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
16595 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
16597 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
16598 you want to do, you can write your own.
16602 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
16603 lines; default 100.
16606 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
16607 lines; default 200.
16610 True iff the article has a download score less than
16611 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
16614 True iff the article has a download score greater than
16615 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
16618 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
16619 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
16620 checksum and sees whether articles match.
16629 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
16630 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
16631 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
16634 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
16635 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
16636 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
16637 something along the lines of the following:
16640 (defun my-article-old-p ()
16641 "Say whether an article is old."
16642 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
16643 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
16646 with the predicate then defined as:
16649 (not my-article-old-p)
16652 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
16653 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
16657 (require 'gnus-agent)
16658 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
16659 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
16660 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
16663 and simply specify your predicate as:
16669 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
16670 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
16671 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
16672 just don't give a damn.
16674 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
16675 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
16676 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
16677 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
16678 parameters like so:
16681 (agent-predicate . short)
16684 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
16685 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
16686 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
16688 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
16691 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
16694 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
16695 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
16696 predicate is assumed to be a list.
16699 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
16700 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
16701 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
16702 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
16703 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
16704 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
16706 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
16707 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
16708 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
16709 if it's to be specific to that group.
16711 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
16718 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
16719 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
16725 Category specification
16729 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16735 Group Parameter specification
16738 (agent-score ("from"
16739 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16744 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
16750 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
16757 Category specification
16760 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
16766 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
16770 Group Parameter specification
16773 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
16776 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
16781 Use @code{normal} score files
16783 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
16784 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
16785 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
16786 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
16788 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
16789 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
16790 files for a group, *filtering out* those sections that do not
16791 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
16795 Category Specification
16802 Group Parameter specification
16805 (agent-score . file)
16810 @node Category Buffer
16811 @subsubsection Category Buffer
16813 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
16814 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
16815 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
16817 The following commands are available in this buffer:
16821 @kindex q (Category)
16822 @findex gnus-category-exit
16823 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
16826 @kindex k (Category)
16827 @findex gnus-category-kill
16828 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
16831 @kindex c (Category)
16832 @findex gnus-category-copy
16833 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
16836 @kindex a (Category)
16837 @findex gnus-category-add
16838 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
16841 @kindex p (Category)
16842 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
16843 Edit the predicate of the current category
16844 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
16847 @kindex g (Category)
16848 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
16849 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
16850 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
16853 @kindex s (Category)
16854 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
16855 Edit the download score rule of the current category
16856 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
16859 @kindex l (Category)
16860 @findex gnus-category-list
16861 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
16865 @node Category Variables
16866 @subsubsection Category Variables
16869 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
16870 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
16871 Hook run in category buffers.
16873 @item gnus-category-line-format
16874 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
16875 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
16876 Variables}). Valid elements are:
16880 The name of the category.
16883 The number of groups in the category.
16886 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
16887 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
16888 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
16890 @item gnus-agent-short-article
16891 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
16892 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
16894 @item gnus-agent-long-article
16895 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
16896 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
16898 @item gnus-agent-low-score
16899 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
16900 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
16903 @item gnus-agent-high-score
16904 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
16905 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
16911 @node Agent Commands
16912 @subsection Agent Commands
16914 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
16915 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
16916 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
16920 * Group Agent Commands::
16921 * Summary Agent Commands::
16922 * Server Agent Commands::
16925 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
16926 following incantation:
16928 @cindex gnus-agent-batch
16930 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch
16935 @node Group Agent Commands
16936 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
16940 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
16941 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
16942 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
16943 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
16946 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
16947 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
16948 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
16951 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
16952 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
16953 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
16954 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
16957 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
16958 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
16959 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
16960 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
16963 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
16964 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
16965 Add the current group to an Agent category
16966 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
16967 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16970 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
16971 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
16972 Remove the current group from its category, if any
16973 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
16974 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16977 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
16978 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
16979 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
16985 @node Summary Agent Commands
16986 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
16990 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
16991 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
16992 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
16995 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
16996 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
16997 Remove the downloading mark from the article
16998 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
17001 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
17002 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
17003 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
17006 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
17007 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
17008 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
17011 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
17012 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
17013 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
17014 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
17019 @node Server Agent Commands
17020 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
17024 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
17025 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
17026 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
17027 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
17030 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
17031 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
17032 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
17033 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
17038 @node Agent as Cache
17039 @subsection Agent as Cache
17041 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
17042 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
17043 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
17044 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
17045 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
17046 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
17047 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
17048 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
17049 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
17051 This behaviour can be controlled by @code{gnus-agent-cache}
17052 (@pxref{Agent Variables}).
17055 @subsection Agent Expiry
17057 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
17058 @findex gnus-agent-expire
17059 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
17060 @cindex Agent expiry
17061 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
17064 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
17065 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
17066 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
17067 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
17068 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
17069 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
17071 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} can also be a list of regexp/day pairs.
17072 The regexps will be matched against group names to allow differing
17073 expiry in different groups.
17076 (setq gnus-agent-expire-days
17082 If you use the list form, the last element must always be the default
17083 method---it must always match all groups.
17085 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
17086 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
17087 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
17088 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
17089 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
17091 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
17092 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
17093 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's a special
17094 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} command to fix possible problems.
17096 @node Agent and IMAP
17097 @subsection Agent and IMAP
17099 The Agent work with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
17100 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
17101 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
17102 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
17104 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
17105 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @code{.newsrc} as is the
17106 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
17107 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
17109 Gnus keeps track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
17110 Agent. When you plug back in, Gnus will check if you have any changed
17111 any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the server.
17112 The behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
17114 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17115 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
17116 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
17117 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
17118 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
17119 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
17121 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
17122 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
17123 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
17124 in the group buffer.
17126 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
17127 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
17132 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
17135 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
17139 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by "pushing"
17140 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
17141 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
17142 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
17143 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
17144 removed from the server when you "synchronize". The queued flag
17145 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
17146 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
17149 @node Outgoing Messages
17150 @subsection Outgoing Messages
17152 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
17153 stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view
17154 them there after posting, and edit them at will.
17156 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
17157 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
17158 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
17159 messages in the draft group.
17163 @node Agent Variables
17164 @subsection Agent Variables
17167 @item gnus-agent-directory
17168 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
17169 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
17170 @file{~/News/agent/}.
17172 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
17173 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
17174 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
17175 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
17176 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
17179 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
17180 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
17181 Hook run when connecting to the network.
17183 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
17184 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
17185 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
17187 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
17188 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
17189 Hook run when after finishing fetching articles.
17191 @item gnus-agent-cache
17192 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
17193 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @sc{nov} and
17194 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
17195 The default is non-nil, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
17197 @item gnus-agent-go-online
17198 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
17199 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
17200 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
17201 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
17202 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
17203 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
17206 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
17207 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
17208 Perhaps not a Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
17209 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
17210 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
17211 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
17212 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
17213 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
17214 is only valid if the Agent is used.
17219 @node Example Setup
17220 @subsection Example Setup
17222 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
17223 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
17224 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
17227 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
17228 ;;; from your ISP's server.
17229 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
17231 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
17232 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
17233 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
17235 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
17236 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
17238 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
17239 ;;; (gnus-agentize) ; The obsolete setting.
17240 ;;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; Now the default.
17243 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
17244 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
17247 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
17248 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
17249 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
17250 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
17251 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
17254 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
17255 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
17256 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
17257 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
17258 back all the killed groups.)
17260 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
17261 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
17262 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
17265 @node Batching Agents
17266 @subsection Batching Agents
17268 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
17269 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
17270 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
17274 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
17278 @node Agent Caveats
17279 @subsection Agent Caveats
17281 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
17282 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
17286 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
17290 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
17292 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is `nil'.
17296 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
17297 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP and also uses the
17298 locally stored articles.
17305 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
17306 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
17307 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
17310 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
17311 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
17312 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
17313 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
17314 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
17316 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
17317 before generating the summary buffer.
17319 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
17320 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
17321 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
17323 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
17324 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
17325 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
17326 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
17329 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
17330 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
17331 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
17332 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
17333 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
17334 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
17335 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
17336 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
17337 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
17338 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
17339 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
17340 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
17341 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
17342 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
17343 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
17344 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
17345 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
17349 @node Summary Score Commands
17350 @section Summary Score Commands
17351 @cindex score commands
17353 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
17354 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
17355 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
17356 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
17357 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
17359 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
17360 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
17361 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
17362 score file the current one.
17364 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
17369 @kindex V s (Summary)
17370 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
17371 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
17374 @kindex V S (Summary)
17375 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
17376 Display the score of the current article
17377 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
17380 @kindex V t (Summary)
17381 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
17382 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
17383 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
17386 @kindex V w (Summary)
17387 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
17388 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
17391 @kindex V R (Summary)
17392 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
17393 Run the current summary through the scoring process
17394 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
17395 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
17396 effect you're having.
17399 @kindex V c (Summary)
17400 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
17401 Make a different score file the current
17402 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
17405 @kindex V e (Summary)
17406 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
17407 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
17408 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
17412 @kindex V f (Summary)
17413 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
17414 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
17415 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
17418 @kindex V F (Summary)
17419 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17420 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
17421 after editing score files.
17424 @kindex V C (Summary)
17425 @findex gnus-score-customize
17426 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
17427 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
17431 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
17436 @kindex V m (Summary)
17437 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
17438 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
17439 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
17442 @kindex V x (Summary)
17443 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
17444 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
17445 expunge all articles below this score
17446 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
17449 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
17450 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
17453 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
17454 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
17458 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
17459 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
17461 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
17462 keys are available:
17466 Score on the author name.
17469 Score on the subject line.
17472 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
17475 Score on the @code{References} line.
17481 Score on the number of lines.
17484 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
17487 Score on an "extra" header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
17488 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
17491 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
17492 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
17493 @file{ADAPT} files.)
17502 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
17508 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
17509 what headers you are scoring on.
17521 Substring matching.
17524 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
17553 Greater than number.
17558 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
17559 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
17560 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
17565 Temporary score entry.
17568 Permanent score entry.
17571 Immediately scoring.
17575 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
17576 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
17577 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
17581 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
17582 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
17583 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
17584 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
17586 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
17587 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
17588 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
17589 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
17590 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
17592 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
17593 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
17594 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
17595 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
17596 current score file.
17598 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
17599 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
17600 pretend they are keymaps or not.
17603 @node Group Score Commands
17604 @section Group Score Commands
17605 @cindex group score commands
17607 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
17612 @kindex W f (Group)
17613 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17614 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
17615 all the time. This command will flush the cache
17616 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
17620 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
17622 @findex gnus-batch-score
17623 @cindex batch scoring
17625 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
17629 @node Score Variables
17630 @section Score Variables
17631 @cindex score variables
17635 @item gnus-use-scoring
17636 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
17637 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
17638 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
17640 @item gnus-kill-killed
17641 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
17642 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
17643 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
17644 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
17645 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
17646 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
17647 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
17649 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
17650 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
17651 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
17652 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
17653 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
17655 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
17656 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
17657 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
17658 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
17660 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17661 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17662 @cindex score cache
17663 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
17664 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
17665 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
17666 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
17667 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
17668 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
17671 @item gnus-save-score
17672 @vindex gnus-save-score
17673 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
17674 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
17675 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
17677 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
17678 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
17679 across group visits.
17681 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17682 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17683 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
17684 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
17685 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
17686 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
17687 manually entered data.
17689 @item gnus-summary-default-score
17690 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
17691 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
17693 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
17694 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
17695 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
17696 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
17697 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
17698 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
17700 @item gnus-score-over-mark
17701 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
17702 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
17703 default. Default is @samp{+}.
17705 @item gnus-score-below-mark
17706 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
17707 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
17708 default. Default is @samp{-}.
17710 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
17711 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
17712 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
17713 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
17715 Predefined functions available are:
17718 @item gnus-score-find-single
17719 @findex gnus-score-find-single
17720 Only apply the group's own score file.
17722 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
17723 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
17724 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
17725 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
17726 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
17727 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
17728 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
17729 then a regexp match is done.
17731 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
17732 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
17734 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
17735 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
17736 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
17737 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
17739 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
17740 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
17741 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
17742 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
17743 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
17747 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
17748 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
17749 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
17750 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
17751 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
17752 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
17753 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
17756 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
17757 overall score file, you could use the value
17759 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
17760 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
17763 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
17764 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
17765 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
17766 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
17767 are expired. It's 7 by default.
17769 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
17770 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
17771 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
17772 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
17773 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
17774 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
17775 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
17776 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
17778 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
17779 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
17780 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
17782 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
17783 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
17784 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
17785 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
17786 threading---according to the current value of
17787 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
17788 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
17789 simplified in this manner.
17794 @node Score File Format
17795 @section Score File Format
17796 @cindex score file format
17798 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
17799 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
17800 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
17802 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
17806 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
17808 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
17810 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
17812 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
17817 (mark-and-expunge -10)
17821 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
17822 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
17823 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
17824 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
17828 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
17829 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
17831 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
17832 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
17833 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
17835 Six keys are supported by this alist:
17840 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
17841 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
17842 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
17843 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
17844 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
17845 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
17846 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
17847 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
17848 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
17849 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
17850 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
17851 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
17852 to articles that matches these score entries.
17854 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
17855 score entry has one to four elements.
17859 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
17860 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
17864 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
17865 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
17866 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
17867 is successful. If this element is not present, the
17868 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
17869 instead. This is 1000 by default.
17872 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
17873 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
17874 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
17875 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
17876 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
17879 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
17880 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
17881 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
17882 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
17885 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
17886 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
17887 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
17888 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
17889 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
17890 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
17891 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
17892 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
17893 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
17894 instead, if you feel like.
17897 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
17898 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
17899 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
17900 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
17901 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin host,
17902 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks NNTP-Posting-Host in overviews:
17905 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s "NNTP-Posting-Host")
17909 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
17910 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
17912 These predicates are true if
17915 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
17918 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
17919 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
17926 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
17927 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
17928 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
17929 it's not. I think.)
17931 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
17932 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
17933 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
17934 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
17937 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
17938 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
17939 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
17940 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
17941 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
17942 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
17943 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
17947 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
17948 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
17949 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
17950 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
17951 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
17952 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
17953 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
17954 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
17957 @item Head, Body, All
17958 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
17962 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
17963 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
17964 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
17965 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
17966 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
17967 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
17968 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
17972 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
17973 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
17974 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
17975 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
17976 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
17977 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
17978 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
17979 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
17980 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
17981 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
17982 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
17986 @cindex Score File Atoms
17988 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
17989 lower than this number will be marked as read.
17992 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
17993 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
17995 @item mark-and-expunge
17996 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
17997 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
18000 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
18001 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
18002 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
18003 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
18004 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
18007 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
18008 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
18011 @item exclude-files
18012 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
18013 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
18017 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
18018 ignored when handling global score files.
18021 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
18022 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
18023 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
18024 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
18027 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
18028 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
18029 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
18030 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
18032 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
18036 (mark-and-expunge -100)
18039 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
18040 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
18041 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
18042 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
18043 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
18045 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
18046 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
18047 scoring rules exist.
18050 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
18051 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
18052 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
18053 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
18054 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
18055 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
18056 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
18057 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
18058 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
18059 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
18060 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
18064 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
18065 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
18066 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
18067 file for a number of groups.
18070 @cindex local variables
18071 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
18072 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
18073 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
18074 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
18075 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
18079 @node Score File Editing
18080 @section Score File Editing
18082 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
18083 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
18084 with a mode for that.
18086 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
18087 additional commands:
18092 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
18093 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
18094 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
18095 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
18098 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
18099 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
18100 Insert the current date in numerical format
18101 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
18102 you were wondering.
18105 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
18106 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
18107 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
18108 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
18109 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
18114 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
18116 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
18117 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
18119 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
18120 e} to begin editing score files.
18123 @node Adaptive Scoring
18124 @section Adaptive Scoring
18125 @cindex adaptive scoring
18127 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
18128 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
18129 stupidity, to be precise.
18131 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
18132 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
18133 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
18134 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
18135 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
18136 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
18137 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
18138 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
18139 variable to @code{(word line)}.
18141 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
18142 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
18143 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
18144 might look something like this:
18147 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
18148 '((gnus-unread-mark)
18149 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
18150 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
18151 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
18152 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
18153 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
18154 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
18155 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
18156 (gnus-ancient-mark)
18157 (gnus-low-score-mark)
18158 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
18161 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
18162 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
18163 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
18164 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
18165 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
18166 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
18169 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
18170 will be applied to each article.
18172 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
18173 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
18174 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
18175 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
18177 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
18178 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
18179 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
18180 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
18182 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
18183 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
18184 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
18185 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
18187 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
18188 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
18189 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
18190 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
18191 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
18192 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
18194 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
18195 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
18196 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
18197 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
18198 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
18199 aspirins afterwards.)
18201 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
18202 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
18203 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
18205 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
18206 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
18207 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
18209 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
18210 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
18211 let you use different rules in different groups.
18213 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
18214 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
18215 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
18218 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
18219 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
18220 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
18221 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
18222 the length of the match is less than
18223 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
18224 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
18227 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
18228 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
18229 headers. If you adapt on words, the
18230 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
18231 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
18234 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
18235 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
18236 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
18237 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
18238 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
18241 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
18242 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
18243 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
18244 score with 30 points.
18246 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
18247 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
18248 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
18249 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
18250 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
18252 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
18253 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
18254 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
18255 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
18256 variable defaults til @code{nil}.
18258 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
18259 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
18260 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
18261 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
18263 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
18264 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
18265 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
18266 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
18268 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
18269 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
18270 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
18271 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
18272 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
18274 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
18275 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
18276 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
18278 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
18279 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
18280 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
18281 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
18284 @node Home Score File
18285 @section Home Score File
18287 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
18288 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
18289 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
18290 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
18292 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
18293 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
18294 could perhaps use the same home score file.
18296 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
18297 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
18302 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
18306 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
18307 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
18311 A list. The elements in this list can be:
18315 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
18316 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
18319 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
18320 the home score file.
18323 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
18326 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
18331 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
18334 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18335 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
18338 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
18339 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
18341 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
18343 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18344 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
18347 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
18348 Other functions include
18351 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
18352 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
18353 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
18354 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
18358 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
18359 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
18360 their own home score files:
18363 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18364 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
18365 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
18366 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
18367 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
18370 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
18371 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
18372 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
18373 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
18374 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
18376 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
18377 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
18378 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
18379 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
18380 precedence over this variable.
18383 @node Followups To Yourself
18384 @section Followups To Yourself
18386 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
18387 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
18388 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
18389 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
18390 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
18391 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
18395 @item gnus-score-followup-article
18396 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
18397 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
18400 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
18401 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
18402 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
18406 @vindex message-sent-hook
18407 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
18408 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
18410 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
18414 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
18415 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
18419 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18420 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18423 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
18424 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
18429 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
18433 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
18434 is system-dependent.
18437 @node Scoring On Other Headers
18438 @section Scoring On Other Headers
18439 @cindex scoring on other headers
18441 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
18442 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
18443 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
18444 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
18445 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
18447 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
18448 mail groups, you have greater control. In the @pxref{To From
18449 Newsgroups} section of the manual, it's explained in greater detail what
18450 this mechanism does, but here's a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on
18451 how to allow scoring on the @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
18453 Put the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
18456 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
18457 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
18460 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
18461 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
18462 time if you have much mail.
18464 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
18465 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
18471 @section Scoring Tips
18472 @cindex scoring tips
18478 @cindex scoring crossposts
18479 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
18480 the @code{Xref} header.
18482 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
18485 @item Multiple crossposts
18486 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
18487 more than, say, 3 groups:
18490 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
18494 @item Matching on the body
18495 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
18496 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
18497 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
18498 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
18499 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
18500 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
18501 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
18504 @item Marking as read
18505 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
18506 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
18507 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
18511 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
18513 @item Negated character classes
18514 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
18515 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
18516 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
18520 @node Reverse Scoring
18521 @section Reverse Scoring
18522 @cindex reverse scoring
18524 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
18525 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
18526 like this in your score file:
18530 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
18535 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
18536 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
18539 @node Global Score Files
18540 @section Global Score Files
18541 @cindex global score files
18543 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
18544 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
18545 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
18547 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
18548 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
18549 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
18551 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
18552 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
18553 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
18554 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
18555 files are applicable to which group.
18557 To use the score file
18558 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
18559 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
18563 (setq gnus-global-score-files
18564 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
18565 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
18568 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
18570 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
18571 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
18572 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
18573 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
18575 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
18576 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
18578 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
18579 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
18580 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
18581 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
18582 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
18583 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
18585 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
18591 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
18593 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
18595 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
18597 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
18598 lowered out of existence.
18600 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
18601 articles completely.
18604 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
18605 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
18606 old articles for a long time.
18609 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
18610 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
18611 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
18612 holding our breath yet?
18616 @section Kill Files
18619 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
18620 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
18621 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
18623 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
18624 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
18625 files into score files.
18627 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
18628 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
18629 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
18630 that isn't a very good idea.
18632 Normal kill files look like this:
18635 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18636 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
18640 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
18641 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
18643 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
18644 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
18647 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
18652 @kindex M-k (Summary)
18653 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
18654 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
18657 @kindex M-K (Summary)
18658 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
18659 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
18662 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
18667 @kindex M-k (Group)
18668 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
18669 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
18672 @kindex M-K (Group)
18673 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
18674 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
18677 Kill file variables:
18680 @item gnus-kill-file-name
18681 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
18682 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
18683 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
18684 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
18685 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
18686 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
18688 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18689 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18690 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
18691 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
18694 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
18695 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
18696 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
18697 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
18698 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
18699 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
18700 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
18701 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
18702 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
18704 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
18705 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
18706 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
18711 @node Converting Kill Files
18712 @section Converting Kill Files
18714 @cindex converting kill files
18716 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
18717 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
18718 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
18721 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
18722 You can fetch it from
18723 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
18725 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
18726 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
18727 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
18735 GroupLens (@uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/}) is a
18736 collaborative filtering system that helps you work together with other
18737 people to find the quality news articles out of the huge volume of
18738 news articles generated every day.
18740 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
18741 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
18742 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
18743 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
18744 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
18745 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
18746 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
18747 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
18750 @sc{Note:} Unfortunately the GroupLens system seems to have shut down,
18751 so this section is mostly of historical interest.
18754 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
18755 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
18756 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
18757 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
18761 @node Using GroupLens
18762 @subsection Using GroupLens
18764 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
18766 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
18767 better bit in town at the moment.
18769 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
18773 @item gnus-use-grouplens
18774 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
18775 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
18776 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
18778 @item grouplens-pseudonym
18779 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
18780 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
18781 with the Better Bit Bureau.
18783 @item grouplens-newsgroups
18784 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
18785 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
18789 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
18790 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
18791 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
18792 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
18793 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
18794 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
18797 @node Rating Articles
18798 @subsection Rating Articles
18800 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
18801 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
18802 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
18803 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
18806 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
18811 @kindex r (GroupLens)
18812 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
18813 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
18816 @kindex k (GroupLens)
18817 @findex grouplens-score-thread
18818 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
18819 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
18820 threads in rec.humor.
18824 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
18825 the score of the article you're reading.
18830 @kindex n (GroupLens)
18831 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
18832 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
18835 @kindex , (GroupLens)
18836 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
18837 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
18841 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
18842 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
18845 @node Displaying Predictions
18846 @subsection Displaying Predictions
18848 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
18849 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
18850 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
18851 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
18852 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
18854 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
18855 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
18856 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
18857 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
18858 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
18859 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
18860 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
18861 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
18862 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
18863 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
18864 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
18865 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
18866 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
18868 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
18869 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
18870 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
18871 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
18873 The following are valid values for that variable.
18876 @item prediction-spot
18877 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
18880 @item confidence-interval
18881 A numeric confidence interval.
18883 @item prediction-bar
18884 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
18886 @item confidence-bar
18887 Numerical confidence.
18889 @item confidence-spot
18890 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
18892 @item prediction-num
18893 Plain-old numeric value.
18895 @item confidence-plus-minus
18896 Prediction +/- confidence.
18901 @node GroupLens Variables
18902 @subsection GroupLens Variables
18906 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
18907 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
18908 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
18909 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%)
18912 @item grouplens-bbb-host
18913 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
18916 @item grouplens-bbb-port
18917 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
18919 @item grouplens-score-offset
18920 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
18921 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
18924 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
18925 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
18926 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
18931 @node Advanced Scoring
18932 @section Advanced Scoring
18934 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
18935 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
18936 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
18937 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
18938 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
18940 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
18944 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
18945 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
18946 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
18950 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
18951 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
18953 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
18954 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
18955 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
18956 non-@code{nil} value.
18958 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
18959 operator, and various match operators.
18966 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
18967 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
18968 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
18973 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
18974 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
18975 then this operator will return @code{false}.
18980 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
18981 logical negation of the value of its argument.
18985 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
18986 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
18987 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
18988 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
18989 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
18990 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
18991 the ancestry you want to go.
18993 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
18994 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
18995 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
18996 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
18997 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
19000 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
19001 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
19003 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
19004 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
19007 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
19008 when he's talking about Gnus:
19012 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19013 ("subject" "Gnus"))
19019 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
19023 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19030 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
19031 really don't want to read what he's written:
19035 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19036 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
19040 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
19041 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
19042 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
19049 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
19050 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
19051 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
19052 ("body" "white.*socks"))
19056 The possibilities are endless.
19059 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
19060 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
19062 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
19063 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
19064 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
19065 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
19066 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
19067 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
19068 @samp{subject}) first.
19070 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
19071 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
19082 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
19083 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
19089 ("subject" "Gnus")))
19096 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
19097 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
19102 @section Score Decays
19103 @cindex score decays
19106 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
19107 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
19108 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
19109 use them in any sensible way.
19111 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
19112 @findex gnus-decay-score
19113 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
19114 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
19115 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
19116 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
19117 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
19118 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
19119 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
19120 definition of that function:
19123 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
19125 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
19126 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
19129 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
19131 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
19133 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
19136 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
19137 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
19138 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
19139 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
19143 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
19146 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
19149 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
19153 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
19154 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
19155 the new score, which should be an integer.
19157 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
19158 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
19163 @include message.texi
19164 @chapter Emacs MIME
19165 @include emacs-mime.texi
19167 @include sieve.texi
19169 @c @include pgg.texi
19177 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
19178 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
19179 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
19180 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
19181 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
19182 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
19183 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
19184 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
19185 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
19186 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
19187 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
19188 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
19189 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
19190 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
19191 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
19192 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
19193 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
19194 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
19195 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
19199 @node Process/Prefix
19200 @section Process/Prefix
19201 @cindex process/prefix convention
19203 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
19204 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
19206 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
19207 command to be performed on.
19211 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
19212 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
19213 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
19214 with the current one.
19216 @vindex transient-mark-mode
19217 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
19218 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
19220 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
19221 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
19224 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
19225 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
19227 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
19230 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
19231 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
19232 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
19233 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
19235 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
19236 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
19237 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
19238 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
19239 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
19240 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
19241 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
19242 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
19244 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
19245 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
19246 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
19247 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
19248 expirable, you could say `M P b M-& E'.
19252 @section Interactive
19253 @cindex interaction
19257 @item gnus-novice-user
19258 @vindex gnus-novice-user
19259 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
19260 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
19261 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
19262 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
19265 @item gnus-expert-user
19266 @vindex gnus-expert-user
19267 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
19268 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
19269 matter how strange.
19271 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
19272 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
19273 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
19274 is @code{t} by default.
19276 @item gnus-interactive-exit
19277 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
19278 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
19283 @node Symbolic Prefixes
19284 @section Symbolic Prefixes
19285 @cindex symbolic prefixes
19287 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
19288 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
19289 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
19290 rule of 900 to the current article.
19292 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
19293 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
19294 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
19295 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
19296 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
19297 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
19298 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
19300 @kindex M-i (Summary)
19301 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
19302 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
19303 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
19304 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
19305 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
19306 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
19307 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
19308 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
19310 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
19311 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
19312 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
19314 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
19318 @node Formatting Variables
19319 @section Formatting Variables
19320 @cindex formatting variables
19322 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
19323 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
19324 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
19325 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
19326 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
19329 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
19330 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
19331 lots of percentages everywhere.
19334 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
19335 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
19336 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
19337 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
19338 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
19339 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
19340 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
19341 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
19344 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
19345 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
19346 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
19347 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
19348 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
19349 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
19350 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
19351 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
19353 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
19354 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
19356 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
19357 @findex gnus-update-format
19358 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
19359 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
19360 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
19361 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
19365 @node Formatting Basics
19366 @subsection Formatting Basics
19368 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
19369 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
19370 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
19372 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
19373 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
19374 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
19375 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
19376 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
19379 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
19380 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
19381 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
19382 less than 4 characters wide.
19384 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
19385 @samp{%&user-date;}.
19388 @node Mode Line Formatting
19389 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
19391 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
19392 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
19393 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
19394 with the following two differences:
19399 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
19402 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
19403 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
19404 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
19405 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
19406 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
19407 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
19408 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
19413 @node Advanced Formatting
19414 @subsection Advanced Formatting
19416 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
19417 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
19418 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
19419 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
19421 These are the valid modifiers:
19426 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
19430 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
19435 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
19438 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
19443 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
19446 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
19449 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
19452 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
19458 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
19463 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
19464 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
19465 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
19466 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
19467 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
19468 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
19469 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
19471 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
19472 last operation, padding.
19474 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
19475 If @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} is set to @code{nil} (@code{t} by
19476 default) with your strong personality, and use a lots of these advanced
19477 thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets quite slow. This can be helped
19478 enormously by running @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with
19479 the look of your lines.
19480 @xref{Compilation}.
19483 @node User-Defined Specs
19484 @subsection User-Defined Specs
19486 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
19487 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
19488 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
19489 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
19490 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
19491 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
19492 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
19493 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
19494 should protect against that.
19496 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
19497 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
19499 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
19500 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
19501 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
19502 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
19506 @node Formatting Fonts
19507 @subsection Formatting Fonts
19509 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
19510 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
19511 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
19512 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
19515 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
19516 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
19517 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
19518 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
19519 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
19520 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
19522 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
19523 special @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}.
19524 If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on.
19525 The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or
19526 symbols naming functions that return a string. When the mouse passes
19527 over text with this property set, a balloon window will appear and
19528 display the string. Please refer to @ref{(emacs)Help Echo} (in GNU
19529 Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in XEmacs) for
19530 more information on this. (For technical reasons, the guillemets have
19531 been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this paragraph.)
19533 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
19536 ;; Create three face types.
19537 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
19538 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
19540 ;; We want the article count to be in
19541 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
19542 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
19543 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
19545 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
19546 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
19548 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
19549 (setq gnus-group-line-format
19550 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
19553 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
19554 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
19556 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
19557 mode-line variables.
19559 @node Positioning Point
19560 @subsection Positioning Point
19562 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
19563 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
19564 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
19566 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
19568 @findex gnus-goto-colon
19569 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
19570 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
19572 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
19573 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%C} specifier. If you
19574 put a @samp{%C} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
19579 @subsection Tabulation
19581 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
19582 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
19583 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
19584 about lining up the following text afterwards.
19586 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs--@samp{%=}. There are two
19587 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
19589 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19590 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
19591 This is the soft tabulator.
19593 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19594 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
19595 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
19598 @node Wide Characters
19599 @subsection Wide Characters
19601 Proportional fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
19602 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
19603 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
19605 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
19606 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
19607 these coutries, that's not true.
19609 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
19610 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
19611 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
19612 prettieer. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
19616 @node Window Layout
19617 @section Window Layout
19618 @cindex window layout
19620 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
19622 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
19623 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
19624 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
19625 @code{t} by default.
19627 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
19628 glitches. Use at your own peril.
19630 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
19631 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
19632 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
19635 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
19636 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
19637 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19641 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
19642 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
19643 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
19644 possible names is listed below.
19646 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
19647 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
19650 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19654 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
19655 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
19656 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
19657 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
19658 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
19659 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
19660 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
19661 size spec per split.
19663 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
19664 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
19665 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
19666 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
19667 present) gets focus.
19669 Here's a more complicated example:
19672 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
19673 (summary 0.25 point)
19674 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
19678 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
19679 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
19680 occupy, not a percentage.
19682 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
19683 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
19684 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
19685 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
19686 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
19689 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
19692 (article (horizontal 1.0
19697 (summary 0.25 point)
19702 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
19703 @code{horizontal} thingie?
19705 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
19706 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
19707 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
19708 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
19709 the screen is to be given to this strip.
19711 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
19712 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
19713 lines from the splits.
19715 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
19719 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
19720 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
19721 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
19722 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
19723 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
19724 size = number | frame-params
19725 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
19728 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
19729 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
19730 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
19731 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
19733 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
19734 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
19735 @cindex window height
19736 @cindex window width
19737 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
19738 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
19739 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
19740 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
19741 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
19742 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
19744 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
19745 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
19746 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
19747 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
19749 @findex gnus-configure-frame
19750 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
19751 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
19752 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
19753 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
19754 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
19755 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
19756 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
19757 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
19758 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
19759 configuration list.
19762 (gnus-configure-frame
19766 (article 0.3 point))
19774 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
19775 @code{frame} split:
19778 (gnus-configure-frame
19781 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
19783 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
19784 (user-position . t)
19785 (left . -1) (top . 1))
19790 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
19791 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
19792 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
19793 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
19794 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
19795 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
19796 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
19797 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
19799 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
19800 be found in its default value.
19802 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
19803 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
19804 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
19808 (message (horizontal 1.0
19809 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
19811 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
19816 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
19817 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
19818 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
19823 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
19824 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
19825 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
19826 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
19827 (name . "Message"))
19828 (message 1.0 point))))
19831 @findex gnus-add-configuration
19832 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
19833 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
19834 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
19835 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
19838 (gnus-add-configuration
19839 '(article (vertical 1.0
19841 (summary .25 point)
19845 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
19846 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
19847 Gnus has been loaded.
19849 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
19850 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
19851 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
19852 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
19853 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
19855 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
19856 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
19857 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
19860 @subsection Example Window Configurations
19864 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
19865 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
19880 (gnus-add-configuration
19883 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
19885 (summary 0.16 point)
19888 (gnus-add-configuration
19891 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
19892 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
19898 @node Faces and Fonts
19899 @section Faces and Fonts
19904 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
19905 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
19906 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
19911 @section Compilation
19912 @cindex compilation
19913 @cindex byte-compilation
19915 @findex gnus-compile
19917 Remember all those line format specification variables?
19918 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
19919 on. By default, T-gnus will use the byte-compiled codes of these
19920 variables and we can keep a slow-down to a minimum. However, if you set
19921 @code{gnus-compile-user-specs} to @code{nil} (@code{t} by default),
19922 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
19923 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
19924 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
19927 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
19928 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
19929 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
19930 you'll get top speed again. Note that T-gnus will not save these
19931 compiled specs in the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
19934 @item gnus-compile-user-specs
19935 @vindex gnus-compile-user-specs
19936 If it is non-nil, the user-defined format specs will be byte-compiled
19937 automatically. The default value of this variable is @code{t}. It has
19938 an effect on the values of @code{gnus-*-line-format-spec}.
19943 @section Mode Lines
19946 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
19947 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
19948 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
19949 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
19950 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
19951 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
19952 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
19955 @cindex display-time
19957 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
19958 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
19959 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
19960 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
19961 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
19962 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
19963 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
19964 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
19967 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
19969 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
19970 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
19972 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
19973 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
19974 (length display-time-string)))))
19977 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
19978 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
19979 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
19980 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
19981 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
19984 @node Highlighting and Menus
19985 @section Highlighting and Menus
19987 @cindex highlighting
19990 @vindex gnus-visual
19991 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
19992 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
19993 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
19996 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
19997 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
20000 @item group-highlight
20001 Do highlights in the group buffer.
20002 @item summary-highlight
20003 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
20004 @item article-highlight
20005 Do highlights in the article buffer.
20007 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
20009 Create menus in the group buffer.
20011 Create menus in the summary buffers.
20013 Create menus in the article buffer.
20015 Create menus in the browse buffer.
20017 Create menus in the server buffer.
20019 Create menus in the score buffers.
20021 Create menus in all buffers.
20024 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
20025 buffers, you could say something like:
20028 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
20031 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
20034 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
20037 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
20038 in all Gnus buffers.
20040 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
20043 @item gnus-mouse-face
20044 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
20045 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
20046 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
20050 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
20054 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
20055 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
20056 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
20058 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
20059 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
20060 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
20062 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
20063 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
20064 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
20066 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
20067 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
20068 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
20070 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
20071 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
20072 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
20074 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
20075 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
20076 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
20087 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
20088 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
20089 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
20090 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
20091 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
20095 @vindex gnus-carpal
20096 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
20097 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
20098 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
20103 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
20104 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
20105 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
20107 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
20108 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
20109 Face used on buttons.
20111 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
20112 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
20113 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
20115 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
20116 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
20117 Buttons in the group buffer.
20119 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
20120 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
20121 Buttons in the summary buffer.
20123 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
20124 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
20125 Buttons in the server buffer.
20127 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
20128 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
20129 Buttons in the browse buffer.
20132 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
20133 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
20134 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
20142 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
20143 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
20144 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
20145 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
20146 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
20148 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
20149 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
20150 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
20152 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
20153 been idle for thirty minutes:
20156 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
20159 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
20163 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
20166 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
20167 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
20168 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
20170 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
20171 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
20172 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
20173 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
20175 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
20176 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
20177 @var{idle} minutes.
20179 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
20180 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
20183 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
20184 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
20185 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
20187 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
20188 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
20189 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
20190 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
20192 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
20193 your @file{.gnus} file:
20195 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
20197 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
20200 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
20201 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
20202 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
20203 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
20204 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
20205 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
20206 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
20207 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
20208 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
20209 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
20210 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
20212 @findex gnus-demon-init
20213 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
20214 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
20215 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
20216 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
20217 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
20219 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
20220 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
20221 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
20230 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
20231 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
20233 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
20234 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
20235 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
20236 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
20239 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
20240 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
20241 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
20242 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
20244 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
20245 this will make spam disappear.
20247 There are some variables to customize, of course:
20250 @item gnus-use-nocem
20251 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
20252 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
20255 @item gnus-nocem-groups
20256 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
20257 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
20258 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
20259 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
20261 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
20262 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
20263 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
20264 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
20265 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
20266 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
20268 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
20269 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
20271 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
20272 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
20273 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
20274 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
20275 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
20276 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
20277 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
20278 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
20279 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
20280 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
20282 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
20283 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
20286 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
20289 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
20290 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
20293 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
20296 The specs are applied left-to-right.
20299 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
20300 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
20302 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
20303 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
20304 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
20305 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
20307 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
20308 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
20311 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
20313 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
20321 This might be dangerous, though.
20323 @item gnus-nocem-directory
20324 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
20325 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
20326 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
20328 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
20329 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
20330 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
20331 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
20332 might then see old spam.
20334 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
20335 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
20336 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
20337 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
20338 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
20341 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20342 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20343 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
20344 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
20348 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
20349 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
20350 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
20351 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
20358 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
20359 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
20360 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
20362 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
20363 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
20364 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
20365 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
20366 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
20367 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
20368 @code{undo} function.
20370 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
20371 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
20372 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
20373 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
20374 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
20375 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
20376 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
20377 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
20378 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
20379 never be totally undoable.
20381 @findex gnus-undo-mode
20382 @vindex gnus-use-undo
20384 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
20385 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
20386 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
20387 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
20391 @node Predicate Specifiers
20392 @section Predicate Specifiers
20393 @cindex predicate specifiers
20395 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
20396 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
20397 to type all that much.
20399 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
20404 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
20405 gnus-article-unread-p)
20408 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
20409 functions all take one parameter.
20411 @findex gnus-make-predicate
20412 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
20413 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
20414 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
20419 @section Moderation
20422 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
20423 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
20424 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
20427 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
20431 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
20434 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
20436 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
20441 You split your incoming mail by matching on
20442 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
20443 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
20446 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
20447 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
20450 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
20451 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
20455 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
20458 (setq gnus-moderated-list
20459 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
20463 @node Image Enhancements
20464 @section Image Enhancements
20466 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21, is able to display pictures and stuff, so
20467 Gnus has taken advantage of that.
20470 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
20471 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
20472 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
20473 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
20474 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
20487 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
20488 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
20489 over your shoulder as you read news.
20492 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
20493 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
20494 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
20495 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
20496 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
20501 @subsubsection Picon Basics
20503 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
20512 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
20513 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
20514 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
20515 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
20516 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
20517 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
20518 @code{GIF} formats.
20521 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20522 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
20523 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
20524 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
20525 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
20527 @vindex gnus-picons-database
20528 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
20529 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
20530 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
20531 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
20532 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
20534 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
20535 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
20538 @node Picon Requirements
20539 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
20541 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must have @code{x} support
20542 compiled into XEmacs. To display color picons which are much nicer
20543 than the black & white one, you also need one of @code{xpm} or
20544 @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
20546 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20547 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
20548 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
20549 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
20550 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
20551 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20554 @subsubsection Easy Picons
20556 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
20557 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
20560 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
20561 (setq gnus-treat-display-picons t)
20564 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
20565 containing the Picons databases.
20567 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
20570 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20571 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
20576 @subsubsection Hard Picons
20584 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
20585 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
20586 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
20587 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
20588 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
20593 @item gnus-picons-database
20594 @vindex gnus-picons-database
20595 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
20596 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
20597 subdirectories. This is only useful if
20598 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
20599 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
20601 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20602 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20603 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
20604 engine is @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
20605 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
20606 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
20607 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
20609 @item gnus-picons-display-where
20610 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
20611 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
20612 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
20613 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
20614 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
20615 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
20616 routines---@pxref{Window Layout}.
20618 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
20619 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
20620 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
20625 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
20626 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
20628 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
20629 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
20632 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
20634 @item gnus-article-display-picons
20635 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
20636 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
20637 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer.
20639 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
20640 @findex gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
20641 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.
20642 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the function name, not @code{xface})
20648 @node Picon Useless Configuration
20649 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
20657 The following variables offer further control over how things are
20658 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
20659 don't need to worry about.
20663 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
20664 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
20665 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
20666 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
20668 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
20669 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
20670 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
20671 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
20673 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
20674 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
20675 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
20676 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
20677 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
20679 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20680 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20681 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
20682 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
20683 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
20684 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
20685 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
20686 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20688 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
20689 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
20690 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
20691 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
20692 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20694 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
20695 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
20696 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
20697 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
20698 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
20699 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
20700 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
20702 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
20703 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
20704 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
20705 Defaults to @code{nil}.
20707 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
20708 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
20709 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
20710 Defaults to @code{t}.
20712 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
20713 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
20714 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
20715 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
20717 @item gnus-picons-setup-hook
20718 @vindex gnus-picons-setup-hook
20719 Hook run in the picon buffer, if that is displayed.
20721 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
20722 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
20723 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
20724 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
20726 If @code{nil}, display the picons in the @code{From} and
20727 @code{Newsgroups} lines. This is the default.
20729 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
20730 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
20731 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
20732 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
20733 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
20734 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
20735 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
20736 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
20747 @subsection Smileys
20752 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
20757 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
20758 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
20760 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
20761 @file{.gnus.el} file:
20764 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
20767 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
20768 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
20769 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
20770 text and maps that to file names.
20772 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
20773 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
20774 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
20775 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
20776 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
20777 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
20779 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
20780 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
20782 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
20783 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
20784 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
20786 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
20787 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
20791 @item smiley-data-directory
20792 @vindex smiley-data-directory
20793 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
20795 @item smiley-flesh-color
20796 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
20797 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
20799 @item smiley-features-color
20800 @vindex smiley-features-color
20801 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
20803 @item smiley-tongue-color
20804 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
20805 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
20807 @item smiley-circle-color
20808 @vindex smiley-circle-color
20809 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
20811 @item smiley-mouse-face
20812 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
20813 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
20822 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
20823 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
20824 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
20828 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
20829 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
20830 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
20831 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
20839 Decoding an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
20840 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
20841 have @samp{compface} installed on your system. If either is true,
20842 Gnus will default to displaying @code{X-Face} headers.
20844 The variable that controls this is the
20845 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
20846 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
20847 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
20848 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
20849 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
20851 The default action under Emacs 20 is to fork off the @code{display}
20852 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For
20853 the @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
20854 like @code{compface} or @code{faces-xface} on a GNU/Linux system.} to
20857 Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image support, the default
20858 action is to display the face before the @code{From} header. (It's
20859 nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support---that
20860 will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native @code{X-Face}
20861 support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
20862 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
20863 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
20864 like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.})
20866 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
20869 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
20870 easier insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages.
20872 @findex gnus-random-x-face
20873 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files
20874 in @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
20875 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
20876 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
20877 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big.
20879 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
20880 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
20881 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
20883 Here's how you would typically use the former function. Put something
20884 like the folllowing in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
20887 (setq message-required-news-headers
20888 (nconc message-required-news-headers
20889 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
20892 Using the latter function would be something like this:
20895 (setq message-required-news-headers
20896 (nconc message-required-news-headers
20897 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
20898 (gnus-x-face-from-file
20899 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
20904 @subsection Toolbar
20914 @item gnus-use-toolbar
20915 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
20916 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
20917 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
20918 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
20920 @item gnus-group-toolbar
20921 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
20922 The toolbar in the group buffer.
20924 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
20925 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
20926 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
20928 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
20929 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
20930 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
20936 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
20939 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
20940 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
20941 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
20942 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
20943 unusual directory structure.
20945 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
20946 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
20947 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
20948 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
20950 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
20951 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
20952 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
20953 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
20954 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
20955 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
20957 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
20958 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
20959 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
20973 @node Fuzzy Matching
20974 @section Fuzzy Matching
20975 @cindex fuzzy matching
20977 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
20978 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
20980 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
20981 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
20982 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
20984 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
20985 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
20986 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
20987 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
20988 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
20991 @node Thwarting Email Spam
20992 @section Thwarting Email Spam
20996 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
20998 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
20999 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
21000 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
21001 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
21002 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
21003 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
21004 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
21005 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
21008 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
21009 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
21010 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
21011 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
21012 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
21013 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
21015 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
21018 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
21019 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
21020 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
21021 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
21022 * Filtering Spam Using spam.el::
21023 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics (spam-stat.el)::
21026 @node The problem of spam
21027 @subsection The problem of spam
21029 @cindex spam filtering approaches
21030 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
21032 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21034 First, some background on spam.
21036 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
21037 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it exists
21038 because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail, so only
21039 a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to make it
21040 worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most common
21041 spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for further
21042 spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers}, but terms like
21043 @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, and @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
21045 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
21046 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
21047 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
21048 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
21049 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
21050 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
21051 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
21052 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
21053 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
21056 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering. If you get 200
21057 spam messages per day from @email{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you
21058 block @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about
21059 @samp{VIAGRA}, you discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the
21060 message. This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate
21061 e-mail. For instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest
21062 has been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it
21063 @strong{contained} words that were common in spam messages.
21064 Nevertheless, in isolated cases, with great care, direct filtering of
21065 mail can be useful.
21067 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
21068 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
21069 @code{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @samp{X} in
21070 China, Ghana, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
21071 @code{N} systems enter @samp{X} or the spam e-mail from @samp{X} into
21072 a database. The criteria for spam detection vary - it may be the
21073 number of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When
21074 a user of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a
21075 message is spam, he consults one of those @code{N} systems.
21077 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
21078 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
21079 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
21080 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
21081 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
21082 sending spam, and their web sites have been shut down for some time
21083 because of the incident.
21085 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
21086 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
21087 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
21088 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
21089 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
21090 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
21091 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
21092 to store the database of spam analyses.
21094 @node Anti-Spam Basics
21095 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
21099 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21101 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
21102 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
21104 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
21105 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
21106 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
21107 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
21108 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
21109 part of the mail address.)
21112 (setq message-default-news-headers
21113 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
21116 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
21117 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21122 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
21123 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
21124 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
21130 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
21131 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
21132 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
21133 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
21135 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @sc{smtp} server
21136 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
21137 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
21138 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
21139 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
21140 your fancy split rule in this way:
21145 (to "larsi" "misc")
21149 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
21150 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
21151 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
21152 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
21153 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
21155 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
21156 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
21157 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
21158 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
21159 cosmic balance somewhat.
21161 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
21162 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
21163 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
21164 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
21169 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
21170 @cindex SpamAssassin
21171 @cindex Vipul's Razor
21174 The days where the hints in the previous section was sufficient in
21175 avoiding spam is coming to an end. There are many tools out there
21176 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
21177 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
21178 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
21179 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
21180 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
21182 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
21183 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
21184 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
21185 Specifiers}) follows.
21189 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
21192 :postscript "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
21195 Once you managed to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
21196 the mail contain e.g. a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
21197 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
21200 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
21204 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21207 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
21208 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
21212 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
21213 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
21214 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
21215 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
21218 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
21220 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
21222 (let ((buf (or (get-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
21223 (get-buffer " *nnml move*"))))
21225 (progn (message "Oops, cannot find message buffer") nil)
21227 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
21228 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
21232 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
21233 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
21234 spam. And here is the nifty function:
21237 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
21238 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
21240 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
21241 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
21242 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
21246 @subsection Hashcash
21249 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
21250 costly for each message they send. This has the obvious drawback that
21251 you cannot rely on that everyone in the world uses this technique,
21252 since it is not part of the internet standards, but it may be useful
21253 in smaller communities.
21255 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
21256 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
21257 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
21258 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
21259 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
21260 instead requires that everyone you communicate with supports the
21261 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
21262 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
21263 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
21264 one of them separately.
21267 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
21268 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
21269 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:}
21270 header. For more details, and for the external application
21271 @code{hashcash} you need to install to use this feature, see
21272 @uref{http://www.cypherspace.org/~adam/hashcash/}. Even more
21273 information can be found at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
21275 If you wish to call hashcash for each message you send, say something
21279 (require 'hashcash)
21280 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'mail-add-payment)
21283 The @code{hashcash.el} library can be found at
21284 @uref{http://users.actrix.gen.nz/mycroft/hashcash.el}, or in the Gnus
21285 development contrib directory.
21287 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
21291 @item hashcash-default-payment
21292 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
21293 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
21294 should consist of. By default this is 0, meaning nothing will be
21295 done. Suggested useful values include 17 to 29.
21297 @item hashcash-payment-alist
21298 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
21299 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
21300 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(ADDR AMOUNT)} cells,
21301 where ADDR is the receiver (email address or newsgroup) and AMOUNT is
21302 the number of bits in the collision that is needed. It can also
21303 contain @samp{(ADDR STRING AMOUNT)} cells, where the STRING is the
21304 string to use (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
21308 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed.
21312 Currently there is no built in functionality in Gnus to verify
21313 hashcash cookies, it is expected that this is performed by your hand
21314 customized mail filtering scripts. Improvements in this area would be
21315 a useful contribution, however.
21317 @node Filtering Spam Using spam.el
21318 @subsection Filtering Spam Using spam.el
21319 @cindex spam filtering
21322 The idea behind @code{spam.el} is to have a control center for spam detection
21323 and filtering in Gnus. To that end, @code{spam.el} does two things: it
21324 filters incoming mail, and it analyzes mail known to be spam.
21326 So, what happens when you load @code{spam.el}? First of all, you get
21327 the following keyboard commands:
21337 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
21338 @code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}.
21340 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{H} mark.
21341 Whenever you see a spam article, make sure to mark its summary line
21342 with @kbd{M-d} before leaving the group.
21348 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
21349 @code{spam-bogofilter-score}.
21351 You must have bogofilter processing enabled for that command to work
21358 Gnus can learn from the spam you get. All you have to do is collect
21359 your spam in one or more spam groups, and set the variable
21360 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. In these groups, all messages
21361 are considered to be spam by default: they get the @samp{H} mark. You must
21362 review these messages from time to time and remove the @samp{H} mark for
21363 every message that is not spam after all. When you leave a spam
21364 group, all messages that continue with the @samp{H} mark, are passed on to
21365 the spam-detection engine (bogofilter, ifile, and others). To remove
21366 the @samp{H} mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to "unread" the article, or @kbd{d} for
21367 declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a group, all @samp{H}
21368 marked articles, saved or unsaved, are sent to Bogofilter or ifile
21369 (depending on @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-ifile}), which will study
21370 them as spam samples.
21372 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
21373 @code{spam-ham-marks-form} gets overridden below, marks @samp{R} and @samp{r} for
21374 default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and @samp{K} for automatic or
21375 explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for low scores, are all considered
21376 to be associated with articles which are not spam. This assumption
21377 might be false, in particular if you use kill files or score files as
21378 means for detecting genuine spam, you should then adjust
21379 @code{spam-ham-marks-form}. When you leave a group, all _unsaved_ articles
21380 bearing any the above marks are sent to Bogofilter or ifile, which
21381 will study these as not-spam samples. If you explicit kill a lot, you
21382 might sometimes end up with articles marked @samp{K} which you never saw,
21383 and which might accidentally contain spam. Best is to make sure that
21384 real spam is marked with @samp{H}, and nothing else.
21386 All other marks do not contribute to Bogofilter or ifile
21387 pre-conditioning. In particular, ticked, dormant or souped articles
21388 are likely to contribute later, when they will get deleted for real,
21389 so there is no need to use them prematurely. Explicitly expired
21390 articles do not contribute, command @kbd{E} is a way to get rid of an
21391 article without Bogofilter or ifile ever seeing it.
21393 @strong{TODO: @code{spam-use-ifile} does not process spam articles on group exit.
21394 I'm waiting for info from the author of @code{ifile-gnus.el}, because I think
21395 that functionality should go in @code{ifile-gnus.el} rather than @code{spam.el}.}
21397 To use the @code{spam.el} facilities for incoming mail filtering, you
21398 must add the following to your fancy split list
21399 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}:
21405 Note that the fancy split may be called @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
21406 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on whether you use the nnmail or
21407 nnimap back ends to retrieve your mail.
21409 The @code{spam-split} function will process incoming mail and send the mail
21410 considered to be spam into the group name given by the variable
21411 @code{spam-split-group}. Usually that group name is @samp{spam}.
21413 The following are the methods you can use to control the behavior of
21417 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
21418 * BBDB Whitelists::
21421 * Ifile spam filtering::
21422 * Extending spam.el::
21425 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
21426 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
21427 @cindex spam filtering
21428 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
21429 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
21432 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
21433 Set this variables to t (the default) if you want to use blacklists.
21436 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
21437 Set this variables to t if you want to use whitelists.
21440 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
21441 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
21442 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
21443 blacklist. Since you start out with an empty blacklist, no harm is
21444 done by having the @code{spam-use-blacklist} variable set, so it is
21445 set by default. Blacklist entries use the Emacs regular expression
21448 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
21449 legitimate. All non-whitelisted addresses are considered spammers.
21450 This option is probably not useful for most Gnus users unless the
21451 whitelists is very comprehensive. Also see @ref{BBDB Whitelists}.
21452 Whitelist entries use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
21454 The Blacklist and whitelist location can be customized with the
21455 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default). The whitelist
21456 and blacklist files will be in that directory, named @file{whitelist} and
21457 @file{blacklist} respectively.
21459 @node BBDB Whitelists
21460 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
21461 @cindex spam filtering
21462 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
21463 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
21466 @defvar spam-use-bbdb
21468 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
21469 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted addresses,
21470 without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded for
21471 @code{spam-use-bbdb} to work properly. Only addresses in the BBDB
21472 will be allowed through; all others will be classified as spam.
21477 @subsubsection Blackholes
21478 @cindex spam filtering
21479 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
21482 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
21484 You can let Gnus consult the blackhole-type distributed spam
21485 processing systems (DCC, for instance) when you set this option. The
21486 variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers} holds the list of blackhole servers
21489 This variable is disabled by default. It is not recommended at this
21490 time because of bugs in the @code{dns.el} code.
21495 @subsubsection Bogofilter
21496 @cindex spam filtering
21497 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
21500 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
21502 Set this variable if you want to use Eric Raymond's speedy Bogofilter.
21503 This has been tested with a locally patched copy of version 0.4. Make
21504 sure to read the installation comments in @code{spam.el}.
21506 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{H} mark for spam
21507 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
21508 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
21509 category, spam or not. The shell command @command{head -1
21510 ~/.bogofilter/*} shows both article counts. The command @kbd{S t} in
21511 summary mode, either for debugging or for curiosity, triggers
21512 Bogofilter into displaying in another buffer the @emph{spamicity}
21513 score of the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0), together with the
21514 article words which most significantly contribute to the score.
21518 @node Ifile spam filtering
21519 @subsubsection Ifile spam filtering
21520 @cindex spam filtering
21521 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
21524 @defvar spam-use-ifile
21526 Enable this variable if you want to use Ifile, a statistical analyzer
21527 similar to Bogofilter. Currently you must have @code{ifile-gnus.el}
21528 loaded. The integration of Ifile with @code{spam.el} is not finished
21529 yet, but you can use @code{ifile-gnus.el} on its own if you like.
21533 @node Extending spam.el
21534 @subsubsection Extending spam.el
21535 @cindex spam filtering
21536 @cindex spam.el, extending
21537 @cindex extending spam.el
21539 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. Provide the following:
21549 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
21550 "True if blackbox should be used.")
21555 (spam-use-blackbox . spam-check-blackbox)
21557 to @code{spam-list-of-checks}.
21562 Write the @code{spam-check-blackbox} function. It should return
21563 @samp{nil} or @code{spam-split-group}. See the existing
21564 @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can do.
21567 @node Filtering Spam Using Statistics (spam-stat.el)
21568 @subsection Filtering Spam Using Statistics (spam-stat.el)
21569 @cindex Paul Graham
21570 @cindex Graham, Paul
21571 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
21572 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
21573 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
21575 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
21576 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
21577 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
21578 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
21579 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
21580 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
21581 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
21582 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
21583 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
21586 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
21587 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
21588 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
21589 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
21590 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
21591 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
21592 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
21593 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
21595 Gnus supports this kind of filtering. But it needs some setting up.
21596 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
21597 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
21598 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
21599 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
21602 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
21603 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
21604 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
21607 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
21608 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
21610 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
21611 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
21612 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
21613 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
21614 need several hundred emails in both collections.
21616 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
21617 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
21618 per mail. Use the following:
21620 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
21621 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
21622 is treated as one spam mail.
21625 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
21626 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
21627 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
21630 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
21631 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds
21632 the the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
21633 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
21634 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds the the group
21635 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
21638 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics -- the
21639 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
21640 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
21641 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
21643 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
21644 reset the dictionary.
21648 @defun spam-stat-reset
21649 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
21651 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
21652 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
21653 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
21654 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
21655 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
21656 only non-spam mails.
21659 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
21660 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
21661 to update the dictionary incrementally.
21664 @defun spam-stat-save
21665 Save the dictionary.
21668 @defvar spam-stat-file
21669 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
21670 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
21673 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
21674 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
21676 In order to use @code{spam-stat} to split your mail, you need to add the
21677 following to your @file{~/.gnus} file:
21680 (require 'spam-stat)
21684 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
21687 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
21688 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. In the simplest case, you only have
21689 two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says
21690 that mail is either spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is
21691 spam, then @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
21694 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
21695 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
21699 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
21700 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
21703 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
21704 the following expression. It only the mails not matching the regular
21705 expression are considered potential spam.
21708 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
21709 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
21710 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
21714 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
21715 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
21716 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
21717 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
21718 mails, when creating the dictionary!
21721 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
21722 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
21723 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
21727 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
21728 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
21729 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
21730 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
21731 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
21735 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
21736 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
21737 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
21738 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
21743 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
21744 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
21746 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
21748 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
21749 called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail;
21750 use this for new mail that has not been processed before
21754 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
21755 called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
21756 mail; use this for new mail that has not been processed before
21760 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
21761 called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
21762 mail but spam; use this to change the status of a mail that has
21763 already been processed as non-spam
21767 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
21768 called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
21769 normal mail; use this to change the status of a mail that has already
21770 been processed as spam
21774 @defun spam-stat-save
21775 save the hash table to the file; the filename used is stored in the
21776 variable @code{spam-stat-file}
21780 @defun spam-stat-load
21781 load the hash table from a file; the filename used is stored in the
21782 variable @code{spam-stat-file}
21786 @defun spam-stat-score-word
21787 return the spam score for a word
21791 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
21792 return the spam score for a buffer
21796 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
21797 for fancy mail splitting; add the rule @samp{(: spam-stat-split-fancy)} to
21798 @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
21800 This requires the following in your @file{~/.gnus} file:
21803 (require 'spam-stat)
21809 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
21812 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
21813 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
21814 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
21815 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
21816 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
21817 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
21818 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
21819 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
21820 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
21821 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
21822 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
21823 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
21824 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
21825 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
21828 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
21831 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
21832 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
21833 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
21834 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
21835 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
21836 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
21839 @node Various Various
21840 @section Various Various
21846 @item gnus-home-directory
21847 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
21848 defaults to @file{~/}.
21850 @item gnus-directory
21851 @vindex gnus-directory
21852 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
21853 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
21854 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
21856 Note that gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
21857 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
21858 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
21859 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
21861 @item gnus-default-directory
21862 @vindex gnus-default-directory
21863 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
21864 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
21865 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
21866 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
21867 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
21868 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
21871 @vindex gnus-verbose
21872 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
21873 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
21874 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
21875 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
21876 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
21878 @item gnus-verbose-backends
21879 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
21880 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
21881 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
21883 @item nnheader-max-head-length
21884 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
21885 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
21886 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
21887 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
21888 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
21889 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
21890 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
21891 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
21892 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
21894 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
21895 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
21896 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
21897 read when doing the operation described above.
21899 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
21900 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
21902 @cindex invalid characters in file names
21903 @cindex characters in file names
21904 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
21905 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
21906 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
21909 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
21913 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
21914 Windows (phooey) systems.
21916 @item gnus-hidden-properties
21917 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
21918 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
21919 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
21920 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
21922 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
21923 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
21924 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
21925 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
21926 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
21928 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
21929 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
21930 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
21932 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
21933 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
21935 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
21936 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
21937 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
21938 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
21941 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
21949 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
21950 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
21952 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
21954 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
21960 Not because of victories @*
21963 but for the common sunshine,@*
21965 the largess of the spring.
21969 but for the day's work done@*
21970 as well as I was able;@*
21971 not for a seat upon the dais@*
21972 but at the common table.@*
21977 @chapter Appendices
21980 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
21981 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
21982 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
21983 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
21984 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
21985 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
21986 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
21987 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
21988 * Frequently Asked Questions::
21995 @cindex Installing under XEmacs
21997 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
21998 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
21999 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{w3}, @samp{mh-e},
22000 @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{rmail}, @samp{eterm}, @samp{mail-lib},
22001 @samp{xemacs-base}, and @samp{fsf-compat}. The @samp{misc-games}
22002 package is required for Morse decoding.
22009 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
22010 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
22012 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
22013 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
22014 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
22015 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
22016 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
22018 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
22019 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
22020 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
22021 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
22022 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
22023 appropriate name, don't you think?)
22025 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
22026 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
22027 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
22028 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
22031 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
22032 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
22033 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
22034 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
22035 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
22036 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
22037 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
22038 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
22039 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
22043 @node Gnus Versions
22044 @subsection Gnus Versions
22046 @cindex September Gnus
22048 @cindex Quassia Gnus
22049 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
22053 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
22054 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
22055 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
22057 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
22058 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
22060 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
22061 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
22063 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
22064 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
22066 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
22067 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
22070 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
22072 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
22073 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
22074 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
22075 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
22076 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
22077 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
22080 @node Other Gnus Versions
22081 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
22084 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
22085 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
22086 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
22087 @sc{mime} capabilities.
22089 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
22090 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
22091 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
22092 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
22099 What's the point of Gnus?
22101 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
22102 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
22103 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
22104 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
22105 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
22106 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
22107 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
22108 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
22109 keep track of millions of people who post?
22111 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
22112 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
22113 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
22114 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
22115 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
22116 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
22117 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
22118 every one of you to explore and invent.
22120 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
22121 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
22124 @node Compatibility
22125 @subsection Compatibility
22127 @cindex compatibility
22128 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
22129 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
22130 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
22135 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
22139 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
22142 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
22145 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
22146 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
22147 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
22148 important variables have their values copied into their global
22149 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
22150 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
22152 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
22153 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
22154 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
22155 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
22156 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
22160 @cindex highlighting
22161 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
22162 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
22163 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
22164 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
22165 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
22166 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
22169 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
22170 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
22171 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
22172 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
22174 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
22175 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
22176 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
22177 to stop doing it the old way.
22179 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
22181 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
22183 @cindex reporting bugs
22185 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
22186 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
22187 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
22189 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
22190 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
22191 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
22192 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
22197 @subsection Conformity
22199 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
22200 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
22208 There are no known breaches of this standard.
22212 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
22214 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
22215 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
22216 We do have some breaches to this one.
22222 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
22223 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
22224 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
22225 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
22226 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
22231 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
22232 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
22233 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
22234 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
22236 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
22238 All the various @sc{mime} RFCs are supported.
22240 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
22241 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
22243 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
22246 RFC 1991 is the original PGP message specification, published as a
22247 Information RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now called Open PGP, and
22248 put on the Standards Track. Both document a non-@sc{mime} aware PGP
22249 format. Gnus supports both encoding (signing and encryption) and
22250 decoding (verification and decryption).
22252 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
22253 RFC 2015 (superceded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
22254 1991) describes the @sc{mime}-wrapping around the RF 1991/2440 format.
22255 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
22257 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
22258 RFC 2633 describes the @sc{s/mime} format.
22260 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
22261 RFC 1730 is @sc{imap} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060 (@sc{imap} 4
22262 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5 authentication for @sc{imap}. RFC
22263 2086 describes access control lists (ACLs) for @sc{imap}. RFC 2359
22264 describes a @sc{imap} protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper
22265 TLS integration (STARTTLS) with @sc{imap}. RFC 1731 describes the
22266 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @sc{imap}.
22270 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
22271 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
22276 @subsection Emacsen
22282 Gnus should work on :
22290 XEmacs 21.1.1 and up.
22294 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
22295 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
22296 Emacs versions. However, T-gnus does support ``Mule 2.3 based on Emacs
22297 19.34'' and possibly the versions of XEmacs prior to 21.1.1, e.g. 20.4.
22298 See the file ``README'' in the T-gnus distribution for more details.
22300 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
22301 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
22302 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
22306 @node Gnus Development
22307 @subsection Gnus Development
22309 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
22310 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
22311 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
22312 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
22313 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
22314 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
22315 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
22316 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
22318 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
22319 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
22320 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
22321 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
22322 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
22325 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
22326 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
22327 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
22328 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
22329 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
22331 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
22332 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
22333 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
22334 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
22335 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
22336 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
22337 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
22338 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
22339 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
22340 can't be assumed to do so.
22345 @subsection Contributors
22346 @cindex contributors
22348 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
22349 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
22350 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
22351 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
22352 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
22353 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
22354 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
22355 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
22356 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
22357 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
22359 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
22365 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
22368 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
22369 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
22370 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
22371 functionality and stuff.
22374 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
22375 well as numerous other things).
22378 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
22381 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
22384 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
22387 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
22390 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
22391 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
22394 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
22397 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
22398 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
22401 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
22404 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
22407 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
22410 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
22413 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
22414 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
22417 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
22420 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
22423 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
22426 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
22430 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
22433 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
22436 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
22439 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
22440 well as autoconf support.
22444 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
22445 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
22447 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
22456 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
22460 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
22470 Alexei V. Barantsev,
22485 Massimo Campostrini,
22490 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
22491 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
22495 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
22498 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
22504 Michael Welsh Duggan,
22509 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
22513 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
22521 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
22523 Michelangelo Grigni,
22527 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
22529 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
22531 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
22538 François Felix Ingrand,
22539 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
22540 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
22542 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
22553 Peter Skov Knudsen,
22554 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
22556 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
22557 Thor Kristoffersen,
22560 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
22578 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
22579 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
22586 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
22591 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
22595 John McClary Prevost,
22601 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
22606 Christian von Roques,
22609 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
22616 Philippe Schnoebelen,
22618 Randal L. Schwartz,
22632 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
22637 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
22653 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
22658 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
22659 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
22660 (550kB and counting).
22662 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
22665 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
22666 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
22670 @subsection New Features
22671 @cindex new features
22674 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
22675 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
22676 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
22677 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
22678 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
22681 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
22682 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
22683 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
22686 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
22688 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
22693 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
22694 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
22697 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
22698 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
22701 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
22704 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
22705 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
22706 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
22709 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
22710 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
22711 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
22712 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
22715 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
22716 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
22719 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
22720 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
22721 (@pxref{The Active File}).
22724 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
22725 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
22728 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
22729 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
22730 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
22733 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
22734 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
22735 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
22738 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
22739 the @file{.emacs} file.
22742 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
22743 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
22746 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
22747 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
22750 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
22751 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
22754 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
22755 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
22758 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
22759 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
22762 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
22765 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
22766 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
22769 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
22770 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
22773 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
22774 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
22777 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
22780 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
22781 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
22784 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
22788 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
22792 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
22793 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
22796 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
22802 @node September Gnus
22803 @subsubsection September Gnus
22807 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
22811 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
22816 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
22817 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
22821 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
22822 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
22826 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
22830 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
22831 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
22834 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
22838 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
22841 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
22844 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
22847 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
22851 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
22852 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
22855 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
22859 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
22863 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
22867 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
22871 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
22874 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
22875 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
22878 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
22882 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
22883 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
22886 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
22889 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
22890 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
22891 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
22894 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
22898 The Gnus cache is much faster.
22901 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
22905 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
22906 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
22909 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
22910 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
22913 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
22914 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
22917 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
22918 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
22919 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
22922 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
22923 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
22926 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
22929 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
22932 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
22935 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
22938 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
22939 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
22942 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
22946 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
22949 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
22954 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
22957 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
22961 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
22964 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
22968 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
22971 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
22974 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
22975 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
22978 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
22979 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
22983 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
22984 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
22987 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
22991 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
22992 buffer to allow easier treatment.
22995 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
22998 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
23002 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
23006 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
23007 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
23010 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
23014 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
23015 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
23018 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
23019 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
23022 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
23026 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
23029 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
23032 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
23038 @subsubsection Red Gnus
23040 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
23044 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
23051 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
23054 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
23055 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
23058 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
23059 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
23063 Article washing status can be displayed in the
23064 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
23067 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
23070 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
23071 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
23074 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
23078 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
23079 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
23083 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
23084 Server Internals}).
23087 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
23091 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
23094 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
23095 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
23098 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
23099 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
23100 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
23103 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
23104 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
23107 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
23108 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
23111 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
23115 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
23116 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
23119 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
23120 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
23123 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
23127 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
23130 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
23134 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
23135 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
23138 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
23139 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
23142 A new command for reading collections of documents
23143 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
23144 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
23147 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
23151 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
23152 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
23155 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
23156 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
23157 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
23160 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
23161 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
23165 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
23169 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
23173 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
23178 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
23182 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
23186 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
23187 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
23190 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
23196 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
23198 New features in Gnus 5.6:
23203 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
23204 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
23205 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
23208 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
23209 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
23210 group, which is created automatically.
23213 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
23217 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
23220 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
23221 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
23224 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
23228 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
23231 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
23232 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
23235 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
23238 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
23239 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
23242 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
23243 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
23246 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
23247 control over simplification.
23250 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
23253 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
23257 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
23260 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
23263 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
23264 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
23265 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
23268 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
23269 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
23272 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
23276 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
23277 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
23280 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
23281 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
23284 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
23288 A history of where mails have been split is available.
23291 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
23294 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
23295 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
23298 A new function for citing in Message has been
23299 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
23302 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
23305 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
23309 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
23310 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
23313 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
23314 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
23317 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
23320 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
23324 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
23325 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
23327 New features in Gnus 5.8:
23332 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
23333 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
23335 If you used procmail like in
23338 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
23339 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
23340 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
23341 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
23344 this now has changed to
23348 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
23352 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
23353 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
23356 Gnus is now a @sc{mime}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
23357 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
23360 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
23361 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
23364 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
23365 called to position point.
23368 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
23369 summary buffers and @sc{nov} files.
23372 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
23373 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
23376 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
23377 subtly different manner.
23380 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
23381 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
23382 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
23385 Gnus can now read @sc{imap} mail via @code{nnimap}.
23393 @section The Manual
23397 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
23398 either @code{texi2dvi}
23400 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
23401 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
23403 to get what you hold in your hands now.
23405 The following conventions have been used:
23410 This is a @samp{string}
23413 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
23416 This is a @file{file}
23419 This is a @code{symbol}
23423 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
23427 (setq flargnoze "yes")
23430 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
23433 (setq flumphel 'yes)
23436 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
23437 ever get them confused.
23441 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
23442 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
23443 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
23444 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
23445 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
23446 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
23447 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
23453 @node On Writing Manuals
23454 @section On Writing Manuals
23456 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
23457 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
23458 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
23459 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
23460 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
23461 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
23464 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
23465 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
23466 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
23469 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
23470 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
23475 @section Terminology
23477 @cindex terminology
23482 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
23483 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
23484 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
23485 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
23486 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
23490 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
23491 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
23492 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
23493 not posting, and replying is not following up.
23497 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
23501 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
23506 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
23507 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
23508 commonly fetched via the protocol NNTP, whereas mail messages could be
23509 read from a file on the local disk. The internal architecture of Gnus
23510 thus comprises a `front end' and a number of `back ends'. Internally,
23511 when you enter a group (by hitting @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke
23512 a function in the front end in Gnus. The front end then `talks' to a
23513 back end and says things like ``Give me the list of articles in the foo
23514 group'' or ``Show me article number 4711''.
23516 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back end
23517 accesses news via NNTP, the @code{nnimap} back end accesses mail via
23518 IMAP) or a file format and directory layout (the @code{nnspool} back end
23519 accesses news via the common `spool directory' format, the @code{nnml}
23520 back end access mail via a file format and directory layout that's
23523 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
23524 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
23525 access the articles.
23527 However, sometimes the term `back end' is also used where `server'
23528 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term `select
23529 method' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
23534 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
23535 default, way of getting news.
23539 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
23540 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
23545 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
23546 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
23550 A message that has been posted as news.
23553 @cindex mail message
23554 A message that has been mailed.
23558 A mail message or news article
23562 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
23567 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
23572 A line from the head of an article.
23576 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
23577 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
23581 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
23582 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
23583 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
23584 normal @sc{head} format.
23588 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
23589 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
23590 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
23591 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
23592 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
23593 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
23595 @item killed groups
23596 @cindex killed groups
23597 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
23598 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
23600 @item zombie groups
23601 @cindex zombie groups
23602 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
23605 @cindex active file
23606 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
23607 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
23608 is rather large, as you might surmise.
23611 @cindex bogus groups
23612 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
23613 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
23614 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
23617 @cindex activating groups
23618 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
23619 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
23620 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
23624 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
23626 @item select method
23627 @cindex select method
23628 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
23631 @item virtual server
23632 @cindex virtual server
23633 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
23634 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
23635 whole is a virtual server.
23639 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
23640 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
23643 @item ephemeral groups
23644 @cindex ephemeral groups
23645 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
23646 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
23647 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
23650 @cindex solid groups
23651 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
23652 group buffer are solid groups.
23654 @item sparse articles
23655 @cindex sparse articles
23656 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
23657 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
23661 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
23662 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
23666 @cindex thread root
23667 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
23668 articles in the thread.
23672 An article that has responses.
23676 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
23680 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
23681 specified by RFC 1153.
23687 @node Customization
23688 @section Customization
23689 @cindex general customization
23691 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
23692 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
23693 for some quite common situations.
23696 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
23697 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
23698 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
23699 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
23703 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
23704 @subsection Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
23706 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
23707 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
23708 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
23712 @item gnus-read-active-file
23713 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
23714 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
23715 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
23716 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
23717 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
23719 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
23720 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
23721 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
23722 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
23726 @node Slow Terminal Connection
23727 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
23729 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
23730 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
23731 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
23735 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
23736 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
23737 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
23738 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
23739 horizontal and vertical recentering.
23741 @item gnus-visible-headers
23742 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
23743 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
23744 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
23745 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
23747 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
23749 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
23750 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
23751 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
23754 @item gnus-use-full-window
23755 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
23756 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
23757 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
23758 want to read them anyway.
23760 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
23761 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
23765 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
23766 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
23767 lines, which might save some time.
23771 @node Little Disk Space
23772 @subsection Little Disk Space
23775 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
23776 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
23780 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
23781 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
23782 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
23783 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
23786 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
23787 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
23788 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
23789 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
23792 @item gnus-save-killed-list
23793 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
23794 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
23795 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
23796 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
23802 @subsection Slow Machine
23803 @cindex slow machine
23805 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
23806 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
23808 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
23809 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
23811 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
23812 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
23813 summary buffer faster.
23817 @node Troubleshooting
23818 @section Troubleshooting
23819 @cindex troubleshooting
23821 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
23829 Make sure your computer is switched on.
23832 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
23833 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
23837 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
23838 like @samp{T-gnus 6.15.* (based on Oort Gnus v0.*; for SEMI 1.1*, FLIM
23839 1.1*)} you have the right files loaded. If, on the other hand, you get
23840 something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp flee}, you have some old
23841 @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
23844 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
23848 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
23849 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
23850 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
23851 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
23852 something like that.
23855 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
23858 @cindex reporting bugs
23860 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
23862 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
23863 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
23864 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
23865 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
23867 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
23868 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
23869 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
23870 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
23873 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
23874 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
23875 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
23876 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
23877 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
23878 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
23880 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
23881 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
23882 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
23886 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
23887 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
23890 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
23891 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
23892 edebug. Debugging lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
23893 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
23894 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
23895 you discover some weird behaviour when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
23896 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
23897 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
23898 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
23899 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
23900 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
23901 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
23902 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
23903 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
23905 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
23906 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
23908 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
23909 @cindex ding mailing list
23910 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
23911 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
23915 @node Gnus Reference Guide
23916 @section Gnus Reference Guide
23918 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
23919 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
23920 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
23921 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
23924 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
23925 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
23926 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
23927 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
23928 and general methods of operation.
23931 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
23932 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
23933 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
23934 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
23935 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
23936 * Group Info:: The group info format.
23937 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
23938 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
23939 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
23943 @node Gnus Utility Functions
23944 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
23945 @cindex Gnus utility functions
23946 @cindex utility functions
23948 @cindex internal variables
23950 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
23951 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
23952 Below is a list of the most common ones.
23956 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
23957 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
23958 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
23960 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
23961 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
23962 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
23964 @item gnus-group-real-name
23965 @findex gnus-group-real-name
23966 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
23969 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
23970 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
23971 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
23972 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
23974 @item gnus-get-info
23975 @findex gnus-get-info
23976 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
23978 @item gnus-group-unread
23979 @findex gnus-group-unread
23980 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
23984 @findex gnus-active
23985 The active entry for @var{group}.
23987 @item gnus-set-active
23988 @findex gnus-set-active
23989 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
23991 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
23992 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
23993 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
23996 @item gnus-continuum-version
23997 @findex gnus-continuum-version
23998 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
23999 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
24002 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
24003 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
24004 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
24006 @item gnus-news-group-p
24007 @findex gnus-news-group-p
24008 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
24010 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
24011 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
24012 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
24014 @item gnus-server-to-method
24015 @findex gnus-server-to-method
24016 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
24018 @item gnus-server-equal
24019 @findex gnus-server-equal
24020 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
24022 @item gnus-group-native-p
24023 @findex gnus-group-native-p
24024 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
24026 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
24027 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
24028 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
24030 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
24031 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
24032 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
24034 @item group-group-find-parameter
24035 @findex group-group-find-parameter
24036 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
24037 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
24039 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
24040 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
24041 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
24043 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
24044 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
24045 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
24047 @item gnus-check-backend-function
24048 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
24049 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
24050 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
24053 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
24057 @item gnus-read-method
24058 @findex gnus-read-method
24059 Prompts the user for a select method.
24064 @node Back End Interface
24065 @subsection Back End Interface
24067 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
24068 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
24069 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
24070 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
24071 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
24072 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
24074 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
24075 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
24076 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
24077 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
24078 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
24079 been opened, the function should fail.
24081 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
24082 name. Take this example:
24086 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
24087 (nntp-port-number 4324))
24090 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
24091 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
24093 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
24094 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
24095 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
24097 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
24098 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
24099 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
24101 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
24102 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
24103 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
24104 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
24105 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
24106 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
24109 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
24110 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
24111 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
24112 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
24115 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
24116 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
24117 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
24118 possible for later articles to `re-use' older article numbers without
24119 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
24120 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
24121 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
24122 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
24123 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
24124 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
24126 The previous paragraph already mentions all the `hard' restrictions that
24127 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
24128 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
24129 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
24130 the `no-reuse' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
24131 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
24132 of numbers as long as possible.
24134 Note that by convention, backends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
24135 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
24136 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
24138 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
24141 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
24144 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
24145 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
24146 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
24147 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
24148 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
24149 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
24153 @node Required Back End Functions
24154 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
24158 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
24160 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
24161 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
24162 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
24163 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
24165 The result data should either be HEADs or @sc{nov} lines, and the result
24166 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
24167 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
24168 of HEADs and @sc{nov} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
24170 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
24171 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
24172 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
24173 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
24174 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
24175 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
24176 number, do maximum fetches.
24178 Here's an example HEAD:
24181 221 1056 Article retrieved.
24182 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
24183 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
24184 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
24185 Subject: Re: Something very droll
24186 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
24187 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
24189 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
24190 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
24191 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
24195 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
24196 these in the data buffer.
24198 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
24202 head = error / valid-head
24203 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
24204 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
24205 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
24206 header = <text> eol
24209 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
24210 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
24214 nov-buffer = *nov-line
24215 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
24216 field = <text except TAB>
24219 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
24223 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
24225 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
24226 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
24228 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
24229 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
24230 server. In fact, it should do so.
24232 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
24233 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
24236 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
24238 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
24239 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
24242 There should be no data returned.
24245 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
24247 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
24248 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
24249 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
24250 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
24252 There should be no data returned.
24255 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
24257 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
24258 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
24259 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
24260 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
24262 There should be no data returned.
24265 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
24267 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
24269 There should be no data returned.
24272 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
24274 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
24275 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
24276 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
24277 it would be nice if that were possible.
24279 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
24280 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
24281 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
24282 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
24283 into its article buffer.
24285 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
24286 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
24287 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
24288 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
24289 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
24290 on successful article retrieval.
24293 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
24295 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
24296 making @var{group} the current group.
24298 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
24301 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
24304 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
24307 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
24308 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
24309 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
24310 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
24311 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
24312 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
24313 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
24314 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
24315 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
24319 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
24320 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
24321 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
24325 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
24327 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
24328 a no-op on most back ends.
24330 There should be no data returned.
24333 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
24335 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
24338 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
24341 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
24342 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
24345 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
24346 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
24347 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
24348 and the highest as 0.
24351 active-file = *active-line
24352 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
24354 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
24357 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
24358 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
24359 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
24362 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
24364 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
24365 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
24366 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
24367 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
24368 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
24369 clear if the posting could not be completed.
24371 There should be no result data from this function.
24376 @node Optional Back End Functions
24377 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
24381 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
24383 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
24384 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
24385 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
24387 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
24388 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
24389 former is in the same format as the data from
24390 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
24391 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
24394 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
24398 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
24400 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
24401 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all the
24402 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
24403 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
24404 should return a non-nil value.
24406 There should be no result data from this function.
24409 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
24411 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
24412 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
24413 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
24414 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
24415 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
24416 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
24417 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
24418 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
24420 There should be no result data from this function.
24423 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
24425 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
24426 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
24427 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
24428 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
24429 propagate the mark information to the server.
24431 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
24434 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
24437 RANGE is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. ACTION is
24438 @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove marks
24439 (preserving all marks not mentioned). MARK is a list of marks; where
24440 each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are @code{read},
24441 @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
24442 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
24443 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
24444 possible, not limit itself to these.
24446 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
24447 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
24448 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
24449 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
24451 An example action list:
24454 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
24455 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
24456 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
24459 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
24460 mark on (currently not used for anything).
24462 There should be no result data from this function.
24464 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
24466 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
24467 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
24468 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
24469 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
24470 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
24472 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
24473 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
24474 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
24477 There should be no result data from this function.
24480 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
24482 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
24483 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
24484 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query the
24485 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
24486 to be heeded---if the back end decides that it is too much work just
24487 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
24488 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
24490 There should be no result data from this function.
24493 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
24495 The result data from this function should be a description of
24499 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
24501 description = <text>
24504 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
24506 The result data from this function should be the description of all
24507 groups available on the server.
24510 description-buffer = *description-line
24514 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
24516 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
24517 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
24518 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
24519 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
24520 in the active buffer format.
24522 It is okay for this function to return `too many' groups; some back ends
24523 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
24524 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
24525 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
24526 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
24527 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
24528 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
24531 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
24533 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
24535 There should be no return data.
24538 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
24540 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
24541 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
24542 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
24543 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
24544 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
24547 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
24550 There should be no result data returned.
24553 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
24556 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
24557 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
24559 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
24560 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
24561 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
24562 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
24563 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
24564 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
24566 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
24567 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
24570 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
24571 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
24573 There should be no data returned.
24576 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
24578 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
24579 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
24580 this function in short order.
24582 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
24583 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
24585 There should be no data returned.
24588 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
24590 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
24591 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
24593 There should be no data returned.
24596 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
24598 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
24599 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
24600 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
24602 There should be no data returned.
24605 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
24607 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
24608 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
24610 There should be no data returned.
24615 @node Error Messaging
24616 @subsubsection Error Messaging
24618 @findex nnheader-report
24619 @findex nnheader-get-report
24620 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
24621 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
24622 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
24623 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
24624 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
24625 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
24628 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
24630 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
24633 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
24634 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
24635 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
24636 takes one argument---the server symbol.
24638 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
24639 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
24640 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
24643 @node Writing New Back Ends
24644 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
24646 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
24647 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
24648 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
24649 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
24650 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
24653 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
24654 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
24655 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
24657 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
24658 package called @code{nnoo}.
24660 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
24661 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
24667 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
24668 parameters. For instance:
24671 (nnoo-declare nndir
24675 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
24676 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
24679 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
24680 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
24681 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
24683 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
24684 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
24685 a function in those back ends.
24688 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
24689 "Where nndir will look for groups."
24690 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
24693 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
24694 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
24695 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
24697 @item nnoo-define-basics
24698 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
24702 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
24706 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
24707 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
24708 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
24710 @item nnoo-map-functions
24711 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
24712 functions from the parent back ends.
24715 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
24716 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
24717 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
24720 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
24721 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
24722 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
24723 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
24726 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
24727 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
24728 haven't already been defined.
24734 nnmh-request-newgroups)
24738 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
24739 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
24740 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
24745 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
24748 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
24749 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
24753 (require 'nnheader)
24757 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
24759 (nnoo-declare nndir
24762 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
24763 "Where nndir will look for groups."
24764 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
24766 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
24767 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
24770 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
24772 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
24773 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
24774 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
24776 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
24777 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
24779 ;;; Interface functions.
24781 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
24783 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
24784 (setq nndir-directory
24785 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
24787 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
24788 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
24789 (push `(nndir-current-group
24790 ,(file-name-nondirectory
24791 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
24793 (push `(nndir-top-directory
24794 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
24796 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
24798 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
24799 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
24800 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
24801 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
24802 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
24806 nnmh-status-message
24808 nnmh-request-newgroups))
24814 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
24815 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
24817 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
24818 @findex gnus-declare-backend
24819 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
24820 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
24821 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
24823 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
24824 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
24829 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
24832 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
24834 The abilities can be:
24838 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
24840 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
24842 This back end supports both mail and news.
24844 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
24847 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
24848 articles and groups.
24850 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
24851 true for almost all back ends.
24852 @item prompt-address
24853 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
24854 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
24855 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
24859 @node Mail-like Back Ends
24860 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
24862 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
24863 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
24864 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
24865 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
24868 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
24869 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
24870 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
24873 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
24874 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
24877 This function takes four parameters.
24881 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
24884 @item exit-function
24885 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
24887 @item temp-directory
24888 Where the temporary files should be stored.
24891 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
24892 performed for one group only.
24895 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
24896 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
24897 find the article number assigned to this article.
24899 The function also uses the following variables:
24900 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
24901 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
24902 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
24903 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
24907 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
24908 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
24912 @node Score File Syntax
24913 @subsection Score File Syntax
24915 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
24916 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
24917 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
24919 Here's a typical score file:
24923 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
24930 BNF definition of a score file:
24933 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
24934 element = rule / atom
24935 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
24936 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
24937 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
24938 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
24940 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
24941 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
24942 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
24943 date-header = "date"
24944 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
24945 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
24946 score = "nil" / <integer>
24947 date = "nil" / <natural number>
24948 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
24949 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
24950 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
24951 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
24952 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
24953 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
24954 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
24955 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
24956 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
24957 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
24958 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
24959 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
24960 exclude-files / read-only / touched
24961 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
24962 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
24963 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
24964 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
24965 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
24966 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
24967 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
24968 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
24969 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
24970 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
24971 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
24972 eval = "eval" space <form>
24973 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
24976 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
24979 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
24980 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
24981 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
24982 one looong line, then that's ok.
24984 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
24985 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
24989 @subsection Headers
24991 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
24992 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
24993 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
24994 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
24996 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
24997 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
24998 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
24999 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
25000 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
25001 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
25002 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
25004 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
25005 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
25006 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
25007 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
25008 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
25010 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
25011 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
25017 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
25018 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
25020 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
25021 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
25022 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
25023 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
25025 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
25029 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
25032 is transformed into
25035 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
25038 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
25039 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
25042 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
25045 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
25046 is slightly tricky:
25049 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
25055 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
25058 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
25064 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
25071 and is equal to the previous range.
25073 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
25074 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
25075 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
25079 range = simple-range / normal-range
25080 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
25081 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
25082 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
25083 number *[ " " contents ]
25086 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
25087 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
25088 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
25089 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
25090 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
25095 @subsection Group Info
25097 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
25098 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
25099 describes the group.
25101 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
25102 second is a more complex one:
25105 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
25107 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
25108 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
25110 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
25113 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
25114 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
25115 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
25116 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
25117 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
25118 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
25119 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
25120 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
25121 this section is about.
25123 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
25124 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
25125 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
25127 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
25130 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
25131 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
25132 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25133 group = quote <string> quote
25134 ralevel = rank / level
25135 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
25136 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
25137 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
25139 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
25140 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
25141 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
25142 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
25145 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
25146 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
25149 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
25150 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
25153 @item gnus-info-group
25154 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
25155 @findex gnus-info-group
25156 @findex gnus-info-set-group
25157 Get/set the group name.
25159 @item gnus-info-rank
25160 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
25161 @findex gnus-info-rank
25162 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
25163 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
25165 @item gnus-info-level
25166 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
25167 @findex gnus-info-level
25168 @findex gnus-info-set-level
25169 Get/set the group level.
25171 @item gnus-info-score
25172 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
25173 @findex gnus-info-score
25174 @findex gnus-info-set-score
25175 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
25177 @item gnus-info-read
25178 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
25179 @findex gnus-info-read
25180 @findex gnus-info-set-read
25181 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
25183 @item gnus-info-marks
25184 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
25185 @findex gnus-info-marks
25186 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
25187 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
25189 @item gnus-info-method
25190 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
25191 @findex gnus-info-method
25192 @findex gnus-info-set-method
25193 Get/set the group select method.
25195 @item gnus-info-params
25196 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
25197 @findex gnus-info-params
25198 @findex gnus-info-set-params
25199 Get/set the group parameters.
25202 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
25203 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
25205 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
25206 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
25207 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
25208 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
25211 @node Extended Interactive
25212 @subsection Extended Interactive
25213 @cindex interactive
25214 @findex gnus-interactive
25216 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
25217 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
25218 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
25221 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
25222 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
25227 The best thing to do would have been to implement
25228 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
25229 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
25230 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
25231 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
25232 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
25233 @code{interactive}.
25235 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
25240 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
25241 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
25245 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
25246 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
25247 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
25250 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
25254 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
25258 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
25264 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
25265 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
25269 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
25270 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
25271 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
25273 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
25274 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
25275 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
25276 Gnus, that's very useful.
25278 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
25279 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
25280 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
25281 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
25282 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
25283 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
25284 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
25285 following function:
25288 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
25292 (,function ,@@args))
25296 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
25297 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
25298 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
25301 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
25302 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
25303 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
25305 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
25306 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
25307 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
25310 @node Various File Formats
25311 @subsection Various File Formats
25314 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
25315 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
25319 @node Active File Format
25320 @subsubsection Active File Format
25322 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
25323 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
25326 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
25329 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
25330 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
25331 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
25332 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
25333 no.general 1000 900 y
25336 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
25339 active = *group-line
25340 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
25341 group = <non-white-space string>
25343 high-number = <non-negative integer>
25344 low-number = <positive integer>
25345 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
25348 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
25349 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
25352 @node Newsgroups File Format
25353 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
25355 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
25356 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
25357 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
25360 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
25361 Here's the definition:
25365 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
25366 group = <non-white-space string>
25368 description = <string>
25373 @node Emacs for Heathens
25374 @section Emacs for Heathens
25376 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
25377 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
25378 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
25379 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
25380 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
25381 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
25382 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
25386 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
25387 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
25392 @subsection Keystrokes
25396 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
25399 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
25402 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
25403 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
25404 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
25405 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
25406 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
25407 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
25409 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
25410 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
25411 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
25412 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
25413 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
25414 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
25415 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
25417 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
25418 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
25419 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
25420 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
25421 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
25422 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
25423 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
25425 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
25426 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
25427 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
25428 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
25429 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
25435 @subsection Emacs Lisp
25437 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
25438 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
25439 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
25440 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
25442 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
25443 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
25444 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
25445 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
25446 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
25447 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
25448 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
25451 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
25452 write the following:
25455 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
25458 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
25459 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
25460 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
25463 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
25464 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
25465 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
25466 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
25467 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
25469 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
25470 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
25471 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
25475 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
25479 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
25482 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
25483 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
25486 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
25489 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
25490 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
25493 @include gnus-faq.texi
25513 @c Local Variables:
25515 @c coding: iso-8859-1
25517 % LocalWords: BNF mucho detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
25518 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
25519 % LocalWords: nnmbox newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
25520 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
25521 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref